Just received my "indoor" banner from HalfPriceBanners.com, and am VERY pleased with it. Top quality, easy ordering, and excellent service at a good price.

This is a 3-foot high by 6-foot long banner, in two colors (red and black lettering on a white background), with a good sharp graphic of a card fan. It says "It's Magic!" in large red letters, and below that, "Amazing Magic Tricks That YOU Can Do" in smaller black lettering. It should fit very comfortably into a standard 10-foot long spot at a show.

I got it especially for the indoor fleas and craft shows, which are now coming up with the weather turning colder. I already have a good-looking large sign on my table, but that's not really sufficient, in my opinion. I wanted to have the same sort of "flash" that's needed for an outdoor Svengali Pitch, in order to attract attention to my spot among what's usually a sea of other vendors.

To hang the banner, I went back to my staple, 3/4" PVC pressure pipe, and created a six-foot wide "H"-shaped frame that breaks down for easy car transport. The legs are in 4', 3' and 2' sections, so the banner can be anywhere from 7, 6, 5 or 4 feet off the ground, depending on ceiling height and which pieces I use. The H-frame fits into a smaller I-shaped PVC frame that sits on the floor and holds the H-frame upright. (BTW, I have now used up the entire stock of 3/4" PVC pressure pipe at the local hardware store, they are having to reorder it!)

In addition to attracting business, the banner will also act as a partial backdrop when my table is not located against a wall. This should help to prevent distractions, as Don advises in his Svengali Pitch DVD.

My first indoor pitch is coming up in early November, and we'll see if the banner helps to pay for itself -- I certainly hope it does! And here's tip of the top hat to Bill Beach, who first found and recommended the HalfPriceBanners.com website -- it's a definite goodie! SETH

Thanks Seth. I have a Zibit by Higley and I painted my own banners to save money, and they look OK. But with the great prices at halfpricebanners.com I'm going to invest in 3 for my exibit soon. Thanks again.

Rappel

Rappel -- The only downside I have found with these banners is that they will show wrinkles and "crinkles" if not rolled up properly for storage, or if they are somehow crumpled in use.

One banner that I got was damaged in shipping -- the box had been squeezed end-to-end, and it was bent in the middle at about a 15-degree angle. When I unrolled the banner, the middle section was all crinkled up. To their credit, HalfPriceBanners immediately shipped me a new replacement banner at no charge, and even handled making the damage report to UPS. Now THAT'S what I call great customer service!!

Also, my guess is that this "wrinkle" situation would be an issue with any other vinyl banner, and probably even so with a canvas or woven polyester banner. So I'm keeping my banners rolled up in heavy-duty mailing tubes when not in use, to protect them against wrinkles and creases.

BTW, HalfPriceBanners.com gives you a choice of a white or yellow background. The yellow background with red lettering was a bit too much for me, but it would sure stand out on the midway, if that's where you're located!! SETH

Seth, I'm happy to help out with the banner source, it's a small contribution compared to all the information you've shared with us newbies to pitching.

By the way, how did you add the graphic? Clip art that HalfPriceBanners had available, or did you furnish it?

Bill -- I used the graphic that was available at HalfPriceBanners, because I did not have any graphics in any of the programs or formats that they required. Plus, I didn't want to "reinvent the wheel" if I didn't have to!

You can view the clip art selections by going to the "Basic Banners" page and scrolling down about 1/3 of the way to the paragraph on "Clip Art" and clicking on the "clipart" link. The final graphic as printed will look MUCH better than the samples, which are only displayed in low resolution. For $5, you can have the clip art in up to two places on your banner. I selected the card fan for my graphic.

When I designed the banner, I just added a square that said "CARDS," and placed it in the location on the banner where I wanted the graphic to go, and in the approximate size that I wanted. When I ordered the banner, I noted in the "Comments/Special Instructions" box that I wanted the CARDS graphic, that I understood it was $5 extra, and that it should go where the "cards" text was on the banner draft.

When the proof was sent for approval, they had replaced the "cards" text with the graphic, just as I requested. The whole process was very simple and I was very satisfied with the final result.

The $5 clip art is not ornate and doesn't have to be -- but in my opinion, it's a very worthwhile addition to any banner, because it really perks up just plain old text and attracts attention, which is the whole idea here. If you're going to spend $100 on a banner, then another $5 for an appropriate graphic is money well spent, in my view. SETH

Thanks, Seth, for that info. I'm thinking of sometime adding bannners to the sides of my EZ-Up, I'll keep that in mind - sounds like a bargain for $5.