About
Welcome to PN Services
Hi, and welcome to PN Services. My name is Peter Norton, and I have been working in marking for nearly 3 decades. More specifically, I have been working predominantly with using printed marketing material for nearly 20 years now. I started moving in that direction when I first started dealing with large printing companies such as MAN Roland and Heidelberg. It was then that I realised how effective a marketing technique attending exhibitions could be. Attending the Drupa exhibition as a guest, I saw that the rate of conversion verses to cost to attend a trade exhibition was astonishingly high. The amount of money that the good exhibitors made was quite astonishing, and the thing I liked most about it was the lack of need to make a hard sell. In my early years of working in the fast pace marketing departments in London, the environment was high pressure and the need to drive home a sale was accepted as normal. At an exhibition, people have come with budgets ready to spend. The question of them wanting to ‘buy’ is taken out of the equation, you simple have to present yourself well and you will be successful at gaining new customers.
However, that same first exhibition made me realise that if you didn’t present yourself well, you would gain nothing by attending an exhibition. If there are potential clients ready and actively looking to hire, buy or outsource, when on a stand you are next to other companies offering similar services. An exhibition stand run well is worth the expense ten times over, a stand run badly will make a loss and waste your time.
As my understanding and passion for exhibitions as a marketing tool grew, I became more and more involved in the business. My first few I attended as viewer, but very quickly became involved with preparing and running stands, starting with just a few square meters and working up quickly to 100square metre exhibition stands. I cut deals to bulk buy everything from roller banners and banners stands right through to custom made pvc vinyl displays. I built up a list of preferred suppliers of exhibition artwork and exhibition graphics, and very quickly I had more work coming in than I could take up.
Since then I have been on both sides of the table. As well as running stands as an exhibitor, I have helped to organise and run entire exhibitions. Having been in all three positions, from exhibition organiser, to running a stand, through to being someone attending an exhibition looking to spend a budget, I find myself with a unique insight and understanding of how to make exhibition marketing work for you.
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Starting services – choosing your banner
When thinking about attending exhibitions, the very first things you’ll need to look over are the practices of buying that actual equipment that you’ll need in order set your stand up. From a marketing point of view we are talking about your banner stands here. If you are new to the idea of an exhibition, you’ll actually be surprised at the different choices available to you when deciding what you are looking for. One of the most popular modern pop up display banners is the roller banner. The reason the roller banner is so popular, is the ease with which you can transport and put it up. When closed, they take up very little space, but when extended they can visually be very effective. They are very good indoors, but due to wind depending on the type you buy may not be as effective outdoors.
If you are looking at outdoor advertising, my personal recommendation is to think about a lamppost banner. Lamppost banners are large, impressive, and can be seen from well from a distance. So as long as the artwork is created correctly at the design level, it can be effective from people far away seeing and noticing the image, to close up where people can read the details of what you are trying to get across.
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The material that you have the banner printed on is also something worth thinking about, there are many choices. The modern material that I would recommend is vinyl pvc. A vinyl pvc banner is going to look just as good (in fact I actually prefer the gloss sheen that it gives) as well as being durable and waterproof. The cost isn’t high, and actually depending on what you are looking for many suppliers will charge by the square meter.
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Just a general note, if you are looking to have any kind of large format printing done, ensure that you do not leave things until the last minute. When you are having your printing done, you don’t want to allow any mistakes to come through – which does happen frequently despite everyone knowing this. You would be surprised how many times I’ve noticed a stand with a typo in their print, which is hard to ignore when it is being displayed on a 3 meter banner!
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When you are considering the size of the space you rent, remember that you have to fill it. Stretching the budget when hiring the space, may leave you without enough money in the bank when it comes to getting your set up built. The last thing you want to do is be an exhibition panel short of a stand!