6 Keys to an Effective Advertising Poster

Great posters are like effective sales people. They attract an audience, dazzle them with pretty images and fancy talk, and get the viewers to come into the store and exchange money for goods and services. A great salesman once told me that the key to selling is to make the thing you are offering seem more valuable to the customer than the money in their pocket. Below are six keys to doing just this with your poster printing piece.

1. Research the Competition
Look at marketing materials created by your competition. See what they are offering, and then think of something you can offer that's better. It might be a lower price, faster service, better quality products, or more expertise. Just be sure that you can follow through with your offer.

2. Come up with an Over-all Theme
Once you know what you can do better than others, make that the theme of your advertising. Your print poster should tell about it loud and clear in terms that describe how this can benefit your customers. Remember, everyone who looks at your poster is going to be thinking: What's in it for me? It's up to you to tell them, or they won't even read your poster, let alone visit your store.

3. Use Eye-catching Images and Colors
The colors of your poster as well as the pictures are what will draw people to look at your poster in the first place, so make sure they are stunning. One large image has more impact than several small ones. As far as attractive color choices go, it's best to choose two colors along with some neutrals. Or, if you are brave, you can use all of the colors of the rainbow. Either combination works, but not something in between.

4. Tell About Complementary Products
On your print poster you should describe a few products or services that compliment each other. For instance, if you are advertising printers, you might also tell about the high quality ink you sell. Knowing they can get everything they need in one place can draw more people in to your store.

5. Use Customer Testimonials
Ask your satisfied customers to write testimonials for you to use in your advertising materials. Include one or two of these on your print poster. Be sure to get the customer's full name and some kind of identifier, like "Sally Smith, teacher at Northside High," so people will know it's a real person. For more privacy, you could use the first name and initial of the last name, or vice versa. Ask your customers with what they are comfortable.

6. Include all Your Contact Info
At the bottom of the print poster be sure to include all of your contact information. The poster can't bring customers into your shop if they don't know how to reach you. And make sure that the most important contact information, whether it's your location or your web address, easily stands out from the rest of the poster so that viewers know exactly what you want them to do after walking away from your ad.

Comments

[Skewedcurve]

I think now a days, lightbox signs and banner stands are used more often for poster advertising. It really helps in breaking the clutter and is quite attractive if the poster is designed as mentioned in the article. A really good firm I found who makes these is Blue River Digital: http://www.blueriverdigital.com/lightboxes
I recommend checking it out for your poster.

[JoelTurner]

I think one of the biggest challenges with poster advertising is engagement. Engaging an audience is the difficulty that many traditional forms of advertising now face. Emerging technologies likes digital advertising panels and increased connectivity via bluetooth and wifi should go some way to solving this problem - which is one of advertising overload for consumers.
In keeping with this I think the starting point for any one desiging a poster campaign should be asking the question - will this engage my audience? And also starting the campaign with placement in mind - my company airpodmedia.com tries to get clients to think about location and placement as part of creative process.