Posters are not just meant to cover the bedroom walls of teenagers ogling over actors and musicians or in themed sports or music bars. Posters and the quality of printing have been steadily improving over the years to the point where they provide a viable alternative to large scale billboard or banner advertising and the hit and miss mass communication of flyers and brochures. Posters now allow for the balanced, middle-way niche in print advertising media and with ever improving design software and with current high quality printing and photo paper, posters can be strategically placed in areas of high foot traffic and directly targeted at a specific customer base or demographic.
Posters used in advertising will come in a variety of sizes and if you are considering posters as an advertising medium then you will need to first determine where your poster will be displayed and the space available. This may be regulated if bus stops or airport terminals, for example, are being considered, so it is always best to get the marketing department to do their homework first. Typical sizes are 16″ x 20†incrementally increasing to the common largest size of 48″ x 60â€. Once you have determined the size allowed or needed, then get your advertising department to put together a brief of what is needed and then get them to visit your local design and print store to get going on poster printing. Good local print stores are one of your best and most cost effective service providers for print advertising media. The days of a print store just offering print services are long gone. Most good print stores now have an in-house team of graphic designers and image manipulation experts who are able to take your idea and turn it into a final product ready for printing.
With a few ideas and consultation between your advertising team and the designers at the print store, you can brainstorm and conclude on the best graphics, images or photos to use for your poster, the ideal font size, type and color for your product or service message and the color scheme that is going to drive curiosity. Between your experts and the print store experts you are undoubtedly going to come up with concepts that will drive up your advertising RoI.
Once you have a final layout, design and message for your poster it is time to print. Good print stores will offer high quality glossy paper and superior color inks. Ideally you want pigment ink for printing as color fade happens much more slowly and hence maintain true color permanence for longer periods of time than dye based printing. It is important not to cut corners on print quality as this is ultimately what the consumer sees and not necessarily the time and effort taken with conceptualizing and designing the poster advert.
Advertising often has a limited time and location for maximum efficacy and it is important to ensure the print-time turnaround will not diminish efficacy. Any print store that offers turnaround times greater than five or six days probably need to be reconsidered.
Posters are a novel and cost-effective mechanism for mass consumer advertising and with the expertise and quality available now for poster printing, it may be time that you add this form of advertising to your marketing mix. Posters are a great way of getting big messages out there.
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