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Posts Tagged ‘creative’

Lets Get Creative

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

When you’ve got a trade show coming up, it’s pretty hard to differentiate yourself from the competition. Trade shows have hundreds of business all vying for the attention of those walking through them. We’ve talked about how to grab attention with colors or unique fonts. We’ve even talked about the different kinds of wall hangings, ceiling displays, table displays that you can have. But up until now most of those suggestions have been in 2D displays with something like posters and hangings. What about 3D displays?

There are hundreds of different types of 3D displays that you can use at a Trade Show, and that’s half the fun. You don’t want just some boring table with information right? You want something like this cool graphic board that advertises not only outwards, but has the ability to have things placed on it’s 3 different flat levels. Or you want something like these movie cases that are in the shape of characters that people know and love.

There are no limitations when it comes to the size, shape, color, and structure of your POP display. In fact, the more creative the better more often than not. The trick is to be relevant. Know your audience, and your space requirements as well. You don’t ever want to walk into a place with a huge cardboard cutout and have no where to put it!

Try and see a space before you have to actually go in and set up to know what you’re working with. If there aren’t any huge limitations, let your creativity fly!

What’s Your Content Doing?

Monday, May 31st, 2010

You’ve got a huge trade show coming up. You’ve got all your materials ready to go. You’ve got great display cases in a variety of shapes, sizes colors, heights, widths and are generally prepared for whatever this trade show might throw at you whether you’ve got a large or small booth or don’t even know what you’re walking into until you get there. You are pumped!

But people aren’t coming to your table.

They aren’t altogether that interested in what you’ve got.

They look quizzically at your product and walk away.

What could you possibly have done wrong?

Well, odds are it was your content. If you are selling a product, you want to entice and engage people to come to you and ask questions. It is up to you to get them to ask more about you and your business.

First – lets look at your graphics. Can they be seen from a distance? Are they using complementary colors to make the words pop? Are the fonts appropriate for your business AND easy enough to read?

Next – lets look at your sign placement. Are you standing in front of it so people can’t see? Is it low in front of your table where people walking won’t see it in their line of vision? Is it small and on the side of your table/booth? Maybe you’ve placed it too high up and no one sees it? The art of Feng Shui is not lost here – know where to place things for optimal vision.

Lastly – lets look at the wording of your signs. Questions are a great way to get people interested in what you’re selling because they want the answers. They want to know how you can help change their lives. Your customers have to sift through so much material at a trade show (and elsewhere) that if they can read through your signs and get the general idea, then why would they bother stopping? Do not place too many words at the same time you shouldn’t place too few words. It is very much a balancing act. Offering free items and letting them know about this kind of giveaway is also a way to draw in people. Contests are a great idea too. One of the best things you can have is some kind of spinning prize wheel that allows your customer to engage and have fun.

So while having the greatest materials may be a giant step in the right direction, you want to make sure your content on signs and displays makes you and your product go the extra mile. Know how to interest people, draw them in, and make them interested. Good Luck!

What Catches Your Eye?

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

When you have a display – it can be any size, shape, color, height, or width and it can be a tall standing board, or hang from the ceiling or over a wall at a trade show. The possibilities are endless.

But what do you put on the specific display? *That* is the most important thing. The words, the colors, the sizes, the fonts – they all matter. There’s a lot of psychology that even goes into it. Recently, the re-branding of certain companies has seen many logos go from capital letters to lowercase letters. Why? For example, AT&T. A few years ago they consumed Cingular – which was a very popular cell phone company amongst young adults. It was all orange, and had a fun logo that was a paint splat that looked like a person. When AT&T merged, they assumed the orange and mixed it in with their blue, and lower cased the letters at&t. Lower casing has helped them to stay “fresh” because that’s what the younger generation likes. It seems relaxed, fun, and not overly controlled. Hard to believe all of that comes from just a different font, right?

This website came out yesterday – that is a really fun and interactive ebook on fonts from A-Z. Take a look and see what you could throw onto a display to make it “POP” more than it already does.

Just this week, Google even opened up 18 fonts that can be used on line. If you have any digital displays you can now incorporate these fonts into things that people are already accustomed to.

Typography is important be it on line, in paperwork, and displays. Catch someone’s eye. Be creative. Use fun fonts!

You Have 3 Seconds to Grab Attention

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

How fast do you walk? I suppose the answer to that depends on your destination – are you casually window shopping and perusing what stores have to keep in mind for later? Or are you walking at a fast pace to quickly get somewhere? What are you noticing as you walk by? Regardless of a customer’s speed, the average glance lasts 3 seconds and that is all you get to catch attention and bring customers into your business.

Everyone is a consumer at some point, and all final shopping decisions are made while the customer is in the store. A clear visual representation is everything.

Know your brand and know your customers. Lets say for example, a working mother is in a mall shopping for herself, but she walks by a certain window display featuring a baseball field scenario. The images will now spark her memory and she will remember her 10 year old son needs a new baseball mitt for his upcoming little league season. If that display had not been in the front of your store, she would not have entered.

Now, think of where in the store you would place this mitt. Would it be by the checkout counter? No. Place the mitts/bats/clothing/etc. somewhere near the back of your store. This way the customer now has to walk through other items before getting to what she came in for. Perhaps while this mother is buying a catcher’s mitt, she also thinks to herself her son could use new protective pads, or a hat, as well, because they’re right next to the mitts.

It doesn’t end there either. As the customer is walking to the front of the store to purchase these items, place the impulse buys within arm’s reach while they wait. Socks, mouth guards, sweat bands can all be last minute additions to a customer’s purchase.

All because you had a creative, eye catching, POP display in your store’s window front that triggered a woman’s memory regarding things her son needed, you have now made a rather hefty sale. You have maximized your appearance and maximized your sales all in that 3 second glance.