Using Posters as an Effective Marketing Tool

In a world full of social media, it can be easy to forget the basics and the traditional when it comes to getting your marketing message across. Before the power of the Internet, printed advertising was THE prime marketing tool.

And it seem that businesses have not completely turned their back on cheap poster printing as a great vehicle for advertising and marketing; who could afford not to invest in advertising and marketing?

With trading times being tough, all businesses need to make sure their marketing budget is well spent, with the right tools and activities focusing on the right group of people.

Printed media versus the Internet

Many people think there is no competition, with the Internet winning hands downs. On one hand, you can see how this could be true – we are connected, or so it seems, via smart phones and tables, as well as out laptops and desk top PCs but there is one let down with the Internet that consumers still want every now and then…

… the personal feel! The feel that they are talking or communicating with real people, and a company or business they can trust.

Cheap poster printing, along with other printed matter such as banner stands, can be a great way of getting information or an advertisement across to people. Posters can be virtually any size, from A4 to the largest A0 and beyond, in some cases. They can be as bright and colourful as you want; they can exhibit logos, graphics and high quality photographs. The creative possibilities are virtually endless.

The advantages of using posters

• Cost effective – there are many ways you can use posters and this is one of the factors that makes them an incredibly cost-effective method. Cheap poster printing services are within scope of most marketing budgets.
• Display versatility – posters can be easily displayed in a wide range of places; imagine how effective posters are in bus stops or places where people tend to stop a while – waiting rooms, offices or receptions, for example
• Portable too – if you need to move it, posters can be moved, and are usually easy to fix to walls
• Size – the bigger the size, the more information you can fit but be careful not to overload the poster, making it too busy with graphics and test that people miss the vital information
• Mass distribution – for larger companies, with several outlets, also opt for cheap poster printing services as special offers etc. can be offered across their network, cheaply and yet without compromising on quality
• Part of a wider campaign – posters can be used as a stand-alone ‘tool’ or they can be part of a wider printed and online marketing package.

Poster campaigns of the past

The use of posters to get the message across to the masses has been used for decades. Political parties still use posters across the capital and the country to drive home their messages to the potential voters. In times of crisis, the public have been urged to take certain courses of action, such as during World War 2, where households were encouraged to dig for victory.

A powerful medium, posters have also been used to educate people over the years too, from health campaigns in the 1980s to promoting tolerance amongst the masses in the 21^st century.

With such a pedigree to its history, the humble poster can still back a punch today, even in 2014 with all the social media that bombard our senses every day of the year. But there are a few basics you need to get right, to make sure your poster and the information contained within it, hits the mark.

Not spending time and energy getting it right, is a waste of the poster and the proportion, no matter how small, of your marketing budget you have spent on it.

Poster overexposure – breeding complacency?

Many businesses worry that posters are simply not effective; that once viewed a few times, the message stops being effective. The beauty of this medium is that they can be altered frequently, but bear in mind that for a logo or message, slogan or otherwise to ‘stick’ in the psyche of the consumer, it needs to be viewed hundreds of time, before it finally sticks…

Design considerations

There is no substitute for hiring the skills of a designer when it comes to printed media for our business, with poster designing being one of them. In order to be even more cost-effective, some businesses rely on in-house staff but, without a graphic design eye, what can happen is that every inch and corner is filled with text, or a graphic.

Likewise, people also use photographs and graphics that are not high quality enough to be super-enlarged. The resulting pixelated graphic might not be the look you were after…

And so the name of the game when it comes to designing your poster is consistency.

Make sure the logo is on; the colours fit with your brand and that you have ‘spaces’ amongst the pockets of texts and graphics so that the eye is drawn to the right places. Space on a poster does not mean it is wasted and needs filling!

Design with your audience in mind and where you plan on placing the posters. If it to advertise a weekend sale, say so in simply terms but if they are for the longer term, get help with the design, the content and the wording.

Cheap poster printing – still worth the paper they are printed on?

Yes they are and if you look at some of the larger companies, you will find that they still invest in posters for short term offers, as well as displaying longer term messages. They are well-designed and well-placed, with eye-catching slogans and content that projects a high level of professionalism. The consistency with their brand identity also means that they are effective in how they appeal to customers.

Take another look at cheap poster printing services and how it could be a welcome addition to your marketing strategy. For help creating the best poster at the right price try www.colourgraphics.com for posters at affordable prices.