Banner Advertising Basics

Have you considered banner advertising in your marketing campaign? Banner advertising is basically large poster printing, printed on vinyl. Most banner advertising is displayed at sports arenas and indoor malls. But banners also have their place outside, tied between light posts or hanging over a highway overpass. Banners can function as cheap billboards when they're placed outside.

Reasons to Use Banners
Banners can help you promote your products in a short and sweet format, much like billboards. Its function has made it a clearly understood medium for advertising. People read and understand banners without struggle because they are used to seeing them and know they include easily digested information.

They last a long time. Banners are made of durable and flexible material, generally vinyl, which makes them a great investment because they can last for several months to a few years. Banners that are placed outdoors come with UV-protected archival inks and have coatings that protect them from wind, rain and other weather damage.

You can use them like posters. If you already have some posters designed, all you have to do is ask your poster printing company to print them on the vinyl banners instead of poster board. There's nothing else required from your end, which makes banners a quick alternative when you need some extra signage.

To make your banner advertising effective, answer the following questions before you get yours printed.

1. Will the banner be placed indoors or outdoors? This won't only help you decide on what kind of protective coatings you'll need, but it'll also affect your color scheme. If you'll be hanging your banner from a concrete highway overpass, you'll want to make sure your colors won't blend in. Get rid of the cream and tan colors and choose colors that will catch motorists' attention as they pass.

2. What size do you need? You don't want to overwhelm people in a small place with a huge banner. On the other hand, if your banner is too small for the space, it won't be easy to read. By knowing where your banner will be placed, you'll have a good idea of what size you'll need.

3. Do you want to emphasize text or graphics? Many banners emphasize text, so you might want to go that way and leave off graphics entirely. On the other hand, if you already know what kind of banners you'll be competing with (like at a professional football stadium) you might want to make your banner all graphics to stand out from text-only banners.

4. Use a font that can be seen from a distance. This is not the venue for a curly or cursive font that is hard to read.

5. Use a call to action. If you have the room for it on a bigger banner, tell people to call you or visit your Web site. Use your banner as you would any other form of advertising.

For more information, you can visit this page on poster printing