Outdoor banners are a great way to draw attention to a new business or to create interest in new products, services, or specials in an established company. Creating an outdoor banner that really draws the focus into the right parts of your business can be tricky. Follow these tips to create an outdoor banner that will attract customers.
Consider Your Banner Layout
One of the first things to consider when designing any outdoor banner is how readable it will be. If potential customers or clients can’t read the banner or determine what message it is trying to convey, there’s no point in even having the banner.
Consider a few things to ensure that everyone can read and interpret your banner. To start, check the banner for the Z Scanning Pattern. When people read printed materials, they tend to scan the page rather than read it from top to bottom. This means it is important to position your most important elements in the corners and center of your sign to ensure readers get the full message.
Next, consider the white spaces. To avoid clutter and make it easier to read, it is important to incorporate white space into your banner. Don’t clump your message together too tightly; avoid using too many pictures and symbols. If you’re using your banner to convey multiple messages, create a separate space for each.
Create Focal Points with Your Brand
Using marketing tools with a clear focal point is important to deliver relevant information. Doing so ensures that people walking by can connect with your brand with just a glance. You can use focal points like your brand’s logo, a graphic image, or a line of text to convey your message.
Outdoor banners are an excellent choice for creating stunning, branded focal points. Create contrast using a bold and contrasting color on an image or word to ensure the focal point is easily distinguishable from other details on the banner.
Also, be sure to emphasize text by underlining, capitalizing, highlighting, or darkening the text to instantly draw the eyes of passersby to the most important part of the message. Remember to use these techniques sparingly. While it may seem as if everything on the banner is important, highlighting all the information means that the text will look the same to the viewer. Using a variety of different types of emphasis becomes a chaotic mess and a visually unappealing banner.
Showcase Limited Time Events
Use your outdoor banners to showcase limited-time events. Businesses often make the mistake of hanging a banner outside and leaving it there for months or even years. When they do this, the banner tends to blend in with the rest of the building, and eventually, customers will simply ignore the message.
Instead of using an outdoor banner to advertise the same thing for months, ensure they are changed out regularly. This means using them to advertise a temporary sale or special, or a special event or service. Once the event is over, be sure to take the banner down immediately.
The banner that replaces the old one should have a completely new message and, ideally, a different look or set of colors. This will help to ensure that customers will notice the new banner.
If printing costs are a concern, consider having a set of banners made that can be reused. Swapping them out regularly will ensure they get attention, even if they are being renewed. For example, a restaurant may consider printing banners with daily specials that can be swapped daily. A grocery store might choose banners with weekly specials or sales that can be rotated throughout the month.
Don’t Get Too Creative
Getting creative can be an excellent way to make your banner stand out among a sea of similar types of marketing, but don’t become so artistic that the message the banner is trying to send gets lost. When you’re designing your banner, avoid these common mistakes:
Don’t include too much information. Outdoor banners are ideal for advertising a single product or service. If you want customers to know your full menu of offerings, consider making a flyer, menu, or catalog.
Keep your graphics simple. Too many pictures and colors are often more distracting and confusing to customers than helpful. In addition to the banner looking too chaotic, too many graphics often make the banner too hard to read and obscure the message.
Similarly, ensure that your graphics align with the banner’s message. Each picture used should back up or enhance the main message. Avoid pictures that are only used to grab attention.
Make your message very clear. Before you start designing, ask yourself, what message are you trying to convey? Make this message your focal point. While it can be tempting to add more information that may seem important, a banner has to have only one clear message.
Keep your words simple. Choosing simple words helps to ensure that everything written on the banner will be readable by everyone. Remember that your audience will likely be comprised of people from many different cultures and walks of life. Avoiding obscure words and phrases will help ensure everyone understands your sign.
If you’re considering designing one or a series of outdoor banners, visit us at Custom Printing. We have years of experience helping our clients with their marketing campaigns, and we look forward to working with you and your business.