Banner stands are highly versatile advertising tools. You see them most often at trade shows, but they?re useful in many different venues. If your trusty banner stand sees daylight only once a year at an annual trade show, chances are you?re not using it to its fullest potential. Here are seven ways your banner stand can work for you?outside of the trade show.

On the sales floor. Don?t pack it away in storage when you?re not on the road?your banner stand could be working hard on your sales floor every day of the year. In your retail store, a strategically placed banner stand with great graphics can draw attention to a special product you?re promoting, announce sales, and attract customer attention exactly where you want it. Studies suggest that banners and signs encourage impulse buying?which is a great thing for your business.

Outside your store. Banner stands work well at drawing people in at the trade show. Why not use them for the same purpose at your store? Place a banner stand just outside the door to your shop. Make sure your graphics are eye-catching and that your ad copy includes an action you want customers to take: ?ask us about the new [insert product name here]? or ?enter to win a spa day for two.? You can also include an announcement about a new promotion or sale?anything to draw people in.

Highlight a new product. When you come out with a new product or service, you want your customers to know about it. A banner stand puts that new product right at eye level, the moment your customers walk into the store. Because banner stands are flexible and the graphics can be changed easily, use yours any time a new product comes out. The more visible your advertising in the store, the more your customers will be drawn to your new product.

Back you up at a speaking engagement. Trade shows aren?t the only time you?ll go on the road. If you?re an industry expert, you may be in high demand to give talks and run seminars. These are a fantastic place to advertise. Banner stands are the perfect traveling companion?they?re light, flexible, and portable. Set them up as a backdrop for your presentation, set one outside the door to your conference room to draw people in, or place one near a sales table where people can go to buy your product after the talk. They?ll give you a professional, polished look?and encourage impulse buys.

Sell at the register. Many banner stands include literature racks. Put these to use by your register?offer a brochure on a new product, or display small items for sale. The register is the best place to encourage impulse buys. A banner stand with a good graphic is more visually interesting than a simple shelf, and customers standing in line will have plenty of time to take in its message. Place banner stands with company literature along the line area so people will reach for your brochure while they wait, or place your banner stand by the register with a few impulse items on the racks.

Be seen from afar. An outdoor banner stand is designed to withstand wind and weather?and it?s not constrained by the height of your ceiling. Get a tall outdoor banner stand to announce special events at your store. Stand it in a prominent place near your store, where it will be seen from a good distance. Car dealerships often do this with signs placed near the road, so drivers will notice their message. An outdoor banner stand can be a great way to draw in prospects from near and far.

Direct traffic. If you own a large building?like a hotel or a stadium?and need an efficient way to direct people to the right location in your building, a banner stand can be highly useful. If you?re staging a special event in a large area, place a banner stand in high-traffic spots to direct people to the right room. This will take the burden of giving directions off your staff, and get customers where they need to be easily and efficiently.

Few advertising tools are as versatile as the banner stand. They?re equally effective bringing traffic into a store or a booth?and just as at home on the sales floor as on the trade show circuit. Your banner stand can work for you in many ways?at the trade show and beyond.