Carrying out marketing and advertising campaigns can be an expensive, albeit effect way to increase brand recognition for your company, business or organization.
However, for smaller businesses, creating brand recognition is essential to increase sales and influence. And with small businesses comes a smaller marketing budget, so how can you inexpensively promote your brand?
Name tags: If you work in an environment where employees interact directly with clients or customers, then name tags are an essential tool for creating brand awareness. Name tags will give you a chance to put your logo as many places as possible, so your customers won’t be able to escape it. They will also set a standard for professionalism, and they can say a lot about the personality of your company. When you design your name tags, take into consideration what you want them to say about your company. Do you want to be recognized as clean and professional? Or fun and hip?
Lanyards: They’re inexpensive and highly customizable. If your work environment necessitates security or ID badges, give branded lanyards to your employees and they can wear them and keep their badges handy. If your employees leave work, they will likely be wearing their lanyards still, so people will be continually exposed to the brand. Lanyards are also a great promotional tool. You can resell them, give them to customers or clients, or hand them out to family and friends. As far as usability goes, lanyards can be convenient for holding keys, USBs, whistles, cameras or small MP3 players. So the more people who use your lanyards, the better chance you have of your brand reaching the masses.
Custom Signs: Presentation can make or break a brand, so having a carefully designed, high quality sign to represent your brand is can be pretty important. Like name tags, your company’s sign tells customers and clients about your values and personality. If you run a quirky cupcake shop, try adding some flare to your signs with a playful font and a colorful image. If you’re a prestigious marketing firm, try a bold font with clean and sharp features.
Personalized Name Plates: If your company, business or organization deals directly with clients or customers, then having name plates for all of your employees is essential. Have the name plates include a logo, the employee’s name, and their position within the company. For one, it will show that your company is invested in its employees, which will then incite respect from your clients. If you’re invested in your employees, you will likely be invested in your customers and clients, too. It also adds to the professionalism of your company. The little details count, and your customers and clients will notice, and spread the word about you.
Regardless of your work environment, name tags can be a valuable tool for branding, bonding and building relationships. Whether you’re blending smoothies, working in retail or working behind the scenes, wearing a name tag can have endless benefits.
Here are just a few:
Brand Recognition: If all employees wear name tags, your clients or customers are bound to see your company’s logo, and hopefully it will be imprinted in their mind. Even the simplest name tags are effective at creating a brand recognition among your clientele base, and the more places you can put your brand, the better.
Add Personality to Your Brand: Spice it up a little and add some color or shape to your name tags. Custom design a name tag to fit your company or organization’s personality, like making them in the shape of fish for a seafood restaurant. Or add a touch of color to make the name tags vibrant and unforgettable, especially if it matches the upbeat tempo of the work environment.
Increase Professionalism to Your Brand: By wearing sleek, clean and professional name tags, your employees will be able to bring your brand up another level. Name tags say a lot about what your company or organization is like, and if you’re want to be known for respectability and professionalism, the cleaner and more sophisticated the name tag, the better.
Employee Accountability: If a customer or client can see the name of the person helping them next to your company’s logo, your employee will likely feel more accountable for what they say and how they act. They wouldn’t want to get reported, would they?
Differentiate Departments: If there are multiple departments to your business or organization, then name tags can be a way to differentiate between those departments. Try color coding the name tags or ordering name tags in different shapes (rectangle, oval, etc.), but keep a uniform logo and font style.
Learning Names: Is a new employee feeling like the odd one out? Name tags can easily fix that dilemma. If everyone is wearing a name tag, learning names can be painless and effortless. Avoid the awkward, “What’s your name again?” conversation simply by equipping every employee with their own name tag.
For Visitors: Name tags make it easy to know visitors from employees, especially if you have a large staff. Employees will be more helpful if they can point out the visitors, and visitors will be more comfortable if they can see name tags of the employees helping them.
Increase Security: For work environments that demand higher security measures, ID badges are an easy way to make sure that identification is constantly visible. If someone isn’t wearing an ID badge, then they aren’t supposed to be there. And with ID badges, you can manipulate them to let employees through secure areas, or allow them to clock in and out.
You’ve chosen what name tag you want, designed your logo and made a list of the names you need printed on them. There’s still one crucial part of the name tag equation left: choosing a fastener. It’s not a decision that should be taken lightly, as different occasions and environments call for certain fasteners. Work attire and uniforms should be taken into consideration as well.
The fastener you choose will directly impact the appearance of the name tag, so choose carefully!
Magnet Fastener Pros: Of all our fasteners, magnetic is the most popular. A strong magnetic current secures the name tag in place, but without snagging or pinning holes in the material. Cons: If the name tag is hit or caught on something, it could be displaced and you might lose one side of the magnetic fastener.
Pin Fastener Pros: Tried, tested and true, the pin fastener is simple and effective. Just pin it to your pocket or shirt, and your name tag will stay put. It won’t be dislodged unless the pin is accidentally unhooked, which is unlikely. Cons: It might poke holes in your shirt or pocket. This isn’t a problem if your uniform or attire is made of heavy duty material, but if you’re wearing something more delicate, the pin might snag it.
Swivel Bulldog Clip Pros: This fastener easily clips onto pockets and lanyards, securing your name tag without having to pin it through a shirt or fixate the magnets to stay put. Cons: If you’re not wearing a lanyard, a jacket or pants with pockets then you’re out of luck. You want to avoid placing the name tag in an awkward place.
Bull Dog Clip with Pin Pros: This fastener combines the best of both worlds. This can be clipped onto a sturdy pocket, lanyard, or onto your shirt. This particular clip ensures that your name tag will be wearable in every occasion, and with every outfit or ensemble. Cons: There aren’t many cons with this fastener. But as with the regular pin fastener, the pin clip option of this fastener can make holes in your shirt or jacket.
Double Clutch Fastener Pros: Two pins are better than one. Double clutch pins stabilize the name tag, preventing it from getting bent or hanging on the shirt too much. With even support on both sides, the name tag won’t flop or droop. Cons: Like the regular pin clip fastener, double clutch fasteners can snag or create holes in the material it’s pinned on.
If you’ve been to any conferences or business meetings then you’ve probably seen or worn these stick-on name tags before.
Are these the best choice, you ask?
First of all, wearing one of these tags is better than wearing no name tag at all. They are inexpensive, and it can be fun to let your creative side shine through by writing or drawing on them yourself. On the other hand, they do wrinkle and tear easily. Secondly, they’re much harder to brand than more traditional name tags. It can be hard to read your hand-written name and company on a wrinkled name tag. However, these can also be run through a printer. This would eliminate the need for handwriting your name and company. You always want to make a positive and memorable impression. This is the first rule of any decent branding strategy for meeting potential clients and business partners.
So if the most inexpensive option is not what we are looking for, what is?
If you want your the effects of your branding to be more permanent and long lasting, your name tags ought to be too. This doesn’t mean you have to spend top dollar on a set of name tags with each employee’s name printed or engraved permanently onto each badge (But we do those too!). Plenty of lower-cost options exist which give your organization the ability to reuse branded, professional badges for multiple events or employees.
Mighty Badges are a fantastic product to use in any setting – especially if you handle smaller events and rotate volunteers in and out, or need new logos for each event.
They are elegant, and highly reusable. They are also the top reusable seller among Non-Profits. They’re affordable, and clean looking. Print names and even your logo onto the transparent insert sheets for a crisp, well thought out look that is sure to make a memorable impression.
For conferences or other large scale events, badge holders are one of the more recognizable and popular products because they’re sturdy, easy to use and rather inexpensive. Additionally, you can attach ribbons to your badge holders to further separate yourself and your staff from the rest of the conference attendees.
These are three products which allow you to further your branding strategy without breaking the bank.
By Syndi Seid – a world’s leading etiquette trainer, celebrity speaker and founder of San Francisco-based Advanced Etiquette.
Why Name Tags
Point One: When preparing name tags, think through the purpose of the name tags. Always show the names in spoken order, your first name followed by your surname and affiliation. To maintain proper etiquette, think twice about the need to provide any information beyond these basics.
Writing a Name Tag
Point Two: Use only big, bold block letters in all caps or upper and lower case letters. Avoid script or cursive handwriting, and do not add personalized touches that could be confusing. No matter how well lit a room may be, it is always challenging to decipher cursive handwriting, particularly by those from other countries or ethnic origins.
3. Etiquette and Using Honorifics
Except for specialized events, do not use honorifics and titles on name tags. These include Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., PhD., M.D., General Manager or President. Because name tags intend to show a person’s identity quickly, they should only indicate first and last surname and affiliation.
“Hello, my name is…”
Point Four: I confess I don’t like this particular style of a name badge. Admittedly, they do serve a purpose for highly informal occasions. But, they seem very elementary and out of place in a professional setting. It’s best to use clean, professional looking sheets, either with or without colored borders.
5. Squint Factor
Nothing is more disappointing than attending a conference or professional meeting, only to arrive at check-in and discover the name tags are terribly under presented. The names are printed too small, company affiliation so small you can’t make it out and every other detail shy of your birth date is loaded onto the badge.
6. Printing Name Tags
When generating pre-printed tags on a computer, take care when choosing an appropriate font and font size. I find 40-point Arial type is a good starting point for first and last names and affiliation for tags I produce. Sometimes it takes a little extra time to employ a little trial and error to find the correct font size and balance. However, I assure you it will be well worth the effort for the optimum results.
Use of an Affiliation and Logo
Point Seven: Even though it’s important to give attention to the sponsoring organization, always remember the essential information on the name tag is the person’s name, not the organization’s. By this, I mean the bulk of the space should be devoted to presenting the person’s full name. Thus the scale of the logo or sponsoring affiliation should be much smaller than the attendee’s name. It should never dominate the tag.
8. Printing the First Name Larger than the Last Name
While there are no hard and fast rules governing whether to enlarge the person’s first name, I submit it’s best to print both the first and last name in the same size font. With so many men and women sharing the same first name, it can be confusing to see a lot of Susans or Stevens walking around. But, again, this underscores the value of regarding one’s full name as one’s personal branding vehicle.
9. Creating your reusable name badge for use at various events.
While arriving with your very own custom designed name tag assures you will present your name and affiliation to your absolute liking, it may not be in your best interest. Consider this: event planners usually create name tags specific to a particular occasion to identify, at a glance, those who legitimately belong at the event and those who don’t. Unfortunately, wearing a custom name tag you created may inadvertently convey the impression of being a party crasher!
10. Company ID Badges
Many companies require the staff to wear name badges for instant identification purposes. In this case, it’s customary to wear such badges on the left shoulder.
11. Placing Name Tags Straight and in Plain View
Never allow your name tag to be worn crooked, sideways or even upside down. It sends a negative message to others, usually implying a lack of respect for the occasion or lack of care or interest in your personal appearance.
Never wear a badge upside down. Though it may sound silly to say, believe it or not, I know someone who deliberately wears his name badge upside down. He claims it’s the best way to meet women. Why? Because he says women will go out of their way to approach him just to help him correct what they perceive as his oversight. My friend claims men are far less likely to mention it or bother helping. Needless to say, I don’t recommend this practice to anyone.
In my book, this tactic sends the signal that here’s a person who cares little about the image he conveys. Who would want to convey the impression that they purposefully missed something as simple as adequately wearing a name badge? What else might be missing? In other words, while it is possible that one person may take this for humor, another person may take it as incompetence. Why risk creating this kind of confusion?
Last but not least, etiquette on where to wear a name tag.
Point Twelve: When networking at professional functions or social events, always wear your name tag on your upper right shoulder. Here’s why. Place the badge as high up on your right shoulder as possible to give other people the best and easiest view of both the tag and your face. As you extend your right hand for a handshake, your eye and arm are already drawn to the right side of the person you are greeting. Because the uppermost part of your chest is the flattest area on your shoulder, this helps your tag to lie flat and be more secure.
These points are especially relevant to women, as most women feel awkward drawing attention to an area of our chests we would prefer not to. Placing it in an easy to read and visible place keeps the focus where it should be.
