Introducing your company to the world at a trade show event is an excellent way to start building your brand. This is especially true when you have the right marketing materials on hand. Following are several strategies that every company owner can use to make the most of these important promotional opportunities.

One thing that many company owners overlook when planning for these presentations is the amount of manpower that they’ll have on hand. This is especially critical in terms of devising a feasible plan for setting up any table or booth that you will be using to connect with the public. Not only do you want this space to look good, but it also has to be easy to put together.

In addition to limiting the amount of work that you must do in preparation for the event, these qualities will also give you a calm, cool and collected demeanor. You certainly don’t want to look flustered and sweaty once prospects start milling about. With a simple set-up process, you can spend more time on devising the right spiel and determining which product or service features you will showcase.

Much like the logo design for your business and all other elements of your branding campaign, the look for your booth should be structured to evoke the right emotions. Company owners should not that certain colours and colour schemes can actually promote specific moods. With the right decorative elements, you can actually make your audience feel calm, relaxed and in a positive buying mood. Other colour schemes can even evoke a sense of buyer urgency, particular when these are used in conjunction with limited-time offers and visible signage detailing these.

Make sure that you have resources people can take with them. These can be informative brochures or flyers that answer all of the common questions your buyers have. This way, if you aren’t able to speak with everyone individually, all interested parties can still get the answers they need.

Set up a display that shows off your finest product. It is not enough to tell people what your goods can do. You will need to show them these features as well. Most modern buyers love tactile and visually-oriented displays that put them in close contact with the items being offered.

Coordinate your banners and other signage with your logos and other main display colours. Everything should have a seamless and well-structured look. This is often best accomplished by getting all of your signage and other visual presentation materials from the same suppliers. Ultimately, however, you just want to make sure that everything looks good together and that the overall appearance of your booth is one of professionalism and organisation.

Make sure that you have the right banner stand designs for all banners that you’ll be handing. This is important for avoiding tippage and other accidents and for ensuring that all of this important signage is always in a prominent location. When reviewing options in stands, remember to look for models that are lightweight, easy to transport and easy to set up and take down.

We all have to be smart about the money that we spend this Christmas. With the economy in the shape that it is in, we really need to make sure that we spend our money as wisely as possible.

Instead of purchasing presents just for the sake of having lots of pretty boxes under the Christmas tree this year, why not give family presents that everyone will enjoy? Is there something that you are planning on purchasing for the house anyway? If that something is something that everyone in the family wants, wouldn’t it make a great gift for the whole family?

How long has it been since you’ve purchased a new TV? We had been wanting to replace the tv in our family room with a new flat screen TV but since our old TV was still adequate, we just hadn’t replaced it. All of the kids reminded us every time we sat down to watch a movie or a baseball game how great it would be to have a nice big flat screen TV.

So, when they least expected it, we surprised everyone and had a new TV all set up and ready to watch last Christmas morning.

They couldn’t have been happier. We all had really wanted this big flat screen TV for quite a while yet, we just didn’t see how we could buy it with Christmas coming. Then we thought about the types of things that we would be buying for Christmas and thought, why were we spending our money on things that we weren’t even sure would get used more than a week after Christmas when what we really all wanted was a new tv that we knew would get used for years to come?

Money doesn’t come easy. Make sure that you spend it on what you really want and need; on what you will get your best value from, on what will give your family enjoyment for years.

If there is something that your family would really love and it will provide hours of great time spent together, seriously consider making it a great family gift this Christmas.

“Three rings of marriage are the engagement ring, the wedding ring, and the suffering…”

“Spouse: someone who’ll stand by you through all the trouble you wouldn’t have had if you’d stayed single…”

For most of us, an engagement is one of the most romantic and remarkable occasions in our lives and communicates a blend of true love and togetherness. But uttering the words “will you marry me?” are not so simple. It’s possibly one of the most terrific yet terrifying things you can ever do in your life. It’s a make-or-break situation; will they agree… or flee?

Maybe your marriage proposal involved getting down on one knee with a rose clenched in your teeth and the ring in your hand… turning up at their office in the middle of the afternoon, armed with a red rose, a bottle of bubbly and a glass containing the ring… serving them oysters in bed with the ring inside the shell… writing their name in chalk on the street outside your home or asking your local radio station to pop the question for you over the air waves…

So you’ve declared to the world you love and cherish each other. Two families unite to welcome the new bond that’s been made. Job’s a good’un. Now it’s celebration time! But what do you buy your fiancé or fiancée to say ‘I love you’? And if you’re a friend or relative of the happy couple, what on earth do you buy them as a token of your congratulations and jubilations? Whatever your correlation, jump on the bandwagon – give them a present they’ll never forget by considering personalised engagement presents. These are gifts that shout passion, personality and panache, all at once.

Here are a few engagement present suggestions for the Mr and Mrs-to-be…

Engagement Present Ideas

First and foremost, the engagement card. Want to make yours stand out from the rest? There is, in fact, such a thing as a card that grows – no word of a lie! Known as a ‘Treemendous’ Card, this gift contains a living, breathing Norway evergreen tree.

Naturally, a bottle of champers is always a winner. It’ll add a bit of sparkle and zest to the occasion and is something the starry-eyed twosome can enjoy together over a candlelit meal while listening to ‘I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You’ by Elvis Presley. Unlike your bog-standard bottle of Mercier, this is a bottle of personalised champagne, which displays the names of the happy couple along with your very own personal message. Even after they’ve devoured the bottle of bubbly, it’ll still stand as a symbol of their engagement as well as your ‘congrats’.

Engagements present for couples ideas could involve something a little out of the ordinary… Most folks dream of owning their own piece of land in the sun, beyond the hustle and bustle of cold, wet Britain. So, let them own a piece of paradise in the Caribbean. Simples. For even more unusual engagement presents, feature their names in a classic novel like Romeo & Juliet… give the happy duo their claim to fame by featuring them in a genuine personalised newspaper. Alternatively, give them a gift they can experience together such as a sightseeing cruise along the Thames or a three-course meal at a gourmet restaurant of their choice.

For a stand-out special gift for a loved-up couple, personalised presents for engagements are the only way to go!