Guide to step and repeat banners

FEBRUARY 4, 2020| SpeedPro Towson

Generating brand awareness and exposing your company to a wide audience is one of the most important actions you can take. If people don’t know who you are, they’re not likely to sign up for your services or purchase your goods. One effective way to create and build brand awareness is with step and repeat banners. A step and repeat banner shows off your brand’s logo and subtly reminds people of your presence. Learn more about step and repeat banners, including how to make them work for your business.

WHAT ARE STEP AND REPEAT BANNERS?

Step and repeat banners are simple but can be incredibly effective when it comes to increasing engagement with an audience. The banners are large standing backdrops with repeated graphics and logos printed on them. Attendees at an event often pose for photos in front of a step and repeat backdrop. Whenever you want to provide a space well suited for photos or media opportunities, step and repeat banners blend perfectly into any scene.

In practice, people step in front of the banner, take a picture and then rotate out so that the next person can pose—thus their name, “step and repeat banners.” The repetitive logos and imagery across a banner make them excellent for raising brand awareness.

HOW DO YOU USE STEP AND REPEAT BANNERS?

Step and repeat banners are most commonly used at events, such as conferences, tradeshows and weddings. Collapsible step and repeat banners are easy to set up and install, allowing you to have multiple banners throughout a location. The graphics on step and repeat banners usually include the logo of the organization hosting an event or the companies sponsoring it.

As people like to share pictures of themselves at events on their social media profiles, step and repeat banners can become long-term advertising options. When attendees share photos of themselves that they took in front of your backdrop, they also advertise your logo and your sponsors. Without any extra cost to you, your step and repeat banners will continue to deliver value and raise brand awareness even after the event is long over.

The backdrops also have applications beyond people quickly stepping in front of them for a picture. Companies that regularly interact with the media use step and repeat banners as static backdrops for interactions with the press. For example, a spokesperson from your company could stand in front of a step and repeat banner while they give an interview or conduct a press conference. As the press will then use pictures and videos from the press conference or presentation, you’ll have a subtle advertisement for your company in the background of any media they put out about the event, making it a long-term advertising option that’s bound to give you lots of exposure.

WHAT ARE YOUR OPTIONS?

As venues may have rules when it comes to the size of your signage, working with a company that can customize your banners is crucial. When you work with SpeedPro, you can design a custom step and repeat banner and stand.

Your step and repeat backgrounds should be made with long-life inks so that the colors and designs included on the banners “pop,” while still holding up against the elements. No matter where you plan to use them, the banners you select should resist the wear and tear that comes with being transported and placed in a variety of environments.

Several types of materials are appropriate for retractable step and repeat banners. Vinyl is the most popular, as it offers exceptional durability and affordability. Other materials include fabric, canvas, plywood, foamcore and poster board. Along with the banner, you’ll need stands and mounts to hold it up.

You might suspend the banner in the air using grommets or poles or set up the banner on the floor with a retractable system. Retractable banner stands are easy to store and transport. Since they can be set up anywhere, they are also the most flexible option available. Additionally, retractable banners offer a great amount of variety, with them coming in styles such as spring-back, telescopic and retractable.

DIFFERENT BANNER TYPES

There are typically three different banner stand types available to companies: retractable, telescopic and spring back banner stands. Learn more about each type of stand:

RETRACTABLE

Retractable banners stands work in a variety of settings. Some companies use them as accents for trade show displays while others use larger banner stands as a background for trade show displays. If you use a retractable banner for your step and repeat needs, you’ll want to choose banners that are as wide and tall as possible. As they come in vinyl, fabric and polyester materials, they are well-suited for step and repeat banners, with many of them able to be safely used indoors and outdoors.

If you regularly attend or host events outside of your headquarters, you’ll love the portability of retractable banners. The banners are also easy to set up and take down. All you need to do is roll down the casing off its base into a compartment that keeps the banner safe during transportation. Additionally, installing the banners doesn’t take a huge amount of effort, as they only need to be pulled out of their base and secured to the stand.

TELESCOPIC

Telescopic banner stands are perfect as step and repeat banners, as you can adjust their height and width. The stands are designed to look great at events that will have a lot of photo ops. They are the widest option of the banner types. Stand extension kits are available that allow you to combine multiple banner stands into one.

As for the graphics you receive with telescopic banner stands, you can be confident that the imagery is going to be vivid and eye-catching. Your graphics can be printed on fabric, polyester or vinyl materials. The materials can be crafted to be extremely flexible in their height,  putting more control in your hands.

The Pegasus Standard Telescopic Banner Stand is made out of telescopic poles that allow you to adjust the stand height and width with ease, making it ideal for repeated use at a variety of events. If you go with the Pegasus Supreme Telescopic Banner Stands, you’ll receive the same adjustability, but with even larger dimensions.

SPRING BACK

When it comes to affordability, spring back banner stands offer the best value. These attractive, low-cost alternative to other stands are ready for easy transport and hold attractive vinyl graphics in place with ease. The stands employ tension arms that hold the vinyl graphics in place so that your message is always looking its best.

If you’re looking for spring back banner stands that have the height and width needed for step and repeat banners, you’ll want to go with the Lightning Spring Back Banner Stand or the X-Tend 3, 4 or 5 Spring Back Banner Stand. The Lightning option is made out of aluminum components and offers fast assembly. For the X-Tend series of banner stands, you’ll receive an X-shaped frame that utilizes durable fiberglass arms.

TIPS FOR STEP AND REPEAT BANNERS

Whenever you’re looking to utilize step and repeat banners, there are a few different guidelines that you could follow to get the most value out of them. The following tips are designed to help you know how to best use your step and repeat banners:

1. USE STEP AND REPEAT BANNERS TO ATTRACT ATTENTION

In order to draw more people to your event or come check out your store during a product launch, you can set up your step and repeat banners outside the front of your building. The banners will not only get attendees more engaged with your event, but they can also bring in curious crowds off the street. Step and repeat signs and backdrops are often used to raise awareness about product launches, events or festivals.

At a product launch,  you’ll be trying to get your product into the public’s hands, bringing in both your established customers and reaching new markets. As such, step and repeat banners are a great option since older customers will love to show their brand loyalty by standing in front of your logo-covered backdrop, while potential customers will have their curiosity piqued. Additionally, the banners can direct guests to the entrance, providing functional value as well.

For festivals, step and repeat banners are especially popular with attendees who want to show their social media followers where they are. When people post pictures of themselves at a festival, it can encourage others to learn more about the event and consider attending a future festival.

2. GO BIG

When you design and order your banners, you’ll want to think big. Sometimes, large groups of people are going to want to take a picture in front of your background, so you should make sure that any banners that you order are wide enough to accommodate groups of three or more. Additionally, banners should be tall enough so that they take up the entire background in pictures. Ideally, all of your banners should be taller than the average person, with the width depending on the venue.

As for the logos that go on the banners, you’ll have some flexibility. Of course, they’ll need to be big enough for viewers to see, but they shouldn’t be so large that they come across as tacky or too aggressive in their advertising. Typically, the logos included on step and repeat banners will be somewhere between 9 inches and 11 inches. For box-shaped logos, designers have found that it’s better to have them a bit smaller, usually between 5 and 7 inches wide.

3. PAY ATTENTION TO THE LIGHTING

Any professional photographer will tell you that lighting is key to a good photograph. As such, when you set up a step and repeat banner, you want to make sure that the lighting is set up in order for people to get the most out of their pictures. Instead of relying on natural light, you can bring in lights used in professional photoshoots.

Common pitfalls with lighting come down to glare, too many people trying to take flash photography at the same time and uneven lighting that creates shadows. When people are all trying to take pictures at the same with their flash on, the lighting won’t be consistent, and the quality of photographs will suffer as a result. Additionally, poor lighting can cause a glare that disrupts a photo’s quality.

In order to cut down on lighting problems, many companies hire professional photographers whenever they throw an event and use step and repeat banners. These photographers will know how to set the lighting correctly and will be able to tell where it’s best to take the picture. Along with producing better quality pictures, they’ll add a professional air to the event, helping it to feel more upscale.

Before an event begins, whether you use professional photographers or not, it’s best practice to test the banners for proper lighting. You should take photos from various angles to ensure that the lighting is correct and that the quality of photos remains consistent no matter where someone takes the picture. If you use a vinyl graphic, you’ll want to advise people not to take a face-on picture as it will create a glare. Instead, they should shoot perpendicularly.

4. TAKE ON SPONSORS

To get a financial return on your investment in step and repeat banners, you can include sponsor logos alongside your own. Sponsors love step and repeat banners as they provide double value. At the event, your attendees will see their logos whenever they look at them. After it’s over, the pictures that the attendees share will continue to show off the sponsor to their followers.

Before you complete the design of your banner, make sure to reach out to sponsors and see if they’re interested in being on them. If they take the opportunity, you can make some money by selling space to them to place their logos and graphics on the banners.

5. MAKE SURE RESOLUTION IS HIGH

Whenever you’re looking at printing out your graphics on step and repeat banners, you want to make sure that the resolution is high enough to handle the imagery. The banners are larger than normal prints, and as such, require higher resolutions to make sure that the graphics come out looking crisp and vivid.

If companies work with studios that don’t have the capabilities to print in high-resolution, it’s likely that graphics will appear pixelated and blurry. To help you avoid pixelation with even the largest graphics, you should work with a studio that can handle the graphics’ resolution demands. Not only will high-resolution graphics get people excited to use your banners for pictures, but they will also make sponsors happy.

6. CRAFT AN ATTRACTIVE BACKDROP

Whenever you design your step and repeat banners, you’ll need to make sure that the backdrop is attractive to viewers and something that people will actually want to take a picture in front of. To ensure that your backdrop will draw people to it, consider the following design tips:

• Narrow down your logos. While it might be tempting to put ten different logos on one backdrop in order to sell ad space or to highlight different areas of your company, it’s better to keep the amount of logos you use low. Generally, it’s a good idea to use two to four logos. Having only your company logo and a sponsor or two will keep your backdrop focused and its messaging easy to understand.
• Use on-brand colors. Your backdrop should use colors that match your brand and the event. By doing so, your backdrop will be more pleasing as it fits in with an event’s theme while improving brand recognition.
• Properly space out logos. Though you’ll have plenty of repeated logos on a step and repeat backdrop, you don’t want them to feel cluttered. You should look for the sweet spot where the logos aren’t too close together and where there isn’t too much white space in between them.
• Arrange logos in a pattern. Patterns are pleasing to the eye. As such, your logos should be laid out on the backdrop in whatever pattern that speaks to you the most. The visual consistency of a pattern will make the photos look great and cause people to notice the logos on the banners.

CHOOSE STEP AND REPEAT BANNERS DESIGNED FOR YOU

For those ready to find custom step and repeat banners that are designed for your needs, you’ll want to work with SpeedPro. As a nationwide network of studios specializing in large format graphics, SpeedPro has the knowledge and materials to craft visually appealing step and repeat banners. When you work with SpeedPro, you can be confident that your custom graphics and logos will shine on any of the materials that SpeedPro prints them on. Find your local studio to speak with a representative about your custom step and repeat banner options.