Picture this: You show up to an event, excited for the days ahead and all the opportunities you’ll have to network and learn from the best. You get through the check-in process to receive your badge–and it’s an ugly little thing with no character or professional appeal.
Your excitement wanes. If the badge is this badly designed, you think, how is the rest of the event going to go?
Like it or not, this is a fairly common scenario for event attendees. As an event organizer, it is your job to ensure guests have the optimal experience from start to finish. Providing your guests with beautifully designed, custom event badges is one of the simplest yet most ignored ways to give your guests a wonderful experience and increase your brand’s reputation and recognition.
Why Customize Event Badges?
Custom event badges offer guests a premium experience and bolster your brand identity in several ways.
Communicate Professionalism
Think about the most professional and high-quality events (or locations) you’ve attended. One thing they probably all had in common? Elegant designs and clear signage.
When you choose to use custom badges for events, they become more than just a piece of plastic or cardboard with boring information on them. Your custom badges will attractively display all the necessary information, communicating high professionalism and excitement for your event.
Spread Brand Awareness
Any event manager who doesn’t customize event badges is missing out on a huge marketing opportunity. Customized event badges allow you to add your logo, tagline, social media handles, and a QR code linked to your website.
When you have the opportunity to put these items on badges—something every person at your event will see multiple times a day—you’re reinforcing your brand in their minds. (And if the badges are well-designed, you’re bolstering your brand’s reputation, too.)
Impress with Technology
Generic badges usually only include the most basic information—an attendee’s name, job title (if applicable), and whether or not they’re a VIP guest. They’re dull and unimpressive, to say the least.
With custom badges, you can incorporate QR codes that link to your event’s landing page. Suppose you pair this QR code with an event management software that automatically updates your landing page with new information. In that case, you won’t need to print multiple different QR codes or force your guests to download an app they’ll never use again.
If you want to impress your guests, use QR codes on event badges. With lightning-fast, real-time updates sent to your landing page from check-in to purchases made and even upgrades, attendees will consider your brand innovative and incredibly impressive.
Giving your guests an individualized experience is one of the best ways to impress them and leave your brand in their minds. This personalization is another excellent advantage of badge customization.
Differentiate your guests’ experiences by including an element on their badges to indicate attendee status. This status can include VIPs, speakers, job titles, returning guests, or members of specific organizations.
When you prioritize these personal touches, you accomplish three things:
- You further convey a sense of professionalism
- Your guests feel valued and appreciated
- You cement your brand’s good reputation among the minds of your guests
Create Memories
Most event organizers don’t see each individual event as something worth always remembering, but many of your attendees will come looking to make memories. Collecting event swag to take home is an integral part of the experience for these guests.
When you present your guests with a generic badge, this can inadvertently cause disappointment because no one wants to keep a dull, ugly badge.
Instead, you can present them with a customized badge that looks professional, individual, and memorable. Doing this will boost your attendees’ experience of your event and your brand right off the bat.
Facilitate Networking
Many of your guests will show up eager to network and create meaningful connections. Badges are an incredibly effective way to help your attendees out in this department.
When you customize your event badges to broadly display your guests’ names, job titles or organizations, and other features, your guests can more easily identify each other. They can also more smoothly spot people they’d like to connect with if they have a specific person, company, or job title in mind.
With this opportunity, your guests will have an extremely convenient experience at your event, and they’ll be much more likely to want to return in the future.
Strengthen Your Brand’s Reputation with Custom Badges
No matter what type of event you are holding, your guests will arrive hoping to have an incredible and memorable experience. No matter what their individual goals may be—to network, make memories, or feel appreciated and impressed—you can give them the experience they want using customized event badges.