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How to Design a Trade Show Banner: Printing Tips

Tradeshow Illustration

Trade shows present an excellent opportunity for your company to tell its story. Research shows that trade show visitors will spend an average of eight hours exploring exhibits. Nearly all of those visitors are armed with the authority to make purchasing decisions.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that you’ll be just one of many businesses at the trade show, all vying for purchasers’ attention.

One way to capture that attention is through an attractive trade show banner. In this blog post, we’ll offer some tradeshow banner printing tips that will help draw customers to your booth.

1. Keep it simple

You don’t need to explain all the features of your product or service on your banner. The banner is just meant to start a conversation with a short, clear and clever message. Choose something that gets your message across in a handful of words, spelled out in bold text.

And that messaging will depend on you knowing who your customers are and recognizing their wants and needs. By tailoring your messaging to your ideal customers, you’ll allow the people manning your booth to spend time cultivating relationships with visitors who are more likely to become buyers.

2. Choose the right color

Although you want a banner that stands out, choosing a bright, attention-getting color without taking other factors into account can make your banner seem unprofessional.

It’s important to choose a color that reflects your industry, product/service and messaging. If you’re a firm that wants to be known for conservative financial advice, you’d probably want to choose a more muted color.

3. Make sure people can read your message

Another important factor in successful trade show banner printing is readability. No matter how perfect your messaging and color choice is, it won’t matter if no one can read what’s on your banner. Choose a font that’s eye-catching yet easy to read.

Don’t assume that printing your message in all capital letters will help it stand out. Research suggests using a both upper and lower case letters makes your message easy to read from far away.

4. Smart use of imagery

Just as you don’t want to overload your banner with a lot of text, you want to make sure your trade show banner isn’t a jumble of confusing imagery. Choose a single image with clear resolution designed to get the customer’s attention.

As with the messaging on your banner, your imagery is designed to start a conversation, not share your company’s complete story.

5. Save some room for white space

Less can be more when it comes to trade show banner printing. Don’t give into the temptation to fill the entire banner with text or images, as it can make your design look crowded or difficult to decipher. A generous use of white space – space with no text or images – can go a long way toward improving the impact of your banner.

Less can be more when it comes to trade show banner printing. Don’t give into the temptation to fill the entire banner with text or images, as it can make your design look crowded or difficult to decipher. A generous use of white space – space with no text or images – can go a long way toward improving the impact of your banner.

Are you getting ready to send employees to a trade show? PDC Graphics is here to help. We can make sure your booth is outfitted with a banner that can help your business stand out in a sea of competitors.

And our capabilities go beyond tradeshow banner printing. We can create graphics for all of your trade show materials, including step and repeat banners, retractable banners, banner stands, floor graphics, table throws and tabletop displays.

We can also help you promote your trade show. Before your team leaves for the show, you might want to consider sending out a direct mail post card letting customers and prospects know who from your team will be there, what booth you’ll be in and any special events, trainings, etc. you will be hosting.

You can even use the direct mail post card in a raffle by letting recipients know they will be entered for a grand prize if they drop the card off at your booth during the tradeshow.

Once visitors arrive at your booth, you’ll be able to greet them with signs, posters and wall graphics that announce new products or help keep your brand at the top of their minds.

Contact us today to learn how we can help your company stand out at its next trade show.

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