The front end of your business is one of the most important assets for marketing and client acquirement. From the smiles on your employees’ faces to the quality of your banners and signage, every part of your storefront and the image you portray matters. When you attend a trade show or when a customer walks through your doors, the first impression is what is sure to make or break you in the long run.
With this said, it’s not enough to have positive, informative staff members ready to answer customer questions. To truly find success both in-house and at trade shows, you must be able to draw customers in with incentives, answer questions before they ask them, and showcase your products or services in an intriguing way.
Although this may sound like a hefty request at first, the answer to all of these problems is actually quite simple: large format printing. With large format prints, you can put your best foot forward and reap the benefits of high-quality materials in no time.
To implement this printing method into your own business, it’s important that you first analyze exactly what large format printing is, why you need it, and how it can benefit you. Through this, you can create beautiful printed products that are sure to grab the eye of anyone both on the showroom floor and walking by your storefront and present a flawless image of professionalism and experience with ease.
What is Large Format Printing?
Large format printing is one of the most powerful assets a business has to create an image that truly stands out from the crowd and makes a “big” statement in the process. Have you ever walked or driven by a business and seen a banner, sign, or poster that catches your eye, despite how far you are from it?
If so, you’ve already experienced the power of large format printing. Also known as wide format printing, this method refers to the way in which large-scale posters, banners, signs, trade show booths, wall or floor graphics, window graphics, and point-of-sale displays are created. With this said, they are truly the foundation of any business’ sales materials, both in-house and at trade shows alike.
Large-format prints can be done with a wide variety of substrates, including vinyl, foam core, cardboard, glass, plexiglass, and paper. With large format printing equipment such as that found at Ironmark, you can print anything up to 98” wide and on substrates up to 2.5” thick, as well as anything on a roll. This means that everything from signage design and trade-show booths all the way to office wall graphics and in-house posters are all available to you. Our creative team is also at your disposal to help bring your branding vision to life.
The best way to utilize large format prints is by making big statements in big formats with beautiful, bold graphics. (You want to stand out from the crowd and attract the attention of potential clients.) To do this, you will need to develop unique and stand-out designs. You can either do this yourself or ask your printer about their in-house creative team.
Remember that in addition to being visually appealing, your graphics should also communicate information about your brand or your products that will help a potential customer make a more informed decision before even walking up to your booth or into your store. In doing this, you can attract pre-qualified people who are further down your sales funnel, rather than spending time with people who aren’t a good fit for your business.
How Does Large Format Printing Make an Impact?
Imagine, instead of having to explain to a potential client your entire process, you had all of your central brand messaging, current specials and deals, or information about your most popular products printed for them to read at their own pace, without feeling pressured into a sale.
Although this may seem counterintuitive to some because it does not create that initial conversation point between you and the potential customer, the truth is that people tend to prefer learning about products or services on their own and not being stuck in a conversation about a company they may or may not work with.
In fact, having printed information is so vital that, according to V12 Data, “63 percent of consumers said they’d think more positively of a brand if it gave them printed content that was more valuable, interesting, or relevant.”
With this in mind, it’s no wonder why large format printing is essential, especially for trade shows. In a trade show environment, you have to make a big impact to attract more people in less time. In fact, according to Matt Doyle of Excel Builders:
“I've seen even some of the big companies bring some really sad-looking tables to a trade show. If you want to look bigger and more invested (and more investable!) then consider this part of your marketing budget for the year. If you have something printed that looks really great, you can also save it for future shows.”
The biggest impact of all of this? You save a significant amount of time by allowing your audience to self-identify if they are interested in doing business with you. It ensures that your leads are pre-qualified and ready to hear more, allowing you to focus more on the actual sale and less on the explanation process.
In this way, having large format prints reduces the need for an outbound sales pitch and makes you stand out from the thousands of other businesses in your industry and on the trade show floor alike.
Now that you know what large format printing is and why it’s so essential to a business looking to stand out, all that’s left is creating your large format print ideas and taking the necessary steps to make them a reality. Let Ironmark’s creative and large format teams both help you reach those goals. Our expert designers and printing staff are ready to give the guidance you need to reap the benefits of large format printed content and see the difference “going big” can make in your business.
Need a large format expert to walk you through your next signage project? Contact us for a free consultation on how to get the most out of your event or signage marketing!