Banners have been used to mark out and proclaim things since human civilisation began, from the heraldic arms of medieval knights, to saints’ banners in churches, to sports banners for different football teams. So frequent are they in our world that chances are you’ve hardly even noticed them before, any more than you’d notice cars or trees. In your day to day life, however, you are more likely to come across banners as an advertising medium. Being large, easy to spot, and instantly recognisable, chances are you may have used or considered using banners yourself if you own or run a small business.
However, it may – or may not – surprise you to learn that despite being so prevalent there still exist a large number of common myths about banners that circulate the advertising world. Knowledge is power, so let this article educate you a little about the truth regarding advertising banners.
#1 The Banners Will Fade After a Few Months
If you’ve ever set a book on a windowsill for an extended period of time, you may have noticed that after a while the cover will gradually become bleached, and any illustration or title on the cover will no longer be discernible. A similar thing happens to flags too. The battle standards used in the American Revolution or Civil War are a lot less bold than they would have been in their prime. An extreme example can be found on the moon: because of the amount of UV light from the sun, the flag planted by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during the Moon landings probably now more resembles the French flag than the Stars and Stripes!
Because of this, people tend to assume that advertising banners will fade after a while too. After all, they are nearly always exposed to the elements, so their inks must eventually become fainter. This is a myth.
For one thing, most banners nowadays are made from coloured plastics or nylon rather than dyed fabrics, and as such their colours are more resistant to the wind and sun than people would think. Many banners nowadays are also printed with special UV ink, which is more capable of resisting the bleaching effects of natural sunlight. While cheaper inks may eventually dilute after a few months, UV inked banners can last for years, even a decade. Online retailers like Quality Sign Designer use UV ink in their printing process to provide a long lasting banner.
#2 Banners are Vulnerable to the Wind
This is not so much untrue as exaggerated. Given enough force, there are quite a few objects that are susceptible to the wind. The source of this myth about banners can again be found in the days when they were frequently made out of fabrics, which would after a time in high winds start to unravel. While you certainly shouldn’t keep banners up if you are expecting gale-force winds, in general they are quite resistant to the wind.
Unlike flags or streamers, banners are tied down a lot more securely to their anchors, and as such have more overall strength to keep themselves from being torn off their holdings. Advertising banners also tend to be raised on walls and windows, so there’s something physical behind them to help shelter or brace them against strong winds. Other signs such as A-frames or overhead signs do not have that luxury.
#3 Only Small Companies Use Banners
Banners are commonly thought of in advertising as being rather twee and grassroots, probably associated more with church bake sales or family-owned muffin stores than serious businesses trying to make it big. It is likely that this is because banners are very easy to make yet highly visible and effective, and as such they tend to be one of the main ways organisations on a budget draw attention to themselves. Banners being so cheap to have printed as well also contributes to the myth. Thus, there’s an impression among some business advertisers that companies who use banners will not be taken as seriously.
This is little more than marketing snobbery, and many larger companies also make extensive use of banners to advertise themselves.
Simply put, banners are cheap yet highly effective, and are a much more affordable and utilitarian alternative to billboards that require rent fees. You can hang banners from more or less anywhere, whether it is across the front entrance of a shop or from the windows of your company’s skyscraper. Look at any major commercial district in a large city, and you’ll probably find at least half a dozen banners hanging from businesses that are rather successful.
#4 Banners are Only Used for Retail
While it may seem obvious, the prevalence of banners in retail situations gives the impression that they are largely for shops. Except for community-driven ventures, they are not to be used for anything else. This is not true though. If you are not a retail business, then don’t think that banners are not of any use.
Advertising banners can be used for a broad range of events and businesses, not just shops, whether it is advertising a stylist’s salon or an independent dentist. A banner is used to draw attention to something, and it matters very little what that something is. Whether you are a shop, an auto repair shop or an electrician, banners can be useful in raising awareness about what you can offer potential customers.
#5 Digital Marketing is Making Banners Obsolete
This last myth is typical of people who like to think they are living with one foot in the future, and who often give new technologies a little more credit than they deserve. While the internet has revolutionised the way companies advertise themselves in many ways, it is a mistake to think that they are replacing banners or rendering them worthless. The internet has been around for a generation now, and yet traditional methods of advertising are still standard.
The truth is that while digital marketing is useful for raising awareness on a broad scale, banners draw attention to your business from people already on the street. Some people may not even realise that they might be interested in what your company offers, and so they may not think to look up your goods or services online. A banner immediately acts as a way of converting shoppers by arousing interest. Further, they allow customers who were already converted by an online campaign to find where your business is located. Working together, banners and digital marketing make a very efficient team. So rather than replacing them, online ads supplement your banners.
The writer, Christian Mills, is a small business owner who requently employs signs and banners in his advertising practices in order to make sure everybody knows what he has on offer. If you want to learn more about him he has a profile visible at Google+.