Through the crowds at any exhibition, nothing catches your eye more than a big, bright banner that’s been beautifully and thoughtfully designed. Whatever sector you’re in, banners can do the legwork for any business by helping potential customers to find their way to you and effectively transmitting your company’s message.
For any small to medium business owner looking to impress in a flash, an exhibition banner is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to make an impact. But getting your company banner right is crucially important, otherwise both your business and your potential customers may be left feeling as though something is lacking, so that’s why NWD have put together this handy guide, to help you avoid the easy pitfalls and create the best banners for your business.
An Advertisement Of Quality
Your organisation or business might just be the best thing going, with the highest quality goods or services that can – and do – beat every other competitor in your market – so why isn’t your banner reflecting this?
Above anything else, the quality of your business banner matters, because it reflects who you are as an organisation. A cheap flimsy banner, or one with flaking or faded print, is so much worse than having nothing at all, because people will judge you and your company based on the marketing materials you provide. If you can’t be bothered putting the effort in to promoting your own business, why will you put an effort into your customers?
So, here’s a little tip to make sure your banners are up to scratch; before any big event or conference, consider your exhibition materials with the same critical eye you would use to assess yourself in the mirror before an important meeting, interview or date night. You only get that one chance to catch the eye of your potential customers and, in business, first impressions are everything.
Keep It Simple
There’s a reason the phrase ‘less is more’ exists, particularly in the worlds of design and marketing. It’s understandable that you have a lot you want to tell your potential customers, but cramming everything onto the one banner is a definite no-no. Overly busy and fussy banner designs not only distract from your core business message, but they actively discourage people from reading them at all.
Hence, before you begin to work on your banner design, you need to ask yourself what it is that you want people to know about you in an instant? What are you trying to achieve with this particular banner? Are you promoting a business, a promotion or a special deal, or do you want to attract new staff?
By identifying your key message, you can narrow down the field of possibilities and then display that core idea in as succinct and powerful a way as possible, thereby making your banner simple and easy to understand, even at a distance. And it is this very simplicity that is paramount to the success of your design; tomes of content and information drowning out large graphics and images will never be read by anyone and will just over-face most casual visitors to your stall, so pick one ‘hero’ for your banner and stick to it. Less is most definitely more.
Don’t Read The Small Print
Another pitfall you need to be aware of is that it’s all too easy to get wrapped up in how good your banner design looks on a tiny computer screen, rather than considering what it will look like in large scale in the context of a crowded exhibition room. The main purpose of your banner is to draw potential customers to your stall, so it needs to be able to attract people from a long way off.
Thus, when printing your business banner, remember to ensure that your design is uncluttered, that your text is easy to read from a distance and that you’re sending out a clear message about who you are and what you do. Once again, having lots and lots of small print information, including your contact details, is completely superfluous and unhelpful to the passer-by, so there’s no need to include it. If they want your contact details, you can give them a business card.
It’s also a good idea to ask your banner designer to consider the exhibition space you will be displaying it in; an experienced graphic designer will be able to advise you on aspects such as how much text you should include, where it should be placed, what font will be the easiest to read at a distance and what font size will be best for the size of the display space. Again, remember the principle that less is more; a big, simple message can be read and understood from across a crowded room, whereas oodles of tiny text can’t.
Get It Right
As we’ve already mentioned, first impressions count for everything, especially in business, which is why the three carnal sins of bad grammar, poor language use and spelling mistakes should be avoided at all costs, on any of your marketing materials. A bungled banner or roller sign that features poor grammar, spelling mistakes or outdated information is simply lazy, and demonstrates an unacceptable lack of respect for your business. Basic, and easily avoidable mistakes such as these, not only cause damage to your brand and its reputation, but they also leave the impression that, if your company doesn’t care about a banner, why would they care about their clients any more?
Hence, it’s always a good idea to bear in mind the importance of language and how it is used, as the way your message is put across is just as important as how it is framed. For example, think about the difference between a sign that says We “Care” versus We Care; you can see how the tone instantly changes to one of a sarcastic nature simply because of one stray set of quotation marks.
So, if you’re not sure about how to correctly use language and grammar, make sure your banner is proofread by someone who does, before it goes to print.
Reel Them In
One final point to bear in mind when you’re designing your exhibition banner is that this is neither your full sales pitch nor your after sales spiel; this is the snare, and you’ll have the chance to tell your potential customers all about what you have to offer in great detail later.
For now, your display banner needs to have a hook; something eye-catching or unique to pique the interest of passers-by and then reel them in. So, before you even begin to put pen to paper in the design stage, think about what you’re offering in great detail; what do you have that will be useful to the other delegates and why should they approach your business stand? What’s in it for them?
To make sure you get this final piece of the jigsaw right, try to put yourself into your customers’ shoes and imagine what they will want and what they will see as they walk by; think about what you would like to see and what would attract you to approach a stall. If you can do this and tailor your message to the needs and wants of your ideal customer, then you’ll notice the results in the footfall.
Get In Touch
If you’d like to find out more about designing and printing the perfect banner for your business, or if you’d like to speak to North West Digital about any of the other services we offer, then please do get in touch with us today.
You can contact us in any of the usual ways; by dropping us an email at info@, by giving us a bell on 0161 477 8950, or by completing the contact form on the website and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.