Categories
Uncategorized

Thank YOU – a little note from us to you

Since September – when we received this project – we have been working countless hours, non-stop to make this trade show come to life. We’ve attended many meetings, connected over the phone, and sent hundreds of emails. We’ve planned, refined, and then planned some more. We’ve been counting down the days and have had sleepless nights. We can’t believe the day is finally here! To say we are nervous is an understatement – but with the nerves come seas of excitement and of hope.

You see, we were handed this trade show as a project, but it has become much more than that for us. We have been presented with many challenges whilst organizing this trade show; a global pandemic, being stuck inside, uncooperative technology, the list goes on…but we never let it get to us, because this trade show is fueled by a passion to do something different and something innovative. COVID-19 presented us with a unique opportunity to take this online for the first time ever, and it was a challenge we were eager to take on! Rather than seeing this as a loss, we viewed this as a chance to make this bigger and have more people attend. Sure, it won’t be in person, but having it virtually means anyone who wants to attend can!

Our vision has been to make this a learning experience for us as organizers, but also for our wonderful vendors who have been working hard to allow you the opportunity to learn more about their selected charity. Behind the scenes we have been navigating our website, created from scratch, to make it flow well and make it user-friendly so it is easy for you to use. We have made pages and refined them, done whole system updates, and done a trial run to ensure everything is perfect. From the first day we have learnt so much. So firstly, we want to thank all our vendors for being patient and working with us, and for giving us the opportunity to gain this experience on how to create and have a virtual trade show in the middle of a pandemic.

We have rigorously emailed local businesses asking for sponsors, and we have had an overwhelming amount of replies. It has been so heart-warming to see how many people are keen to support our learning as we do something for the first time ever. So secondly, we would like to thank all our wonderful sponsors, without whom this trade show would certainly not be the same.

We’ve had meetings upon meetings with our professor, we have emailed him and messaged him over and over. So thirdly, we would like to thank our professor for supporting our vision and for entrusting us with such a big project. We also want to thank all our faculty who have been advocates for this trade show and for showing their support and excitement.

This trade show is to help us learn, but it is also in place to benefit charities picked by our vendors. We really hope through this trade show you are able to learn something new and connect with a charity and help them during this tough time. We would like to thank the charities for allowing us to work with them and for supporting us in our project.

We have posted on Instagram, on Facebook, on LinkedIn, we have emailed, and we have reached out to media outlets in order to get the word out and build an audience. So, finally, we would like to thank you for registering and allowing us this opportunity to learn, without you this would not have been possible.

So whether you are a vendor, a sponsor, a professor, faculty, a charity, or a registered attendee, we want to thank you for allowing us to use our creativity and innovation to make a unique online trade show. We have been working on this for months and it is so exciting to see all our hard work come to life. We hope you enjoy the Marketing for Good Charity Trade Show, and thank YOU for giving us this amazing opportunity.

– from Terry, Emily, and Bismah

Categories
Behind the Scenes Uncategorized

Finding the Perfect Balance: Booth Layout

Whether it is online or in person, the design of a trade show booth or page is pivotal to bringing your audience in. There is a lot of thought, organization, and customization that goes int creating the perfect trade show booth. It is an art in itself. In today’s blog post we will explore ways to design the perfect trade show booth.

Understand Your Target Consumer

The trade show booth is designed to bring in your consumer, therefore it is important to understand your target consumer. Are they male, female, or both? What is their age-range? What are their interests? It is important to research and to establish your target consumer so you can design a booth that appeals to them.

For example, if you are designing a booth for accountants aged 25-30 you may go for sleek and professional looking colours such as black, white, and a dark blue; these stand out and have good contrast but still look professional. You would not pick the same colours for a music trade show with emerging artists as the target consumer. For them you would go for a brighter, bolder colour which would make your booth stand out – such as electric purple or yellow.

Find Your Purpose

When designing a trade show booth or an online page you must know your purpose and design it according to that. Think about how will a consumer benefit from visiting your trade show booth? Is your booth there to teach the consumer more about your product/service? Is your purpose to provide the consumer with an unforgettable experience? It is to make more sales? Knowing your purpose for your booth will help guide you to design the best booth.

Know Your Budget

It is important to know your budget and plan on how to use it for your booth. How much will you spend on renting the booth? How much will it cost to decorate your booth? Do you need technology? These are all important factors to look at when designing a trade show booth.

Go With the Flow

No one likes a squished up, closed in trade show booth; it is difficult to move around and difficult to focus on any activity at the booth. It is essential to design a trade show booth which has an open flow and is easy to move around. Each station at your trade show booth should have a purpose to be there. Don’t overcrowd your booth with unnecessary stations and only have what is needed. This will help bring the consumer in to your booth as they will be able to easily see all your stations and will be able to easily access everything.

The Visual Appeal Factor

Trade shows are highly competitive environments where, just like you, every booth is competing to get the attention of the consumer. This is why it is important to make your booth visually appealing. To do so there are many tools in your arsenal, for example you have colours, there is lighting, there are product displays, and much more. Plan out your trade show booth to be visually appealing to your consumer so you can stand out.

Keep it Consistent

Consistency is key when designing a trade show booth. For example it is important to be consistent in the branding instead of having a lot of it in one area and none in another. The booth should feel like one with all the stations rather than being all over. It should feel like a family and the consumer should feel like they are still in the same booth.

It’s an Experience

Successful trade show booths provide the consumer with an experience. Go beyond just talking, show them your product, give them a chance to use it. Hand out swag. Genuinely interact with them. Create an experience that they will remember.

There is a lot that goes into designing a trade show booth and a lot of aspects meet to make one that is perfect. Your target consumer should have a memorable and interesting experience that will push them along the consumer journey and keeping these tips in mind you can do just that!

To register for our trade show please click here.

Categories
Behind the Scenes Branding

How to Brand your Trade Show: The Logo Guide

For a brand an essential part of their brand identity is their logo. It is more than a picture or wording – it is an identifier for the brand and something that can make the brand stand out. But how do you decide which logo to pick? There are so many styles, so many ways to go. Which one is for you?

Wordmark

Wordmark logos use stylized fonts to spell out the brand name. They often use customized fonts specifically created for the logo – another strong identifier for the company. The typography used in wordmark logos is used to capture what the brand stands for. For example Google uses a clean, user-friendly font because that is what their brand stands for.

Lettermark

Lettermark logos use initials that represent words – for example CN is Cartoon Network. These initials often use customized fonts and make the brand recognizable, even if they are using initials rather than the full name. This makes the brand memorable and also easy to say.

Pictorial Mark

These are icon based logos that use graphics or icons to represent the brand. These aid in establishing a strong brand identity as the brand becomes known through their logo – the logo makes the name recognizable. These icons symbolise what the brand stands for – for example Twitter uses a bird tweeting because users tweet.

Abstract Logo Mark

Rather than being a symbol that literally represents the brand name such as the apple logo for Apple, abstract logo marks are unique pictorial logos that are abstract and specific to that brand but not a literal representation of the name. These are highly individualizes and make the brand recognizable even if their name is not on the logo. An example of this is Adidas, they include their name in their logo but because of the abstract logo mark they use a consumer can recognize their brand through the logo without the name.

Mascots

Mascots are logos that use a character to represent the brand rather than going for an icon or lettering. These help in creating a strong spokesperson for your brand that speaks for you and becomes something people associate you with. This can be a useful tool for strong brand messaging. An example of a mascot logo is the Michelin man who is part of the Michelin logo – if you take the lettering away you will still recognize the brand through their mascot.

Combination Mark

A combination mark is a logo that consists of more than one element – for example Kodak is a brand which used lettermark and abstract logo mark combined together to make their previous logo. These types of logos are highly individualized and unique to that specific brand, they are customized and make the brand recognizable. Typically combination mark logos consist of the brand name with some kind of imagery such as a pictorial mark or abstract mark. These make the logo easy to read but also easy to recognize, if you take the lettering away the logo can still be recognized.

Emblem

An emblem logo have a font that is inside an icon or symbol. These are classic and timeless and work to create a strong and powerful brand representation. They can also be modernized and still be classic and timeless. An example of a brand that utilizes an emblem style is Harley-Davidson which has become famous for its strongly individual crest.

Logos, Glorious Logos

A logo should be something that is tailored to represent your brand and what you stand for, and is something that takes thought and time to make. So when making a logo write down and think about what you want it to represent and then work on the design of it. A logo most likely won’t be perfect on the first go, it takes time to make and many versions until you have made something that is the final choice.

Our Logo

For Marketing for Good we decided to go with a classic and timeless wordmark logo which is easy to recognize and easy to read. We wanted it to be simple and effective. That is why we went with the same fonts as our decided typography and combined both the fonts we picked to create a strong logo which is neat, clean, and has good contrast in the colour.

You can find out more about what we do and register for our trade show here.

Categories
Behind the Scenes Branding

The Ultimate Guide to Typefaces

You may be thinking ‘Why is typography important?’ Well, the typefaces you select can contribute to setting the entire mood and feel of your brand. Typography is just as important as colours – it has power to evoke feelings in a consumer.

Typography can also help you attract your audience. Think about it, when you visit a website and the font is effortless to read do you tend to keep reading? And what if you visit a website where the font is difficult to read? You end up going off the site, right? Even if the information to the consumer is valuable if it is ineligible consumers will click off it and go search for information elsewhere.

Another thing typography does is help build a stronger audience retention. If something is easy to read it will help keep the reader gripped, and may even make them click on another article or another post to continue interacting with your brand.

Typography is also a powerful tool in creating a recognizable brand. Some brands have gone to adapt their own font which they are well known for; when you look at that font you automatically associate it with the brand – that is the power of typography.

Typefaces, typefaces, typefaces

There is a certain psychology that goes behind fonts; font style can create different feelings in the consumer. There are many varieties and styles of type. They generally fall under the categories of serif, sans serif, script, and decorative.

Serif fonts promote feelings of class, respectability, and reliability. They are seen as classical and formal fonts and therefore are suitable for brands that want to convey authority, opulence, and grandiosity.

Brands with serif typefaces

Sans serif do the opposite – they are modern, clean, and project stability. The fact that there are no decorative elements in sans serif fonts means they convey strength and honesty. Sans serif fonts are used by brands that are objective and know what they stand for.

Brands with sans serif typefaces

Script fonts are much more decorative in nature. They create feelings of elegance, creativity, and affection. A lot of female-oriented brands utilise script fonts as they are seen as more feminine. Script fonts are also heavily utilised by luxury brands.

Brands with script typefaces

Decorative fonts are unique, stylized, and highly individual. Brands use decorative fonts to stand out, as it is only something that they use, so they become recognized for it. Decorative fonts work for brands that are highly expressive and want to covey friendliness.

Brands with decorative typefaces

How we did it

Marketing for Good typefaces

Here at Marketing for Good we wanted to go for fonts that were timeless, easy to read, and were strong. That is why we paired Garamond and Monserrat. These two fonts work beautifully together. Garamond is a strong font that is timeless as it is serif. It is also a font that provokes comfort and trust, and is easy to read. Monserrat is sans serif, it is fun, clean, and modern. These two fonts go perfect hand in hand and helped us build a strong brand identity through typography.

We have been working hard to build a one-of-a-kind trade show and invite you to the experience! You can register today at www.Marketing4Good.ca

Categories
Behind the Scenes Branding

Spread Colour – How to Pick Colours for Branding

When creating a brand there are many parts to think of – like puzzle pieces that come together to make a greater whole. One of the pieces that make a up a brand is its colours. In this blog post we will take a look at why the colours of a brand matter and how we chose the colours for Marketing for Good Charity Trade Show.

Colours Evoke Feelings

One aspect that makes colours powerful is their ability to evoke certain feelings when looked at. There is a certain psychology to colours and this table below demonstrates it very well.

Image from PNG Kit

Each colour has its own effect on you and how you feel. For example blue is a cool colour which communicates feelings of peace and strength whereas yellow makes one feel cheerful and warm.

Brands really focus on the colours they use as it aids in communicating the feelings they want a consumer to have when interacting with that brand. The table below shows brands who use this well.

Image from Parallel Branding

Nikon is a brand which is fun and energetic, and they use yellow to portray just that to their consumers. When you look at the logo it brings happiness and gives a surge of energy. Virgin is a brand that strongly uses red in its branding. Virgin is a brand that stands for boldness and passion, and the use of red conveys just that

Marketing for Good Charity Trade Show

When picking colours for Marketing for Good we wanted to stick to colours that evoked passion, power, character, and hope.

We as a brand are passionate about what we do. We are daring and are never afraid to face any challenge head on. This is why we picked red as it communicates just that.

Our brand stands for strength, balance, and character – these are things we believe in and gray communicates just that.

We love the contrast that is brought when we add black to the mix – a color which adds power and sophistication.

Marketing for Good wants to add light to this world whilst also bringing hope and coolness, thus we chose white to complete our colour guide.

Spread Colour

This image highlights a fun and interesting way to help you decide which colours to use for your brand.

Image from Designmantic

When picking colours for your brand think what you want to make people feel when they look at your logo or visit your website. Do you want to add freshness or go for something that is more regal? Jot down a list of feelings that matter to your brand and then pick colours that bring that. Don’t be afraid to experiment and play with colour and don’t be afraid to be bold and make a statement!

Categories
Behind the Scenes

Marketing for Good

“Use your marketing powers for good!” It’s one of the first things you’re taught in the Advertising and Marketing Communications program at St. Lawrence College. Part of the way that we bring that mantra to life is by working with real clients almost from day one of our classes.

Working with real clients as students means we get to work with charities and that has been wonderful. In our second year, our class worked together on a large leadership project that saw us raise more than $14,000 to help build a well in a village in Mozambique.

Now in our third year, we’re doing it again – this time with a twist. Our class has broken into 7 groups, each of whom has chosen a charity to represent and we’re hosting a virtual trade show in support of them. But if you’re reading this blog I guess you already know that.

Over the next six weeks this blog will be exploring the process gone through by me and the two other students who are working as planners and administrators of the trade show.