Branded Banner Design Checklist

There’s a certain connection between powerful branding and a successful business. Branding defines the way people think of your organisation. It reflects the core of your company.

It embodies your values, your vision, and most importantly, your message. By following the right process, you’ll ensure that the message resonates and reaches your targets.

But in order to get this branding across, you need to reach for certain vessels that will carry your branding. One of the best ones you can choose are certainly banners – and here is how to brand them well:

Have You Defined Your Target Audience?

Before you get to do any actual designing, you must take care of a few things first. You have to know who you are trying to speak to in order to know what to design.

Who are your fans, readers, customers? How old are they? What do they like? What is their educational background? You must have the answers to these questions before you get to your pull up banners.

When it comes to designing a business banner, understanding your audience’s preferences is crucial. You need to ensure that the design elements, colors, and messages you use resonate with your target demographic. This approach not only enhances visual appeal but also increases the likelihood of engaging potential customers.

The information you gather will help you determine which elements to incorporate into your banners and what format to use. For instance, if you know that your prospects like to gather in a big crowd at an outdoor event, you can focus on designing the best branded backpack flags. You can employ your staff to roam around the event while carrying them.

Or, if they are Millenials and Gen Zers that you can expect at a certain, massive indoor event, you might learn that you can catch their attention by creating a red-carpet-like atmosphere with a couple of strategically placed and designed strutted boards. That’s a perfect Instagram moment for them, and a chance for you to earn more publicity.

Knowing your audience allows you to place your banners at the right place, at the right time, and thus save a lot of money. But of course, there are more dimensions to it.

Let’s say you’re selling dishwashers. You’ll discover that your targets are over thirty years old. So, your message will incorporate phrases such as family, cleanliness, power saving, house chores, etc.

Of course, there’s room for more possibilities. You can select multiple keywords and create separate campaigns that will target different audiences.

Have You Decided on a Message?

The message is the heart of all print ads. Where you put it matters a lot. What you say and how you say it matters even move. It determines whether or not you’ll capture a person’s interest.

If you are offering something precise, things are simpler. It can be a new service, a new campaign, a new experience or a new line of products. But, if you are looking to establish a brand identity, you’ll have to go a bit deeper.

You’ll need a genuine message. Don’t try to copy other brands and don’t repeat the same messages over and over again. Don’t imitate. Emulate.

The key is not to bore your audience while you’re building brand consistency. With every new ad you display, give them something new.

If your words trigger an emotion, you are onto something. Always pair your message with the featured image.

Do You Have a CTA?

You can’t simply slap your company’s name and logo on a piece of vinyl if you want to encourage a specific action. For that, you’ll need a strong call to action with an email, web address, phone number, or even an invitation to visit your store. Your core message will change over time and might be different depending on whom you’re targeting, but your CTA can stay the same, more or less.

Have You Chosen Your Style, Colours, and Pictures?

The key design elements that will define your company’s identity are your print banners. Creating your print from scratch can be difficult. To make it easier on yourself, you could use the visual styles you have already created for your web page, fan page, or email newsletter.

Decide on a pallet of colours. You can either adapt them to your existing brand visual styles or to your target audience. Use colours that are compatible with your fan page or brand logo.

Colours and Images

Since most advertisements are only glanced at and not thoroughly examined, yours will have to stand out. The colour scheme and background image (if there is one) must catch people’s attention.

What exactly will you use is on you to decide. Perhaps you’d like to go with a custom-drawn cartoon, or maybe human-led photography.

Stock images can do a good job and they are quite affordable. Whatever it is you choose, it must make people stop and take a moment or two to examine your banner.

If there is something on your banner that’s more important than the rest of the content, like a logo or tagline, its colours should not blend into the background.

The colours of such elements should contrast the background. But, of course, the colours should not go against practicality and visual appeal.

One more important takeaway: when it comes to banner design – less is often more. It’s more difficult to figure out images when the space is cluttered.

Exploring fun ideas for old roller banners can also be a creative and eco-friendly approach to your branding strategy. Repurposing and redesigning them not only reflects a sustainable image of your brand but also provides a nostalgic yet fresh appeal to your audience, connecting past campaigns with the present in a seamless manner.

Fonts

Don’t overuse fonts. If you use too many styles, people will have a hard time reading your messages. Again, don’t let go of the fact that people will pay attention to your banner for just a couple of seconds. And if that’s not enough to convey your message properly, the creative design will make them linger around for longer.

Fonts like Futura, Helvetica, Sans Serif are easy to see and read from afar. And the distance does matter a lot. Let the medium be your orienteer as well.

For example, fonts on smaller swag, such as lanyards, don’t read the same on large outdoor banners. So, if you’re thinking of “borrowing” the fonts from your online campaigns, consider how they will play into your print banners.

Steer away from novelty fonts. They tend to confuse people. If you don’t have a great idea on how to use multiple fonts, stick to one. Each font comes with a personality. Make sure it goes with your message.

Where will You Display Your Banners?

We’ve already touched upon this briefly in the first section. Your target audience can largely determine the location. Outdoor locations require larger banners, as well as banners made from more durable materials. Use lighter colours for indoor locations. They won’t distract from your message. Hanging banners are great for outdoor use.

How will You Measure Effectiveness?

Just because it’s print, doesn’t mean you can’t track responses. You can use customized URLs and special phone numbers for each location.

Conclusion

Banners play an important role in every print marketing strategy. Make sure to carefully consider each step of the process. By giving the right answers to these questions, you can rest assured your banners will reinforce your brand’s identity.