Using Banners For your Business
So, you’ve got yourself a business and now you need to get yourself some customers. The way for you to do that is through advertising. A lot of business owners become a little worried when they hear the word advertising as often it’s associated with large costs. But, an effective advertising campaign doesn’t need to cost a fortune. It just needs to be planned out properly. There aren’t many companies that can survive in today’s world without carrying out any form of advertising. As to how much that advertising costs is really down to how smart they are.
Cost-effective advertising
Advertising is an expense all companies could do without, but for smaller businesses, in particular, it can be a right strain on their budget. For that reason, they’ll want to use the most cost-effective forms of advertising available to them. One very effective form of advertising that doesn’t cost very much in the grand scheme of things is banner advertising.
The power of beautiful banners
Custom banners are an effective form of advertising for a number of reasons. Here are a few of them:
- Engagement: Beautiful banners and other similar display ads allow you to engage with your target audience on some level. They let people know you’re there without pushing it too much in their face. Most people won’t give in to pushy sales tactics. If however, you provide a simple banner template for people to have a glance over at their leisure, they’re much more likely to take note. It’s a much friendlier way of getting yourself known.
- Brand awareness: Placing your banner in a strategic position, such as in places where there’s a lot of public traffic, will ensure your name gets maximum exposure. Because banners are generally used over a long period of time, people get used to seeing them. Eventually this will create a subconscious memory in their mind of your brand whenever they picture that area.
- Visually captivating banner design: For some pictures and images it doesn’t matter if it’s the first or the fortieth time you’ve seen it, you still find it visually captivating. This is the effect custom banners can have if designed correctly. They’re there to grab people’s attention and are not easy to miss. When creating your banner design, aim for something that’s simple yet captivating.
- Inexpensive: Generally, banners don’t cost that much to produce. So, even if you have a small budget you can still splash out when it comes to banners. And, of course, the bigger the better!
Things to consider when creating your banner
Before you get too into the designing of your banner, the following are a few things you may want to think about first:
- Location: The most obvious thing to consider is where you’re going to hang your customized banner. It needs to be in a place that’s as busy as possible, yet somewhere it’s not going to get ruined by the fumes from passing traffic or vandalism. Customized banners that are hung from buildings work well as long as they’re not too high up.
- Size: In many cases, bigger is better. However, if you’re limited for space to hang your banner that may not be the case. So, before you place an order for your banner make sure your banner will fit where you want it to go.
- Material: There are a few choice materials that banners tend to be made from these days. They are: poly banners which are good for one time use only; mesh banners which are very strong but expensive to produce; fabric banners are great for indoors but useless outside; and vinyl banners which are by far the most versatile.
- Cost: You can create banners in all kinds of shapes, sizes, and finishes. But just remember the bigger it is, and the more options you go for, the more expensive your banner will cost.
- Design: This is probably the most important aspect of them all—what to put on your banner. A banner is your company’s chance to show to everyone who it is and what it has to offer. You want to give people enough information to reel them in, but not so much that they have to stand on the street for hours trying to read it.
Tips for transforming your blank banner into something amazing
Sometimes, it can be hard to know where to start when staring at a blank canvas (or banner in this case). The following are a few tips to help get those creative juices flowing:
- Be careful with fonts. Some fonts are difficult to read from afar, so keep it simple. Sans serif is one used quite a lot as it is clear and easy to read.
- Only use high-quality images. If you are having imagery printed on your banner make sure only high-quality images are used. Anything below 2 megapixels is likely to pixelate when enlarged and, as a result, will be blurry when printed.
- Choose your colors wisely. Color plays a huge part in marketing, as different colors evoke different feelings. For example, red is very popular in marketing as it gives people a sense of power; pink is good to use if your target audience are young females; orange is funky and good for presenting your business as fresh and cool; and blue creates a feeling of trustworthiness.
- Keep the text to a minimum. It was mentioned earlier, but it’s important so we’ll say it again. When it comes to banner advertising it needs to be short and to the point. The majority of people viewing the banner will literally be passing by. They don’t have time to stop and read an article on the wall. So, make it catchy and cut out the insignificant clutter text.
You should now have more than enough to get you going on your way to creating the best advertising banner for your company. Alternatively you could create a sign with acrylic lettering or something similar. Just remember to plan it out and think about what’s important. What would you like to see on a banner as you were passing? The best banners are those that are eye-catching enough to grab people’s attention and leave them wanting to know more.
