How to Make the Most of Your Booth Signage
Whether you’re running a demo or staffing your booth at a trade show, signage is key to getting the attention you deserve for your signature products. Well, signage, sell sheets, business cards, PowerPoint presentations– anything you’re using to communicate with the written word. Here’s the straight dope, point by point.
Color: use your brand palette colors. Vary the color balance for holidays and specials if you like, but use those colors exclusively. Your brand palette is a core part of your corporate identity. If you don’t love those colors enough to live with them at demos, trade shows, industry ‘do’s and on your website, let alone your product packaging, it is definitely time for a brand refresh.
Fonts: There are millions of fonts out in the world. But you only need two (2). And again, they should be drawn from your brand kit. One for your Headlines and Titles. One for your body text. That’s two. Why 2 only? So that people can recognize your brand even before they begin to read. And those two fonts should bring your brand into focus for the reader: old fashioned, rustic, edgy, crisp, professional, romantic, whatever. If you don’t know which fonts sell which concepts, consult with a graphic designer. The other thing your fonts need to be, most of all, is easy to read. Seriously. Fancy is fun, and also wrong, for commercial communications.
Images: Signage is not your Instagram account. You want each picture on your signage to pull its thousand-word weight, rather than using a thousand images to form the one take-away word you want your readers to have as your take-away. Look hard at your chosen image. Does it sell your brand story? Does it reinforce your brand image? Does it stay with you when you’re done looking at it? Does it ‘read’ well from a distance? If you can’t say yes to all those questions, then it’s not the image you need for your communication.
Negative Space: Yep, you are paying for the printing. Yes indeed, you want to get your money’s worth. But no, more is not more on your signage. Negative space (ie not crowded with words and pictures) helps people to easily read the important points you hope to communicate to your audience. Know this, one person in a hundred will read what’s on a sign past line three. Seriously. So trim your text. Trim it more. Be absolutely certain that the words on the first three lines are the ones people will need to see to know what you have to say about your precious products. Everything after that is window dressing, and also making the sign so busy many people won’t even read to line three.
Good luck with your new and improved trade show signage!