Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Show Banner Content

Posted by Anonymous on 8/29/2008 at 3:27 PM ET 125 Points
We have a trade show coming up and we are launching a new product in a new market. Therefore the product is unknown and so are we. We are however working with a well known channel partner to enter the market. We are therefore planning to have an interactive demo unit ( operational) with a 35" x 90" banner.

I don't have a means to load the banner on this site. So I be more than welcome to send the sample via email.

I'd like some feedback on the content:

-words _ too many ?
-logo sizing
etc..
and general rule of thumbs as it applies to product banners vs. corporate banners.

I've tried to stick to the main points:

-what the product does
-what the benefits are
-brand family name ( large purposely )
-company branding with the logo ( less prominent on purpose than the brand family name since the banner is intented for channel partner booths )

I will have to to the printer for a proof by the end of next week.

cheers,

Pierre
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Levon on 8/29/2008 at 6:16 PM Member
    The whole point of a banner is to build a message so powerful so eye catching that it stops people in their tracks and forces people to come over and see what you are all about. When you can solve someone's business problem with a quick solution -- you're in.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 8/29/2008 at 8:50 PM Accepted
    A banner is not a brochure. It's also competing visually against the entire environment. Since no one knows your company name, product name, or logo, don't spend valuable space trying to announce yourself. Instead, focus on the key benefit that your prospects care about. That's who ultimately you want to attract. Yes, put your logo & company name, but not prominently. Keep your message simple, your text large, easily read, and able to catch their attention in 3 seconds as they pass on by your booth.
  • Posted on 8/30/2008 at 12:54 AM Member
    For a banner, it is highly recommended that you’ll have a minimal text. What I can suggest to include in the banner are the following:
    1.Company name and Logo
    2.Tagline of the company (hope your company tagline somehow speaks with what your company does)
    3.The product and very brief description of it
    4.At the bottom, you may also include the company address and contact details.

    The appearance of the banner also plays a crucial role. Try to use colors appealing to the eyes. You may also apply the "minimalist" approach so that you may be able to direct your audiences attention where you really want it to be, which is the text. Don't try to give out to many ideas and elements in the banner.

    If you want, I may give you further comments on your banner upon sending it via e-mail.

    Hope this helps!
  • Posted on 8/30/2008 at 3:55 PM Accepted
    Like a headline, the banner is nothing more than a way to get people to stop what they are doing and look closer.

    This week, I "attended" a webinar on headlines (from Marketing Experiments) and that was the big idea I took away from it. If you picture yourself looking through a pile of snail mail, it's "junk, junk, junk, hmmm." You want to be the "hmmm" whether it's in print, on line, or in a crowded trade show.

    The headline is the attention getter, designed only to get people to read the subhead. The subhead is the tease that should make people want to learn more. You should leave everything else off the banner.

    Also use the experience learned in search engine marketing: Get the keywords up front. It works even better for people than it does for machines. They used an example from the email they sent out promoting the webinar. The subject line with "Headline Optimization" as the first two words did significantly better than the other headlines, which put the benefits first. I went back over my mailbox (I don't delete much more than pure junk) to see which subject lines I opened and which I left for "later." I've been opening the keywords first headlines at a much higher rate than the others. Something else to think about when choosing your banner headline.

    Could you post the banner on a website? It might be easier to post a link rather than send to everyone via email.
  • Posted on 9/1/2008 at 6:31 AM Member
    There are some great responses above to your question Pierre. Trade shows are often a wasted opportunity for most that display, follow the advice above and if you like have a read of an article I posted on our own website about trade shows yesterday:-

    https://www.promotionproducts.com.au/galleries/articles/article.php?myartic...
  • Posted on 9/1/2008 at 8:01 AM Member
    I agree with Paul, I think it will be more convinient if you'll post your sample banner on a website. That would be easier and time saving on your part. Moreso, if we will be able to see the sample banner, we can give a more specific comments to improve it, if ever. Best of luck!
  • Posted on 9/5/2008 at 11:42 AM Member
    Pierre,

    I just had a chance to look at the banner. I have to say that this isn't the banner I would design.

    1. I read the horizontal text before the vertical, and had no idea what you were selling. "Increase Yield", "Improve Efficiency" and "Protect Your Brand" are so general that you might have been selling tractors to farmers.

    2. While I may be off base on what your product is, I believe the vertical headline should be "Weld Monitoring - Inline, Realtime" To go back to my previous comment, the guy looking for weld monitoring equipment is looking around the trade show at all the banners. Where should he go first? If I want him to come to me, I want him to see that we are selling the product he is looking for.

    3. Zume is the name of the product? Is it hardware, software or a system? None of this is explained by the words or graphics. Maybe the headline should really be "Weld Monitoring - Zume System: Inline, Realtime" using your Zume graphic, of course.

    4. In any event, the positioning, font size and word order all need to be looked at for readability and immediate notice.

    Good Luck!
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