Powerful Marketing Tools | Creative Banner Stands In Houston
June 16, 2016
Creative Banner Stands Are Powerful Marketing Tools
Banner stands are everywhere in the trade show environment. Some of them are used to brilliant effect, boosting their owners' brand recognition and reach, and social media presence dramatically while attracting traffic to their exhibits at the show. Sadly, though, many of them are far less effective because their dull designs fail to grab the attention of the people walking past them. Banner stands can be extremely economical and effective tools, with some creativity and planning.- The Power Of Visual Imagery - One foundational principle of marketing is that pictures are more powerful than words. People will notice a picture more readily in marketing material, and they're more likely to respond to it on an emotional level than they are to text, no matter how well written. Especially in the context of a banner stand, which has limited surface area, and will probably be set up in an area where it will only have a few moments to grab a by-passer's notice, you'll get best effect from a design featuring mostly graphic image and as few words as possible. Choose a great photo and your banner stands are off to a great start! The right photo for your message depends largely on your target audience and the impression you want to create. Are those people likely to respond to humor? Nature? Shiny technology? A little research will pay off many times over.
- Variations On A Theme - If your banner stands will be set up together as a wall, or as individual units placed near each other, variations on a theme can catch people's eye in a way they won't be able to resist. Most people will start playing "Spot the Differences" in their minds, whether they realize it or not. What kind of variations? Think of Andy Warhol's artwork, where he often used the same image for a series of prints in varied color combinations. Other works, like his famous soup cans, were built upon repetition of shape and color, varied by the contents of the can labels. You can apply these ideas in less outrageous color palettes, as well. For example, if you're working with a photo of a grizzly bear, you could overlay the entire image in a different earthy color on each of a series of banner stands, or change the color of each banner's bear while leaving the background the same. This backlit display by Urban Animal makes good use of pop art-style color variation. Do exercise caution if you're working with a picture of a person: Warhol's work in portraits was extremely polarizing, which would be a risky choice for marketing material!
- Bite-Sized Pieces - Creative banner stands can be used in series to give visitors more information than you'd want to place on a single banner. Using pictures that are related in color, theme, or both, and very short, simple messages, your banners feed your message to viewers in bite-sized pieces, and they'll take them in almost before they realize it. Skyline's modular inline booth display for Solo Cup is not built with banner stands, but it is designed in panels, and its design principles apply very well to a series of banner stands. The blue background on each panel ties in with the corporate logo, while the colorful images of giant food pop out with a benefit of Solo Cups: Convenience, Environmental, etc.