Making the right impression at a promotional event

If there is anything that makes someone feel unimportant, it is inviting them to a conference, product launch, or other promotional event, and then handing them a sticky label when they arrive and ask them to write their name on it. What a disastrous first impression to make when you are spending a small fortune on an event in an attempt to impress and drum up business, either now or in the future. So how much did it cost you to hire the venue? How much did it cost you to pay for the catering? How much money have you shelled out on drinks? And the promotional items you have dotted around the place – the banners, the leaflets, the balloons, the promotional gifts? And as a consequence, when it comes to cost cutting, you do it with the very first thing your guests are given, thus negating all the good you will try to do afterwards.

Perhaps you have forgotten what it is like to me made to feel less than important, less than special, and more like just one of a crowd. If you are going to hold an event, get everything right and ideally, don’t try and cut any corners. Have a rethink and imagine you are that guest who arrives at the venue. You are greeted by a charming young man or woman, a genuine smile on their face as they ask you politely what your name is. A few moments later they acknowledge your arrival, advise you they have been looking forward to your arrival, and present you with a smart personalised name badge they would like you to wear to make it easier for everyone to recognise who you are. You look at the badge and appreciate its quality, wearing it with pride as it fits well with your smart clothes and is so much nicer than the usual sticky label you get asked to wear.

Fast forward to the end of the event and two different things will happen based on whether you have given your guest a quality personalised badge or a cheap sticky one. The former will be taken off and put in the recipient’s pocket. When they get home it will likely be put on the kitchen table and thereafter make its way around the house over the ensuing weeks and months. It’s too nice to throw out, so it gets kept; and a subliminal marketing message continues to be broadcast all the time it is left lying around. The alternative scenario for the sticky label is that it gets ripped off and thrown in the nearest bin with probably an element of contempt at the end of the event, its job done and the marketing message heard loud and clear by the wearer.

Now if you want a better idea of what we are talking about here at Imagin Badges, why not give us a call and ask us to send you a sample of the badges we produce. After that you will get a better idea of what we have been talking about, and we can even make you up a personal sample from your own artwork if you would like.

5 good reasons to choose printed staff ID badges over sticky labels

You would be very surprised just how much attention members of the public – your potential clients – notice, and their perceptions of what they see. You may spend a great deal of money on marketing your business, attracting customers through your door, yet one minor flaw and you can undo so much of the good you have done. How is this possible? Simply through the type of name badge members of your staff wear. At Imagin Badges we have done a lot of research to establish a successful number of ranges of badges which all fulfil the most important function – impress the person seeing the badge. Yes, the badge should be worn with pride by your member of staff as, after all, it is declaring ‘I am a valued member of the team’. However it is what the person seeing it on your member of staff thinks that matters the most.

Here is what we have established at Imagin Badges and what drives us on to perfect the ranges of personalised badges we have on offer:

• A quality personalised badge reassures customers that they are speaking to a permanent member of staff, not a trainee or part-time employee. This helps to build instant confidence and a stronger business relationship
• The better the quality of badge, the more an employee feels valued. Give them a sticky label and ask them to write their name on it tells them you don‚Äôt really care about them ‚Äì provide them with a quality personalised badge, a smart staff ID badge, and they will reward you ten-fold. The better the badge the more valued a member of staff will feel.
• A quality badge lets everyone know that you pay close attention to detail and that you are not a business that cuts corners.
• Quality staff ID badges set the tone for the whole business operation, in the same way that smart appearance, tidy hair, polished shoes and a welcoming smile do. A scruffy name badge undoes all the good any exemplary personal appearance may achieve.
• A quality company ID badge will remain looking smart for a long time to come ‚Äì that little bit of extra expense at the onset will be repaid by the continued smart appearance of the name badges your members of staff wear, rather than have them look like part of the furniture after a year.

It may have surprised you how much thought we put into our business, but if we want you to invest in us as suppliers of top quality ID badges to your business, we need to tell you why it is such a good idea in the first place. Like so many things in life, unless we work behind the scenes, we just take them for granted, and to many, a name badge is just a name badge. However for those of us who have a marketing background, a name badge isn’t just a name badge, it is a marketing opportunity, and a very good one at that. Not so much an opportunity to market a product, but to market you, your company, and the standards to which you work. Success in business is all about creating the right impression and ensuring that you appear a better choice than your competitors. The only way to do that is to ensure corners aren’t cut and that where promoting your company is concerned, you do your utmost to impress the client in more subtle ways, in ways where they will get the message, but not have it shouted at them as though they were idiots!

Of course the proof lies in the products themselves, so while we would be delighted if you called us to discuss any needs you will have either now or in the future for personalised badges, we would also be delighted to send you a set of samples to give you an even clearer idea of what we have been talking about.