A banner still packs a lot of advertising value

By signcraft

Posted on Monday, May 15th, 2023

Back before sign ordinances limited their usage in many communities, banners were a very popular low-cost, high-impact form of advertising for small businesses. “Help Wanted”… “Prices Slashed!”… “Breakfast Special”…you name it, banners got the message across.

Banners, and plenty of them, could be found in almost every town, large and small. There were sign shops that specialized in banners. The pages of SignCraft magazine in the 1980s and ’90s were peppered with ads for banner blanks.

Banners attract a certain amount of attention just by being there, rippling in the breeze, tied to storefront posts or a fence. Coupled with an effective layout, they deliver a message in a hurry. They hype an event, or a sale, or make an announcement like going out of business. Banners are advertisements—not just identification.

Ironically, today vertical flag banners and inflatable flapping figures are allowed by many of the same ordinances that minimize the use of conventional banners—even though these attention-getting devices are often placed close to roadways and can distract drivers. That’s not to mention the visual clutter they can create.

A well-done banner is much more tasteful advertising than these other generic promotional devices because the banner makes a unique offer from the business to the viewers. It is usually not placed close to the street where it would distract or obstruct viewers. It’s a great value for small businesses who lack the big ad budgets of chains and franchises. A high-impact, legible, appealing banner can deliver incredible advertising at a fraction of the cost of other advertising.

There’s still a great market for banners. But because of the proliferation of plain, boring banners produced at low cost online or by big box office retailers, you need to sell the “look” of your banners rather than just the fact that it is a banner.

It helps to show customers value by comparing banner advertising to the cost of other advertising. Social media can be great low-cost marketing (if the customer has time to manage it), but it’s not a replacement advertising right in front of their business, shouting a message to every vehicle that passes by.

It’s all about the layout

Of course, the key to a banner’s effectiveness was, and is still, the layout. A simple, legible, primary message coupled with bold letter styles and powerful colors still gets the job done.

A weak message or a boring layout can render a banner useless. Most busy readers simply won’t work that hard to take in a message. But an easy-to-read message done in an appealing layout can be comprehended before the reader consciously decides to read it all. In a couple of seconds, the banner has made its mark: “Half-Price Sale”, “$5 Taco Special”, “First Month Free”.

The reason so many banner layouts are weak or generic-looking is that it takes skill and a little extra time to do a high-impact layout. As a result, the cost to the customer is more than a generic option. Time is money, and the sign shop must charge for that time and skill.

Sure—the customer can type in their copy on a banner-making website and get a low-cost banner in a few days. But few have the design skills it takes to make a banner that really works. The result is another low-value banner than few viewers can read. Show them that they deserve a better value and better results for their money.

Borrow a little inspiration from these great-looking banners that have been featured in SignCraft. Rather than trying to compete with low-priced online banner providers, market your banners as high-impact, high-value advertising that will pay off for your customers.