7 Body Language Mistakes to Avoid

Promoting a brand or company in person is a lot different to promoting them online; if you’re running a digital campaign, it’s all about language and carefully crafted images. You can take the time to create the perfect piece of prose, to pose exactly the right image, and position yourself exactly how you want to be seen.

In person, however, you also have to think about body language. You have to appear open, confident and trustworthy, and if you’re not used to the attention it can be all too easy for that little nervous habit, that uncomfortable slouch, to turn a great campaign into just an okay one. That’s why so many companies turn to promotional staff to be the faces of their campaigns; they know they can trust the professionals not to make any of these body language mistakes.

1. Poor Eye Contact

The right amount of eye contact is important; too much and you’ll make the other person feel really uncomfortable. Not enough and you could appear deceptive or uncomfortable. This is also something to bear in mind if you’re conducting a campaign outside on a sunny day – sunglasses prevent eye contact, so equip your staff with hats to shade their eyes instead.

2. Looking Down

OK, so you can’t make eye contact all the time or you’ll make your listener uncomfortable; so where do you look when you look away? If you look down, especially when you’re making a point, you can make yourself look weak. You can prepare for this in advance if you’re making a presentation, by making sure that you have plenty of points of interest involved – product samples, graphs and the like. When you look at them, you’ll draw the listener’s attention to them as well, and it gives you somewhere to look that isn’t down at your feet.

3. Handshake

How’s your handshake? Again, it’s something that you need to get right; a limp handshake makes you appear weak and unconvincing, while one that’s too strong makes you seem aggressive and overbearing. You want to make sure that your handshake is firm, but not crushing!

4. Bad posture

If you slouch, you may appear to be tired, lazy, and lacking in self-confidence; it’s also something of a self-defeating circle. When you slouch, you feel those things more. If you adopt a power pose instead – back straight, shoulders back, hands on hips, like Superman or Wonder Woman – you’ll feel more confident and energetic as a result.

5. Folded Arms

You want to appear approachable and open; if you fold your arms across your chest, however, you appear closed off and uncomfortable, perhaps even aggressive. You certainly don’t look approachable. The same mistake can be made when holding a clipboard, as if it’s held protectively in front of your chest you’re sending nervous messages.

6. Leaning Away

When you stand next to somebody to have a conversation, the angle of your body to theirs sends a strong message. Face them, or lean in slightly towards them, and you’re interested. Lean away, or point your body away from theirs, and you’re saying you want to get out of the conversation.

7. Fidgeting

Playing with your hair, twisting the rings on your finger, jiggling your feet, chewing the ends of your glasses – whatever your particular nervous habit might be, it sends a message to everybody around you. It might say that you’re not interested in what they’re saying. It might say that you want to be somewhere else – but it’s always a message that you don’t want as part of your campaign.

Here at Breeze People, we look for people who have naturally confident body language, excellent interpersonal skills and that indefinable “something extra” so that we can provide the best in promotional, event and exhibition staff. To find out how we can help you, give us a call on 02380 015 000 today and speak to one of our team.