Giveaways typically have multiple purposes. They are a way to attract people to your booth, they provide a way for you to collect leads which hopefully turn into sales, and they are a way for you to promote your brand to prospective customers. However, these purposes can sometimes be at cross-purposes. Exhibiting at a tradeshow is expensive. Get the most from your tradeshow budget by not just driving “traffic” to you booth, but by driving “prospective customers” there.
Every time you communicate for your company, you are wasting an opportunity if you don’t use your brand. Use letterhead PDFs for all your emailed documents to help keep your brand in front of your customers.
When it comes to merchandising, the item you select becomes an extension of your brand. Make sure that it is something that reflects the quality of your brand and that it is something that your customers will relate to you.
Don’t detract from your brand by using en email address from anywhere other than your own domain.
A style guide is the way that you can make sure that everyone writing content for your company is using tone and vocabulary and presenting your brand in a consistent way–whether it is web copy, brochures, technical papers, or even correspondence.
Show your technology leadership by treating the names of mature technologies as mature terms and drop the hyphens! Talk to your company legal reps, branding cops, and corporate marketing heads. Make it an issue. Pass the word around and get others involved. Make it happen!
Whether you have a startup company looking for an angel or you’re a one-person shop looking to freelance, one of your very first steps is to come up with a good business name and domain.
Wherever people encounter your product or service is an opportunity to express your brand. Look for ways to inject some personality where your customers will find it a pleasant surprise.
Use a real design professional to create your logo if you can, but if you simply can’t, consider making a text-based logo yourself using a unique font.
