Source: www.bizrice.com We often get asked the question "do I need to engage a Packaging Designer for my package design?" It's quite hard to give a quick or direct answer, because everyone's packaging or bag needs, marketing strategy and branding is so different. The most simple way I can explain is, it depends on how complicated the packaging design is. It also depends on how complicated the artwork design is. If you really want to stand out from the crowd, we suggest getting the work done by a professional. As you can see from the two pictures below, the packaging template design would be complicated and would require a professional packaging designer to design. Source: www.looks.gd Source: cclearance.blogspot.com However, if you just require a simple design like a boutique bag or a shirt box, then we are often able to create the die cut template, and place your artwork design or logo where you require on the bag. We can do this as a complementary service, so that you do not have to enagage a Packaging Designer or Graphic Designer - however this is on a case-by-case basis, because it is our manufacturers who can advise if it is a straightforward job for them or not. For example, we work with event managment companies who need event bags for their clients. They just send us their bag size requirements, the colour of the bag they require (CMYK colour code- if not white or black), and the logo they want printed. We can offer to create the die cut template and organise the logo placement at no cost. The above bag is one of the bags we made for our client. They supplied us with the bag size specifications, their logo in a .jpeg file, and logo placement directions. We were able to make the bag without having to ask our clients to engage a Packaging Designer to create the bag template.
We usually ask our clients to supply us with a picture of the packaging design they require (a photo from Google images, or even a hand drawn design is fine). From that, we can indicate whether our client would need to engage the services of a designer.
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After years of working in the events industry, where I managed (or assisted in the management of) seminars - ranging from seminars where we hosted 5 people, to major events or conferences with 2,000 + attendees, there were common themes that emerged whether we were catering for a handful of people or an entire company! I thought I would share my thoughts with you about some things I learned about how to host a successful event / seminar or conference.
Make your attendees feel special and looked after No matter if you're the CEO of a company that has all the confidence in the world, or if you're just new to the work force, everyone feels a little bit overwhelmed as they walk into a new environment; especially to an event. Your job as an event manager or assistant is to greet all your guests with a warm smile, politely ask their name, provide them with a name tag, and direct them what to do next. It might be to tell them to help themselves to a glass of wine at a table a few meters away, or direct them into the correct conference room down the hall. They will appreciate being taken care of and directed. Food and drinks are important! We often asked delegates to fill in a quick survey after the event, asking questions about the speaker, the topics, the room, the location, the food, and anything else. More often than not, the delegates would comment on the food. No matter if the topic of the event, food was really really important to the guests. Make sure as an event manager you sample the food from your catering supplier before taking them on as caterers. If you don't LOVE the food that they have brought for you to sample, move on and keep looking until you find a caterer that you love. Your guests will be grateful for it. People know deep down that the caterer has nothing to do with your company, and that you hired them to provide food for that particular event, but they will still think badly of you and your company if you do not provide good food. On the other hand, if you provide beautiful, tasty food, the guests eyes light up when they see your food spread, and they are happy to be at your seminar after sampling the beautiful food. Don't underestimate the power of catering to your company's brand image. Waitstaff If you have employed waitstaff to hand out food or drinks to guests, or have them behind a counter pouring the drinks, you MUST pick the correct staff to fit your function. Again it is all to do with brand image. If you are a fun, crazy brand, then have fun staff, with big smiles serving. If you are a brand that is more demure, ensure that the waitstaff or bar staff understand they cannot jump around and be loud and silly with the guests or with other wait staff. Of course, as servers, they need to be well groomed, pleasant and smile, but they need to fit the company's image, as on that night, they are representing the company that they are working for. The worst thing is unpleasant, unsmiling, unobservant wait staff. It makes your guests feel unwelcome / negative. Provide them with a gift bag and giveaway (or information) as they are leaving the venue Unless there is important information in the bag that guests need to use during the event or seminar, it is best to give the event bags away as delegates are leaving the premises. This is for a number of reasons: the bag wont get crushed, ripped or bent out of shape as people place them by their seats which then get stood on by other delegates, the room can start to look like a mess with everyone's bags propped around the room hap-haphazardly, it is nice to receive a 'present' from the hosts after attending their event, and it is annoying for the delegates to carry the bag around whilst trying to balance a glass of wine, a morsel of food and shake hands with other guests. I hope I have provided you with a quick overview and a few tips for your next event! Good luck! After spending probably thousands of dollars (or even tens of thousands of dollars!) on your event materials, products to display, furniture, maybe more staff, and the booking fee or stall at the expo itself...amongst numerous other costs, you then realise you need event bags.
Having worked in event management and marketing for years, and having ordered event bags for numerous events and expos (before starting my own bag and box business) these are my thoughts and tips for what you need to consider when you want to order event bags: 1. What is going in the event bag? Do you need the bag to fit a bulky magazine and a water bottle, or just a few little flyers and small give-away? Make sure you gather all your collateral together and measure them to figure out the size of the bag you want. There's nothing worse than having a massive event bag with a few flyers hiding down the bottom. It feels weird for the delegate carrying it around too. Nor should you make the bag too small. Make sure the gusset will be wide enough to fit your give-aways in. For example if you are giving away a bottle of water and a magazine together, make sure they can both fit snug in the bag, by ensuring the gusset (side of bag) is wide enough. You don't want your bottle busting the bag, or if you do manage to squeeze it in, having an outline of the bottle that has obviously been wedged into the bag! My advice: measure, measure, measure! 2. How heavy are the contents? Again, if you've got a 750ml bottle of water and a thick magazine, you could be looking at over 1kg. You probably don't want to go for a 70gsm (thin) kraft bag. You will need a sturdy bag (probably a classic boutique style bag), and you will need to think about reinforcing the handle holes and the bottom of the bag to ensure your contents don't rip through the bag and land on the feet of a very embarrassed delegate! My advice: tell your packaging supplier (preferably us at Custom Printed Bags & Boxes!) what your contents weigh. We will be able to reinforce the bag to ensure non-breakage. 3. The bag design. If you don't have the budget to engage a Graphic Designer to create a fantastic stand-out design for your event, then you should just go with printing your logo on both sides of the bag, (and even print on the gussets). If you buy in bulk, you can use the generic branded bags throughout the year for other events. Otherwise, to really stand out, you can print a message on the bag relating to the event itself. My advice: custom printed bags are so important because it shows you're a professional organisation, and when people walk around with your bag, it gives you brand exposure. Best of luck with your event! We are excited to announce we got a two page spread in the December 2012 issue of the 'My Business' magazine!
I don’t know about you, but every time I get home from an event, I have a heavy event bag full of a variety of postcards, flyers, brochures and giveaways that I often end up throwing away with a moments glance.
I wanted to explain my take on event bag fillers, and run through some good and bad ideas for your future event bags. Some good ideas for giveaways are are food – chocolates, drinks, nibbles, samples of your product or a wrapped present of some sort (chocolate or a small sample of your product, for example), a hugely discounted gift certificate or a 'two for one' deal (that is really worth something - not just $5 off) – but package it or make it stand out somehow (maybe tying ribbon around the voucher?) otherwise people might see it as a worthless piece of paper. Some bad ideas are key rings – who doesn’t have one of those already? figurines – who is going to keep them displayed around the house? Plus you don’t want them to get into the hands of someone under the age of five. If you are sticking to a budget for your conference or event (as most people do), don’t throw away money on silly, gimmicky give-aways that you know will end up in the bin. It’s not only bad for the environment, but a waste of your money – think about what the hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars that you spend on unwanted giveaways could have bought you, through other marketing efforts, or through spending a little bit more on a giveaway that is a truly thoughtful. Remember to always link the giveaway to your brand or your industry if you are not giving away samples of your product. Make it fun! You want people to like your brand and take notice of you. If you are giving away samples of your product, remember the basics for the packaging – keep it to your branding colours, include your logo, slogan and most importantly include the ‘how to buy’ or ‘how to contact us’ details. This could include where your product is stocked or your website details for online sales. The worst thing ever is a potential customer enjoying your sample, then finding it hard to contact you, find your website, or find out where they can buy it from their local area! Best of luck with your conference bag giveaways! We can now offer low quantities (min 500) of cotton bags! In keeping with our theme of allowing our customers to fully customise to their unique requirements, we can offer cotton bags to almost any design for your event: short handles or long handles, printed with your logo or design and dyed to your brand colour. We can even use thick cotton for heavy contents, or thin cotton if your bag is just for branding purposes....you choose! First of all you need to decide why you are going to participate in the expo. What are your objectives? Is it a pure branding exercise; is it something you ‘must’ do so that you are seen as a leader in your industry? Is it to gain more customers, is it networking? Or a combination of these things? _ Check out your competition – are your competitors exhibiting at the same event? If not, ask yourself why not. Maybe you need to take more time to look into the proportion of attendees that is your target market. Or maybe you’re the first of your competitors to take the plunge into exhibiting – so if you think it’s right for your business – go for it!
If you decide to exhibit at the event amongst your competitors, make sure you make it clear on all your event marketing materials what your point of difference is. Marketing is all about communicating to customers what you can do for them, and how you can satisfy their need. Don’t overcomplicate things. Don’t try to be all things to all customers. In most cases people set up businesses to fill a need in a market – maybe the market is already saturated, but you found a niche – you need to communicate that. Not all people will be your customers, but you need to communicate your differences so that the people that require that specific offering know where to purchase from. For example at Custom Printed Bags & Boxes our point of difference is that we fully customise event bags to any requirement (size, colour, design, printed, non-printed etc.), and we cater to low minimum orders. These are the two points of difference over our competitors. We make sure we communicate these points of difference on our postcards, banners, brochures and other marketing materials in simple words /statements. The same words/phrases are repeated everywhere in the hope that when someone needs low quantities of customised bags or boxes they will immediately think of us. What you need to consider to brand effectively at an event: Event bags – you can brand event bags to that particular event – why not get creative with your design or you can get generic custom printed event bags with your logo that you can use for events throughout the year. Banners – these are great at big and small events. You can get roll up banner stands for a few hundred dollars. I suggest getting generic banner stands – with your logo, offering and images that can be used at different events. Expo stand – if you have the budget, you will look sleek and professional with a professionally made expo stand that is custom made to your brand colours and design. Brochures / postcards / leaflets – you can get small quantities of quite cheap, good quality postcards or leaflets from somewhere like Vistaprint. Ensure that you have your logo, brand colours, images and your offering in simple wording on your postcard. When customers go through their event bag at the end of the day, they will take a quick glance at each of the dozens of brochures or leaflets that they have picked up during the day. Make sure your message is clear and concise, so people can decide within a second if they want to keep your leaflet or not. Ensure your contact details and website are featured too. Giveaways – try to find a useful giveaway that somehow ties into your service or brand. For example, if you’re a personal trainer, you could give away bottles of water with your logo printed on. I think you should either invest in great giveaways that people will want, need and use, or not spend money on a giveaway that people will end up throwing away with their unwanted brochures that they will receive in their event bags at the end of the day. Think about the giveaways you’ve been given that you were grateful for, and those that you threw away as soon as you get home. You and your staff – smile at people walking by, and be approachable. If someone is hovering around your stand it probably means they would like someone to say a friendly hello and ask if they can be of any help. Don’t stand in a circle talking to your staff, this is intimidating. When you have the customers attention, let them know your offering, discuss their unique needs and wants, and give them a brochure or any marketing material so they can take it away to think about it too. Also try to get their contact details and follow up with a phone call or email after the event. Best of luck with your event! |
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August 2021
AuthorClara Cassidy, Founder and Marketing Manager of Custom Printed Bags & Boxes, is a marketing professional with years of experience in branding, promotions and events. Categories
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