The Impact of Making an Impact

Recently I have been looking into the potential effects an exhibition or similar event has on the local community, and found an interesting development from Edinburgh University.

They have developed a toolkit that determines the impact an event has on the community by looking at factors such as transport issues and crowd noise.

Personally I think this is a great idea. In this day and age, it is important to analyse the effect your business is having on the environment, and a by product of this is that you will appeal more to a consumer's green standards.

It is important not just for the event organisers, but the individual businesses to work closely with the local authorities in order to minimise the disruption holding an event can have on the surrounding area.

Something I would focus on, is what could the business do FOR the local community. Be it hiring local people to help out setting up the show, to free tickets for the event. Even something as little as giving out your promotional 'goodies' can leave a lasting impression on the community. At the end of the day they are potential customers too!

Promoting Your Promotion: 5 Tips to Help Promote Your Next Trade Show

Previously I have talked about how to get the most out of your stand during exhibitions and trade shows, but this article is going to focus on getting attention for your stall before the show takes place.

The best bit is, all these tips cost nothing to implement!

The first question I hear you ask is, "why would I want to promote myself before a trade show, isn't that what the event itself is for?" and my answer is yes and no.

Of course the exhibition is there to help you promote your business, but say you have a new product coming out, or a new piece of technology that no-one has seen before. In this instance, the power of 'hype' can have a huge impact on the attention your stand will draw at the event. If journalists and industry commentators know there is an exciting feature being announced, you bet they're going to make sure they are there, drawing extra publicity for your brand.

Even if you don't have anything new to unveil, getting word out to the right people (i.e people attending the exhibition), you are making sure they are aware of your company name so when they see you at the event, they will usually make the effort to come over and check your stand out.

So, where do you start? Here are 5 tips on how to promote your attendance at an exhibition or trade show:

1. Forums/Trade Directories - ever read a forum, seen a comment with a link and follow it? If you approach the relevant sources (Google is your friend here) you will find a receptive audience for your promotion. You don't even have to include a link to your website, though if there's the option to I say do it! Just a couple of lines saying what your company does, and that you will be at a certain trade show is enough. Here is a great place to start.
   
   
2. Facebook Events - hopefully you have a Facebook page for your company (if you don't, shame on you!). You may or may not be aware of the feature to set up an event. This contains the usual details such as when, where etc. but the key to this is to put relevant keywords into the title and description. Naming the event something like 'Company X @ Exhibition Y', will lead to getting hits for both your company name and the name of the show. You can invite everyone on your friends list, and what's nice is that Facebook give them a reminder on the side of their profile of any upcoming events, with the title you have just created.
   
   
3. Viral Marketing - The most relevant form of this is the YouTube video. It has to be short, and capture the general populus imagination. One of the most viewed videos of all-time is a skateboarding dog! Imagine how simple that is to create, and how many millions of people have seen it. On YouTube you have two options of promoting your event; in the main video screen, though this is less likely to be embraced by the public, or the less intrusive method is to announce it in the description. If it works, not only are you promoting your next trade show, but also your brand as a whole. The key to viral marketing is to not push it too much. E-mail a few of your friends telling them to check it out, and if you've got it right it should spread like wildfire. Most importantly be creative. Here is an example of a great piece of viral marketing on YouTube.
   
   
4. Write a Blog - as you can see, you don't need to be the next Oscar Wilde to write a blog. There are lots of free ones to use, such as the one this is written on; Blogspot or create one on your site. Over time you will build up a following (put a link on your Facebook page for instance), and what better place to announce your next trade show!
   
   
5. Word of Mouth - as you might have noticed, I'm a huge fan of Internet marketing, but often the best way of increasing awareness is word of mouth. Now, hopefully the techniques listed above will generate word of mouth promotion for you, but next time you meet a client/customer why not just mention you will be attending 'Exhibition X'. In fact tell EVERYONE you meet, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. If you talk to people in your industry, you will likely hear a response of, "Actually, I'm going to that, I'll have a look out for you." and you've just got one more person interested in your stand for 5 seconds of work.

These tips are just a starting block, hopefully they will inspire you to think of other great ways to promote your appearance at the next event you attend. Good luck!

Aaron,

Discount Displays

A Display of Power: The trade show industry's fight-back against the recession

I have had several conversations recently where people tell me, matter-of-factly, that the display business must be suffering.

Obviously I ask what proof they have on this, and this is where the conversation usually quickly changes tack.

Of course all businesses have been affected to some degree by the economic downturn, but from personal experience, and watching the market, there are strong indicators to suggest that the fallout isn't as bad as first expected.

I think this idea comes from the fact that most businesses, when faced with a gloomy economy, initially look to cut costs across all departments. They then quickly learn that they can't afford not to spend money promoting their product. There's very little point in having a product with minimal overheads if nobody is aware of it!

My resolve has been strengthened by the report that Gamescom has just finished and attracted 248,000 visitors, becoming the largest games fair in the world.

Reports from other areas of the world report that attendees to trade shows and exhibitions are better than expected for the current climate, and the general consensus is that this industry is in a excellent position to recover from the impacts of the global recession.

We are doing our bit for the industry at Discount Displays. Through publishing guides and promotions we are doing all we can to help businesses realise that exhibiting doesn't have to be as costly as they first fear.

The Rules of Engagement

A brief guide on the importance of interaction between you and potential customers.

So you've bought all the components needed for attending a exhibition, you've spent time creating a design to make your stall stand out from the rest, and you've meticulously planned the logistics of getting to the event itself.

All this is great, but where many exhibitors fall down is that when it comes to crunch time, they do very little to actually interact with potential customers, and are content to let them just walk on by.

It is perplexing, and surprising, as a regular attendee of trade shows and exhibitions, to not be engaged even when I'm looking at the product or service on offer. To know how much effort has gone into exhibiting and to then not capitalise on it is a crying shame.

There are obvious, yet simple, ways to maximise the conversion rate of passers-by to potential customers:

• Make eye contact - I'm not talking about staring here, just catching somebody's eye can lead to them engaging you in conversation or for them to take a second look at your stall, enabling you to start your pitch.
• Preparation - a well known saying states "luck is where opportunity meets preparation", well this is your opportunity! Before you set off to your event, make a note of the key benefits of your product/service, any special offers for this event, anticipate objections and how you can overcome these, and if they aren't willing to commit instantly what measures do you have in place to follow-up with them (e.g. mailing list, contact details database, brochures/catalogues to take home).
  
• Mentality is the key - some people are gifted sales-people, but perhaps this isn't your forte. The key here is to change your mentality to 'what have I got to lose', or more importantly 'what have I got to gain'. If you see somebody walking past your stand without taking a second glance, and you don't actively engage them, the chances of them becoming a customer are roughly zero. If, however you take a moment to announce your product to that person, you never know what the outcome will be, hopefully a new customer, or at least a sign-up to your mailing list.
  

If you recognise yourself as one of these exhibiting culprits I hope this guide can serve as a useful reminder on the importance of active selling, and increase the return of investment on your exhibition displays.

Bought to you by Discount Displays

Slatwall Displays; an exhibitor's friend

In the present climate, marketing budgets are tighter than ever before. There is increasing importance on being able to justify costs, and buying a versatile piece of equipment like the Slatwall Display, might be just what is needed to keep the accounting department at bay.

Being able to hold poster frames, literature racks and product hooks, they are equally at home in retail environments, trade shows or reception areas.
They are also double sided meaning they have double the impact of regular wall mounted Slatwall displays.
Made from an anodised aluminium profile, and with optional LED lights, they are at the height of modern display design.

They come pre-assembled, which means you are up and ready in a matter of minutes. These Slatwall display stands are a versatile solution for displaying and promoting your business.

Visit www.discountdisplays.co.uk for more info.

New money saving hints and tips

I have been asked to write some articles about exhibition displays for a Display ideas blog. You'll find it here. Ill be looking specifically on money saving ideas during the economic downturn. Should you hire or buy exhibition stands. How to save money on display graphics. Top 10 tips for getting the most from your display budget. Just to name a few.

School Signs or Books

We have recently looked at the School Signs market in the UK. With our new UV printer and low cost base we felt that we would be able to offer better and service to the UK school sign sector. Looking at this sector prices seem to have remained bouyant. Percieved as a niche product sign companies have marketd themselves as specialist or experts in school signage. Well not to put too finer point on it a sign is a sign. The message may change but the methods of manufacturing school signs is the same as post mounted signs, business signs or corporate signage. To find out a little more about the market I spoke to a headmistress friend of mine. It turned out that the key points she considered when order school signs was how easy the process was. She perceived that it was far easier to get a local sign company to visit the school and take her brief than it was trying to order goods on line. Ease came far higher up when ordering school signs than price or speed of delivery. When artwork is involved either supplying it ready to print or providing logos and text for the designer to create an image was perceived to be easier in person than online. My conclusion? It's a worry if purchasing is not carried out with cost in mind. Every pound saved on purchase products be they school signs or gym equipment is another pound of tax payers money that could be used for books or field trips. From a web sites point of view we need to make purchasing signs online as easy as possible. Keep an eye on www.discountdisplays.co.uk/html/schools-signs.html to see how we implement online design and other easy artwork ideas.

UV flat bed sign printing

flat bed UV printers are changing the way signs are made. In the past if you want a full colour image printed onto signs for a trade shows you would need to go through a 3 part process. Firstly print the sign onto paper. This would then have to be laminated and have double sided self adhesive sign film applied to the rear. The laminated sign would then have to be mounted onto a substrate material such as foam pvc board. This process was costly in terms of materials and labour. An alternative would be to print the sign onto self adhesive vinyl and then mount this to the sign board again more materials and labour. Our disadvantages of these methods is the risk of delamination of the print or in the case of the self adhesive vinyl shrinkage of the vinyl itself. UV printing saves time and money. The large format flat bed machines print the ink direct onto a wide variety of sign substrates. So no need for laminate, adhesive or labour. The resultant sign is UV stable, weatherproof and will not crack peel or fade. Customers get better signs faster and at a lower price. At discountdisplays we are finding our UV printed replaces many of the traditional large format digital printing methods we have used in the past.
http://www.discountdisplays.co.uk/html/signs.html

Display Boards go green

We have just installed a UV large format printer for printing many types of signs and display boards . We have chosen UV inks for a number of reasons including their eco friendly credentials. The printer prints direct to the Display Boards which bring several benefits; There is less waste, they are more durable and turnround times are faster. The normal process involves printing onto paper the putting laminate to the face and double sided self adhesive film to the rear then mounting these to the board. The new process prints the inks direct to the display boards so no need for double side adhesive film and the inks are cured under UV lights. Once the lamps have cured the inks they are not only vivid but durable so there is no need for over laminate. An added benefit is that inks can be used indoors or outdoor since they a resistance to UV light and are waterproof. As a company we are focused on becoming more green. This is just the first stage we are on the look out for way to reduce the companies carbon footprint and are researching new recyclable materials.

Banner Frames

With Summer on the way there are many fetes, county shows, sports events and outdoor marketing events. How do you promote your show or get you company noticed at the show?
Everyone is aware of banners and flags at outdoor shows but how do display banner and flags? Often banners can be displayed on existing structures such as fences or the sided of a tent but when these are not readily available your banners can be displayed using banner frames. These come in many different styles and sizes. Traditional portable banner frames often comprise a steel or aluminium sectional banner frame that uses key clam corner fittings. Fairly lightweight, easy to transport they take a few minutes to put up. These banner frames can be single or double sided and are free standing. If the wind gets up then can be weighted to the ground or ground pegs can be used.
New pop up banner frames are proving popular, smaller but lighter and easy to transport but only suitable for fairly large qualtities of banners. These banner frames are double sided and can be weighted down.
The larger the banner the harder it can be to display if the wind speed increases. For displaying large banners water based banner frames are popular. They have limitations but allow a large eyecatching presence.

Exhibition Graphics - tips

Exhibition Graphics Tips

• Image is every thing - Use High quality resolution images Simple headings that “pack a punch!” you only have seconds to attract attention
• Keep main body copy/words to a minimum
• Use a Call to action
• Red on white is easiest to read
• Pop Up Stands – Give a large area to make a visula impact.
• Banner Stands – Used at the front of a stand they can attract passers by.
• Vinyl Banners - visit Vinyl Banners
• Design Tips Ensure promotional literature branding and style complements large displays
• Consider the position of your graphics carefully at events to maximise visibility
• Plan ahead and avoid missed opportunities Get design advice from professionals

We have designed a new product for table top displays. Often table top displays are cumbersome and fiddly to put up. Our system is like a retractable banner stand used horizontally. The roll up mechanism is housed in a hard outer casing that protect the unit and acts as a storage tube. Simply pull the retractable table top display apart and your in business in under 60 seconds. It also looks far more contemporary than a traditional folding table top display stand. Click on this link "table top display" to see how easy it is to use.

The durable spring mechanism inside the case is tensioned as you pull the table top graphic out it is held out by a scissor mechanism and spring on the back of the table top display. Once you are finished you push the cassettes together and the graphic rolls back up into the graphic. The graphic used on the retractable table top display is printed using tear resistant paper and water based inks on a high resolution photo realistic large format printer.

These table top displays are ideal for use as sales tools for pharmaceutical representatives, at schools and museums as well as small trade show booths.

Goods Handling

Discount Hand trucks. Have come across a new web site that specialises in goods handling equipment. They have a range of hand trucks made form durable aluminum. No more bad backs. A number of the trucks fold up so they can easily be transported in the back of a car. Even so they are strong enough to do the job. Some of these portable folding hand trucks are ready assembled while the larger pallet style folding handle carts require a little bit of self assembly.Discounthandtrucks.com

lightboxes

Why use lightboxes?
Lightboxes are one of the most effective advertising mediums available. Promotional backlit posters stand out from the background clutter . Combination of colour and illumination catch passers by attention more than a non-illuminated poster can.

Stdies ahev shown that illuminated advertising attracts higher customer footfall and sales compared to non-illuminated displays. Increase in impact can vary form 20 to up to 100% depending on where the lightboxes have been used. Illuminated displays proved particularly effective in dark areas such as nightclubs.

Where can light boxe displays be used?
Light box displays can be used indoors or outdoors. Popular in retail outlets, airposts, railway stations, nightclubs, shopping centres, pubs, clubs, bars, cinemas, exhibitions and trade shows.

Lightboxes are available in standard width and slim line for wall mounting. They can be single sided or double sided and freestanding lightboxes

lightbox

Lightbox displays are used in exhibitions and point of purchase marketing. A lightbox can be anything from a huge illuminated display for a shop front to a small desk mounted lightbox for SAD.
Discountdisplays provide display light boxes for indoor use. Your lightbox is a usefull tool the backlit poster stands out from the background clutter in a retail or trade show environment. There are many types of boxes available and your choice depends on budget and usage. The cheapest lightboxes use simple fluorescent tubes. They work well but are larger, less energy efficient and don't have such an even light spread as slimline light boxes. There are several types of slim lign lightbox displays varying from 25mm up to about 40mm. The very latest designs use LED edge lit light source. These lightbox units are Ultra-Slim Ultra Bright and feature
100% Uniform Illumination
• High Energy Efficiency
• Has a brighter and clearer image
• than any other advertising panel
• we have seen
• Lamp Life 30,000 Hour
• Internal use
Lightboxes can are also be wall mounted, free standing illuminated displays and single or double sided. Graphics are normally backlit posters. Traditionally Duratrans which are large display transprancies but nowadays more likley to be digitally printed onto special backlit film

A boards

To swing or not to swing that is the question. A boards, pavement signs, sandwich boards, forecourt signs, call you what you like they are used mostly to promote businesses. There are two main styles, the traditional A board (which is what it looks like viewed from the side and the newer swinging pavement sign. The Traditional A boards were originally made from wood and although they still exist for use out side pubs and restaurants (some have blackboard surface to allow menus to be changed)the most common type of a board in the UK is used for displaying posters. Obviously the ability to display posters makes them more versatile. Posters can be changed to match shops marketing campaigns, Summer sales, special offers, stock clearance. The most common of the A-boards is probably the aluminium frame that snaps open to allow poster to be changed easily. Usually A1 or 20" x 30" they allow posters to be displayed on both sides. They are cheap and effective but the disadvantage is that they can be blown over easily which is why heavy based swinging signs are being seen more. More information on swinging pavement signs next time.

Money Saving Trade Show Tip

A couple of ways to save money when you buy exhibition equipment. Regardless of when you are exhibiting have a look round at this time of year; December.
December is very quiet in the UK exhibitions market so many companies have spare capacity. Call a few up and see if there is a deal to be done. One thing to be wary of is price guarantee. Not all equipment or printing is of the same quality. Low quality, low cost equipment is fine if you only want to use it once but for a longer term investment make sure you are buying quality equipment. You don't have to pay lots for quality equipment; look for a product guarantee and if possible a satisfaction guarantee. There are plenty of companies that offer guarantee backed exhibition equipment at competitive prices.
Another trend which we have started and is proving popular is selling complete kits that include everything you need to exhibit. Not only do you save money but its easy to order. For example you may get a pop up stand, banner stands, literature rack , wheeled transport drum and graphics with savings up to 30%. I came across a site calledwww.exhibition-stand-shop.co.uk that sells discounted exhibition kits.

Cafe Barriers

Cafe barriers also know as cafe windbreaks. What are they for? Why use them. Cafe barriers can be see outside pavement cafes to close off an area of pavement to extend the seating area of cafes and restaurants. You will also see the in Airports and shopping malls. The popularity of cafe barriers has increase drastically this year since the smoking ban has come in in the UK. Now it is illegal to smoke inside, outside smoking areas have been created using cafe barriers.
Cafe barriers comprise of two upright posts or stanchions about 1m high and either one or two cross beams to hold a banner. The banner itself will either be a canvas or PVC material. Most are plain canvas or printed with a simple single colour logo. But digital printing means full colour is affordable so why not use you cafe barriers to create a theme. Another idea, why not get your suppliers to sponsor your banners. Coffee company, cake maker?

Things to look out for. Materials, since most cafe barriers are used outside choose a material that will last. Some companies offer stainless steel stanchions, ideal for outdoor use. Although two cross beams are more expensive the banner will hang better and look more professional. The cross beams need to be Strong, people have a tendency to lean on the which can cause them to bend. The stanchion base needs to be heavy enough to remain stable.

Crow Control Barriers

After a long search and testing numerous samples we have lunched a range of crowd control barriers. There are two main types the tensabarrier style retractable crowd control barrier and the traditional rope and post pedestrian stanchion. We felt the key to the crowd control barriers and retractable belt barriers was firstly stability so we have opted for a filled stable base and reliability of the belt mechanism. These retractable tape barriers need to be reliable so we have tested our extensively. Many samples we had failed after a few tests. The retractable mechanism either failed totally or lost tension so the tape would not fully retract. The conclusion? Cutting quality on retractable barriers is counter productive. Fortunately we have found a suppliers who can supply industry leading quality at a very competitive price. We chose two types of retractable tensabarrier stanchions. A single tape and a double tape. The single tape is available in red blue black and green tape and a choice of silver or black stanchions. Our double tape retractable barrier is ideal for banks and high traffic areas and is available with a silver stanchion and black tape.
For more traditional application we have top quality stainless steel stanchions with the use of rope barriers. Our full range of crowd control barriers can be found at our dedicated web site http://www.discountbarriers.com/

vinyl advertising banners

Vinyl advertising banners are great for advertising everything from outdoor events, birthdays, festivals, exhibitions, product launches and much more. Using vinyl advertising banners is an easy and cost effective way to advertise. Many people use these vinyl or PVC banners for their advertising; as they are relatively cheap, lightweight easy to display in all sorts of different place and can be easily rolled up stored or transported.
Vinyl advertising banners are actually large hoardings that are placed outside a business or in the vicinity of the event venues that are used to draw the attention of potential customers. Have you got an upcoming sale at your shop, a need to promote a sports event? Now adays Vinyl advertising banners are usually printed on large format inkjet printers unless there are very large quantities when they may still be screen printed. This means full colour images can be used for one offs at affordable prices. Vinyl banner material or PVC is a heavy weight material that has a reinforced nylon weave hidden inside the surface material to give it added strength. After the image is printed on the vinyl eyelets are placed in the banner so it can be easily hung

vinyl advertising banners can be used anywhere. They may be used for advertising for business, taken to a product launch or a sports event. They may also be used when going to a exhibition. Vinyl advertising banners may also be used by schools or sports team to promote them to the fans. There are many people who may use vinyl banners not just a business although that is the most popular use for them.
It's easy to order banners but some times quite time consuming creating the artwork that can be used by the banner printing company. The image quality may be ok on your laptop but when it is blow up many 100's of times for a banner the results can be poor. Don't worry our online banner design tool is quick and simple to use. Makes creating quality banners simple. People have used it for designing. birthday banners, anniversary banners, sports event banners, retirement banners.
When using our vinyl advertising banner tool it is important to remember that there are a few key elements when creating one that must be followed. The most important would be to keep it simple. The need to fit everything you want to say may overwhelm you but keep it simple. When a potential customer walks by you have about 3-4 seconds to grab their attention.. If they are walking or driving by it is hard for the potential customer to read all kinds of little fine print things like the address, or see a map, or a phone number. Just keep it simple. Use large words that will attract someone immediately. Use words like free, sale, discount, and grand opening. Phrases like that will grab the potential customer’s attention and bring them in.
You will also want to use vibrant colors. The most effective is red on white. Boring perhaps but eye catching. Full colour can also be used cost effectively with digital print. A picture paints a thousand words.
By using only a few colors you will make the sign simple and not confusing to anyone. Too many colours will loose the attention of someone passing by. So only choose two to three colors to use and stick with them. Use colors that will give your signage an impact.
Do not add anything that is unnecessary to the sign. Just simple phrases and bold, eye attracting colors. Get them into your store. Simple phases, simple words. By using these techniques for your vinyl banner you can assure yourself a great way to advertise for your forthcoming event