A Quarterly Graphic Design & Printing Newsletter WINTER 2018
10 TRADESHOW TIPS FOR SUCCESS By Tingalls Graphic Design
LISTEN! My most important tip is to listen to your booth visitors. Ask open-ended questions like, “Tell me about your business” or “What do you like best about what you do?” Find out first if they have a need your company can fill before trying to sell them. KEEP IT SIMPLE. Think of your booth as a billboard. Too many graphics or text blocks can be distracting to people walking by that just “need the facts” quickly. Enlisting the tradeshow design experience of firms like Tingalls Graphic Design can be a valuable step in your tradeshow preparation. Graphics should be professional, yet eye-catching to spark the interest of attendees and pull them into your space. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. What types of people will be attending this event? Decision makers, families, etc. Most organizations have demographic information on who attends their events. Take advantage of this information and tailor your message accordingly. DON’T BE A CLUTTER BUG. How many events have you attended where you walked away with a bag full of brochures and “do-dads” that you never look at again. Resist the temptation to bring your entire marketing campaign and rather use this time to gather information on what your visitor is interested in and follow-up via mail or phone. ARRIVE EARLY. They say location is everything. If booths aren’t already pre-assigned, arrive early to nab a good location. (i.e. Near the bar or food.) (continued on inside)
GRAPHICS SHOULD BE PROFESSIONAL AND EYE-CATCHING TO SPARK THE INTEREST OF ATTENDEES.
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HEY NEIGHBOR! You never know who you might meet showcasing at booths around you. They might be looking for the same prospect and you can form a strategic partnership during the event. WOULD YOU LIKE A PEN? Take the time to brainstorm promotional items that will remind people of your brand or service instead of another pen. Think of giveaways like hand sanitizer if you’re a cleaning company, sun screen if you’re a health provider, a key to a safe that leads visitors to unlock a safe (with a prize inside) for a security company, etc. There are many clever ways for visitors to remember you. Don’t let your table be the one they miss. MAN UP. Bring more than one person from your office to give yourself breaks during the day. Plus, it allows you to assist more than one prospect when traffic is heavy.
From simplistic popup banners to large 10’ tradeshow booths, Tingalls has you covered!
BE GENEROUS. Most events have sponsorship or door prize opportunities. Offer to donate one of your larger priced products or services. Most likely the organizers will add your logo to their advertising and also announce your name throughout the event. FOLLOW-UP! To end my top 10, I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind you that the most important aspect of tradeshow marketing is to follow-up with your prospects. They’re expecting you to! Follow these simple guidelines and tips at your next tradeshow and you’re sure to “WOW” the crowd and gain more interest in your products or services. Explore additional ideas at www.tingalls.com or call 608-268-5525 to plan your next event. •
10’ tradeshow booth designed by Tingalls.
LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT LARGE FORMAT PRINTING By Steve Namio, Wells Print & Digital Services
Large format printing can be described as “printed items that are generally too large to be run on most sizes of commercial printing presses.”. When you need an oversized graphics display for a meeting, trade show, storefront, special event, wall or window display you can look at large format printing. This industry is growing in popularity as a great advertising tool. The wide images and texts offer more size flexibility to print your important message. Large format print jobs have fast turnarounds and very nice print quality as well as cost effective on short print runs because of the low set up costs and the fact that there are no minimums.
Uses for large format printing include but not limited to:
Materials used for large formating printing include:
Banners • Posters • Photo Enlargements Vinyl, Mesh or Fabric Banners Window Graphics • Wall Murals Trade Show Displays • Backlit Boxes Vehicle Graphics • Decals
• Vinyl for banners in/outdoor use or indoor for trade shows or displays. • Paper (Gloss, Semi Gloss or Matte) for Posters, POP, photo prints, retail graphics, etc. • Adhesive back vinyl for signs, vehicle graphics & wraps. • Miscellaneous materials for Window Clings, Magnets, etc.
consider when
• Where will it be installed/ used—indoors or outdoors?
determining the
• Distance from where the piece will be viewed?
Questions to
correct material and size for your printing project:
• What material to use? • Will it need to be mounted?
At Wells Print and Digital, we have a Mutoh ValueJet 1624 Eco-Solvent Printer capable of a maximum printing width of 63.6”which has produced a variety of great looking large format printing projects for our customers. On a technical note, we do recommend a resolution of Wells Print and Digital Mutoh ValueJet 1624 Eco-Solvent Printer is capable of printing up to 63.6”. 72dpi or more if you are using a photo. Also, vector-drawn logos and graphics (non-photos) are better than raster images. Whatever you decide, or if you need help in your decision, we are here to help with your large format answers. Use large format printing to market your ideas in a “larger” way! Please contact us at Wells Print and Digital for your next printing project large or small at 608-274-7474. •
Thank you! The entire Tingalls team would like to extend a big thank you to everyone who voted for our firm. We are excited to have won for our third year in a row for Best Website Development Company.
THE VALUE OF OUTSOURCING By Tingalls Graphic Design
Does your business outsource your graphic design needs? Depending on the size of your company, you’re probably outsourcing your legal needs, accounting and maybe even your janitorial. So, why not your marketing? Outsourcing your graphic design needs can not only have an immense impact on your bottom line but it can also increase the quality of your branded pieces which impacts the overall success of your company. Here are some examples: OUTSOURCING SAVES TIME When you remove small projects like brochure design and website maintenance from your to-do list, you immediately free up time to do what you do best—run your business! This means more time improving sales, networking, managing your team or spending time outside your office with family and friends. WE ARE TRAINED PROFESSIONALS Although DIY design projects may appear to save you money, it’s important to ask what is the true cost of doing a job that’s simply acceptable instead of great? Let’s take website design as an example. These days just about anybody can build a website using a free internet tool. But if you’re not a professional website designer and copywriter, chances are your self-designed site will appear, well, self-designed — which can make your business look cookie-cutter at best, and amateur at worst. LOWER YOUR MARKETING OVERHEAD Choosing to hire an in-house designer does make sense if you have daily projects for them to work on. But, what if your company is small and you only need new flyers every quarter or only have minimal edits to your website? Hiring a talented graphic designer—even one right out of school—will cost at least $40,000 in base salary alone and that doesn’t include benefits. At Tingalls, you only pay for our services when you need them. UNRIVALED SPEED With our 5-day turnaround, we might even be faster than your in-house team member who’s designing materials as “other duties as assigned.” Our dedicated team wants nothing more than to see your business succeed. You simply shoot us an email with a few details and we take care of the rest with an initial draft in your inbox within a few days. Outsourcing can provide many long-term benefits. By outsourcing your graphic and web design needs, you can save time, money and headaches. It lets you focus on the core of your business. The next time you are struggling to put that flyer together or creating a banner for your tradeshow, evaluate which tasks are better left to the professionals. •
• Find the Value of Outsourcing
• Large Scale Printing
Contact: Tom Schorr 608-274-7474 tom.schorr@printanddigital.com www.printanddigital.com
Contact: Tara Ingalls 608-268-5525 tara@tingalls.com www.tingalls.com
FRESH INK IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
C/o Wells Printing and Digital Services 3121 Watford Way Madison, WI 53713
• 10 Tips to a Successful Tradeshow
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