We all know the age-old adage, you have to spend money to make money. What that proverb doesn’t take into account, however, is that you should try to spend as little money as possible (where practical) to make that money. Enter posters. Posters are an incredibly cost-effective and versatile marketing tool used by businesses of all sizes and scales. With this in mind, it’s always good to have evidence to back up your claims and at Emroy Creative Group we’re all about making sure you have the very best information at your disposal to make good business decisions.
Here are five top reasons why posters need to be a core part of your marketing mix.
Cost-effective is their middle name
Posters are a perfect example of economies of scale. The more your buy, the cheaper they become. By a long shot. This equates to an incredibly cost-effective strategy of saturating a physical market space, without sacrificing your ROI. (Especially if you go with a high-quality trade printer or design firm that knows what they’re doing.)
Additionally, the cost-effective nature of posters means that you can experiment with different design variations/ messages, without breaking the bank. On top of this, data derived from the poster campaign could be applied to future campaigns using different print mediums.
Posters are super versatile (size and shape)
The marvels of modern print technology have meant that when it comes to posters, you can have your cake, and eat it too. With the right budget, just about any size, shape, and design can be executed with relative ease. That versatility means that the creative potential that a designer has to work with is phenomenal. We can all recall at least one or two incredible poster designs that just really stood out and stuck in our minds. This makes posters incredibly advantageous for any business looking to stand out from the competition.
Poster viewers are a captive audience
People who are looking at posters are actively engaged in their surroundings. It doesn’t matter if they’re standing at a bus stop or lining up outside a cafe; people are likely to notice and examine posters out of sheer boredom. A well-designed poster should have a solid call to action that directs the viewer to take action as soon as possible.
Here’s the caveat though. It really is imperative that your poster is well designed. You could blanket the streets with your posters but if they look like trash, you’re not going to get the result you want, and it will all be in vain.
They’re easy to distribute
Think about your local shopping centre or community hub. Chances are there is at least one noticeboard on which citizens/ businesses can advertise their wares. That’s a pretty easy spot to advertise your business, with minimal effort put in on your part. Because posters are (usually) flat sheets of paper they’re incredibly easy to distribute and put up. The flexibility of the material (paper) means that it can be wrapped around whatever object tickles your fancy, and this means that you can put them up and hand them out wherever the law lets you.
(Always check your local and state laws regarding the putting up of promotional posters. No one likes being fine.)
Once they go up, they often stay up.
Assuming you don’t put them up in an active volcano, once a poster is attached to a wall, the general durability of the paper means that they stay up for a long time. You could easily get a few weeks to even a few years out of one poster in the right location. It’s because of this that posters are a fantastic way to take advantage of our absolute favourite psychological phenomenon: The Mere Exposure Effect.
For those of you who aren’t acquainted with this phenomenon, what it essentially boils down to is that we as humans like things we’re familiar with. The more we see something (the more we’re exposed to it) the more familiar we become with it; ergo, the more we like it.
What this means is that if your posters are visible in high traffic locations like train stations, you can easily ensure high volume, and repeat exposure for your brand. More importantly, at very little cost.
When you compare the costs and the longevity of a poster to say, a small box ad in a local paper, the value is clear.
So what are you waiting for? Go out and start painting the town red with your brands’ posters! And if you feel like your designs could do with a bit of a face-lift, we’re more than happy to help.
