The New Year is coming up fairly quickly, and if you keep your business calendar the same as the standard calendar, that means your fiscal year is coming to a close. You may also be preparing your marketing plans and product roll-outs for the new year. One key part of any new marketing plan is the signage, banners, stickers, and other items that you’ll need. If you don’t know what marketing materials you’ll need, you can’t give your designers the lead time necessary to create, proof, and print them.
Custom banners can play a large part in your marketing, both in your store and at events. These banners help advertise events or specials, provide information to your customers, and help promote your brand. By thinking through all of the custom banners you’ll need for the next year, you can be ready to hit the ground running once your new marketing budget comes into play. Here are some of the custom banners you may want to start designing and how TNT Signs can help make them a reality.
Sales Banners
If you’re planning major sales, you’re going to want to have a few banners to help promote them. You may want an outdoor banner to help get people in the door. If you have a grassy area or other space where you can attach this banner to stakes, you can get it out away from the storefront and really grab people’s attention. If that’s not an option, you can always hang it across the front of the building or in front of a few of your windows. Just make sure it’s not blocking your main business sign or anything important you’ve put in the windows.
This banner should include all of the details about the sale, but at this point, those details may not be finalized. It’s okay to start drafting designs of these banners and come back to them later to fill in the details. Many designers do start working ahead on projects like this when they have some downtime. By preparing early, you’ll be able to have all of your promotional materials ready to go well in advance so you avoid any costly last-minute emergencies.
Event Advertisements
Are you going to be hosting any events throughout the year? Again, banners can be a great way of getting the word out. If it’s an annual event, you can leave off specific dates or other information that could change from year to year. This way, you can reuse the custom banner.
You may already have some of these banners. Take the time at the end of this year or the beginning of next to pull them all out and take a look at the condition they’re in. Some may be showing their age and need replacing. Others may still be in good condition but use outdated branding or simply look dated. If you have room in your budget, plan on replacing these banners this year.
These banners may be used indoors or outdoors, so be sure you design them with both in mind. While the materials may be the same, you may want outdoor banners to be read from farther away. That will impact the size of your text and how much information you put on the banner.
Banners for New Products
Creating banners for new products or services early can be a challenge, especially if the final details of these products haven’t been decided upon. However, you can still create a draft banner that includes the product name and other relevant information. These banners are less likely to be reused, so you can include specifics such as the product launch date, its initial price, and other details.
One consideration with this type of banner is whether the banner will be announcing that the new product/service is coming or if it will be used after the release. You may want to create two banners, one to announce the product and increase hype around it and a second one to push sales after the release. The approach to these banners will be different, with the announcement banner being a one-time-use item. The banner used after release may be reusable if you plan on several promotional pushes for the new product.
Holiday Banners
You might have specific sales or promotions that line up with different holidays or seasons. Banners themed for these times of the year can help get attention and sell the products. For example, if you’re having a spring sale, you’d want to advertise it with bright, sunny graphics that suggest fun and getting outdoors. A Christmas sale, on the other hand, might include Santa and pictures of a tree with gifts. These banners can be a lot of fun to design since they do let you be creative.
As with any promotional banners, you’ll want to determine how specific you want these. If you’re going to have these sales events every year, creating banners that can be reused will help your budget. On the other hand, having banners with specific dates of the sales or other unique information can be more effective. It’s up to you to determine how specific you want to be. In some cases, you can find a good middle ground. Having a Christmas promotion every weekend after Thanksgiving, for example, lets you provide specific dates without actually putting any information that will be outdated the next year.
Direction Banners
While most people do custom signs to direct customers around their store, banners can actually work better in some circumstances. You can hang them on the wall or suspend them from the ceiling, plus you can hang them off shelves. Because they’re made from vinyl, banners can curve around displays that aren’t flat or even around corners. This makes them a little more flexible than signs printed on heavy cardboard or other materials.
Banners used inside the store on a regular basis should still include your branding, of course, but they will often have less information on them than those used to promote sales or other events. These banners are simply there to help guide customers. They may have department names on them or list what is in a section of the store.
You may not need to replace these banners as often since the information on them won’t change. However, if you ever decide to redesign them, you will need to replace all of these banners at once. That can be a substantial cost, so it’s a good idea to only do this every now and then. In most cases, if a banner just needs to be replaced because of damage or because it’s out of date, you can match the look of the others.
Other Banners
You may have need of some other banners throughout the year that doesn’t exactly fall into any of the above categories. Some of these may be unique, one-time-use banners such as advertising the opening of a new location. Others may be some form of activity that occurs annually. Regardless, you’ll want to design banners that fit with your overall brand while also reaching out to the correct audience. Again, the earlier you can start designing these banners, the less likely it is that you’ll end up paying for expedited service or shipping. Look through your yearly marketing plan to see what banners you may need so you can get a list together for your designer.
How TNT Signs Can Help You with Your Custom Banners
TNT Signs can help you create amazing custom banners and other marketing materials. We provide design assistance if you’re not certain where to get started. We can help you create templates or even design your banners from your rough ideas. Either way, in the end, you’ll have banner designs that can go straight to the printers.
As far as printing goes, we use only the highest-quality materials, including vinyl and ink. Our banners will stand up to months of direct sunlight without fading, strong winds, and many other types of weather. You can depend on our custom banners for years.
Once the banners are printed, we can also help you install them. You may want to hang smaller banners yourself, but if you’re doing large, outdoor banners, you might need a little help. Our team understands the proper way to safely install huge banners on a variety of different exterior materials.
We Also Make Other Marketing Materials
In addition to printing custom banners, TNT Signs can also help you with your custom signs, stickers, decals, vinyl car wraps, and more. All of our products are designed to last, and we can help you with the design of all of them as well. We know how important it is for your business to stand out from your competitors, and we will do everything we can to make that happen.
Contact Us Today to Get Started
Whether you need a single banner for an event or want to design and print multiple banners to use throughout the year, TNT Signs is ready to put our years of experience to work. Reach out to us today at 707-528-8523 with your questions or to get started.