Trade shows are a great way to get more exposure for your business, but how are you going to stand out from the rest of the stalls around you? How are potential clients going to remember you? Printing your logo and information on promotional bags are a great way to make sure that anyone who comes to your stall remembers you. But then questions arise such as “Which type of bag do I print on?” and “What exactly do I print on the bag?” We’ll answer these key questions so you get the most out of this whole process! Which bag do I print on? You want to choose a bag that’s easy for your customer to carry; preferably a bag they can put on their shoulder or even wear as a backpack (that way they’ve got their hands free). Two good types of bags for this are drawstring calico bags (great as backpacks) and non-woven polypropylene bags (think the green Woolworths/ Coles bags) which are great for hanging off the shoulder. Sizing primarily depends what you’re putting into the bag, but it doesn’t hurt to get a slightly bigger bag. If you’re exhibiting at a stall that has a bigger and comfier bag, there’s a good chance the customer is going to put other people’s smaller, less comfy bags into your bigger bag, giving your brand more exposure as they walk around. An interesting real-life example of this comes from Klaus Solberg (who quite literally wrote the book on this topic - “Exhibit Marketing and Trade Show Intelligence”). He tells the story of the best marketing he saw at a trade show: [The bag]…was an inexpensive black cloth bag with the title ‘XM Satellite Radio’ written in large yellow letters on each side. The great thing about this item was not that the handles were comfortable enough to let you wear it on your shoulder…but the fact that the item was given out free at the entrance. So visitors would start collecting everything in this bag from the word go…suddenly thousands of people were walking into all kinds of booths with the “XM satellite Radio” logo clearly visible. This was quite a marketing stunt. ” In essence you need to have a strategy around how you’re going to distribute your bag. It’s great that you’ve gone and got printing on them but if you want to be ahead of your competition you need to be thinking about how to get an advantage over them. So what are the lessons to be learnt from the above story? The bag you choose must be large Comfortable to wear or carry Printed on both sides Work out how you’re going to distribute your bag to gain a competitive advantage What exactly do I print on the bag? Your logo is the first and most obvious choice, while other details like your website and phone number are great ideas so people don’t have to go searching for how to contact you. The slogan, motto, catch line of your organisation on the bag is another good idea, again helping to get your brand across to potential clients. Putting your slogan just under the logo is often the preferred position. Another idea that’s often overlooked is your booth number, especially if you’re handing out bags at the front of the trade show. Colour is an important consideration when printing on your bags; obviously whichever colour bag you choose should align with your brand imagery. Be careful that colours don’t clash and are easy to see, for example a yellow print on white bag may make it hard to read what you have printed on the bag. QIS Packaging has been printing on bags for years, and in our time we’ve done thousands of jobs. Here are a few examples of some of the ones we’ve done over the years! Just click here if you'd like to browse the range of bags you can have printed/ manufactured!