In A Digital World, Exhibitions Never Felt So Alive

In a world going more and more digital, believe it or not, fair trades and exhibitions are still valid and getting stronger.

There I was, after waking up before 4:00 am to get my morning flight, it was time for "Munich calling". Me and a bunch of globetrotters ready to rock, smile and talk for five days in a row. First time for me at what is perhaps the biggest exhibition in our industry.  Uniforms ironed, business cards on pockets and all the possible apps on the phone. 

This is pretty much all what I saw during this visit to Munich

No doubts. As the years pass by, we are moving more and more to digital activities – including booking, selecting, inviting and registering customers. No complains. Who really wants to coordinate postal invitations or even sending the paper replies?

This time the customers and prospects were contacted before the exhibition mainly through the digital channels: invitations, meeting arrangements, and advertising (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn). However, there at the Messe, the customers were very real.

There is nothing like meeting the customers face-to-face. Call me old fashion. I am not sure if it is because my cultural background or because I am a peoples person but, I really enjoy meeting customers at the exhibitions, and this was not the exception. In addition to catching up with business partners, customers and checking what the industry is offering, it is great to put a face to the sound on the phone. Even better to show our products in a real space, not only you-tube videos or links, here and there. International exhibitions are also amazing to get to know what is happening around the world, what are the trends and what people are looking for. 

On the other hand, I wish I could have had more time to do social media things from there, but you know... limited internet, rush time, a lot of action and especially I was trying to enjoy every possible minute with the customer.s A funny contradiction between my wish to be more social media master and to enjoy more the "here and now".

I confess to be quite a digital person, but events, exhibitions and fair trades are still very valid and important for me, and obviously for many others. No doubt, exhibition is a very strong marketing activity. I have not experienced yet any virtual exhibition, only few broadcast in my previous working life. However, I have participated in about 10 exhibitions in the last couple of years. More and more social media activities are getting there, but the offline activities remain the heroes during the exhibition time. 

Defining Your Visual Identity, Empowering Your Brand.

Your content matters, but the way you present your content can not be forgotten. In fact, the way you present your content might define if your customer reads your newsletter or just decides to delete it. It is not about adding bling-bling or fireworks to the brand or to your content, it is more about making it clear, understandable and consistent.

Investing in your visual identity will open a lot of doors and will help you gaining the respect of your audience. There are more people willing to read things that look organized and clean than people willing to read the messy ones. Making your visual identity consistent will define your company and your brand, too.

Defining Visual Identity:

Visual identity consists of the visible elements which define your brand. We talk about visual identity for example, when we talk about your company colors, the font that you use when writing, the logo, the way you present the slogan, etc. Some companies also have taken visual identity to the next level including other elements such as the way how their buildings look like and how those are decorated as well as the employees’ dress code.  

Visual Identity and your brand:

The visual identity add some meaning to your brand. Among others, you can see the visual identity reflected in your marketing material.

Let say that I am customer and the company X send me their new clothes catalogue. For sure, I will check it out. The first thing to check is if I recognize the brand. Does the catalogue looks familiar? Do I recognize the logo, the style, the colors? If this is something complete new, a catalogue can already tell me about the company, their style and their products.

Visual identity is powerful:

By looking at the catalogue I can answer

Is this a company for me?

Can I find something suitable?

Is this company trustful?

If the visual identity is not consistent, as a customer I might get confused and disappointed. So make sure that all your channels show your company in a similar way.

Visual identity is not just about having nice photos, it is the sum of all the visual elements that define your brand, your values, your style presented consistently in all your channels. All those elements together define your brand and your story.

How to start with your visual identity. Back to basics:

You don’t really need to hire a visual identity expert to work on your visual identity from the very beginning. You can take the first steps by defining the basic elements of your visual identity.

Defining the color of your brand: You need a color for the logo, for the slogan and for the text.

Defining the logo: Define which logo to use for example in printed material and online content. Do you need a clean logo or do you need the logo and the slogan? If you need both, define clearly when to use each one. Make the logo in three or four different sizes and define when to use each size. Make sure that you don’t change the logo size randomly.

Defining your fonts: There is nothing more annoying that text with many fonts. It looks like a woman with too much make-up. Select one or maximum two which can be used in your printed material, your website and your social media content. Select a font that is suitable for your business and industry. If you are in a graphic designing business your font for sure will be different than if you are in the bank industry. If you select different fonts for the titles and subtitles make sure that those are aligned.

  

Defining your style: This is not an easy one, defining your style means defining what kind of brand do you want to be: what kind of sentiment do you want to show, what kind of people are you trying to attract. You can start by selecting what kind of pictures do you want to have in your material? Remember that when defining your style you need to consider all the previous selections such as font, color, logo, etc.

Make sure that once you have built your visual identity, you train your people on how to use it. You need to communicate this internally and with any third parties working with you e.g. marketing and advertising agencies. The most important about defining your visual identity is applying it consistently among the different channels.