Digital marketing dominates, but it’s not the only advertising game in town! Traditional advertising methods still hold a lot of power, particularly at the local level. Posters, billboards, fliers, and other printed media still grab attention and get people in your store or on your site.

For an extra potent type of printed advertising, consider the heft of street banners. Street banners, or flags, catch the eye on the street and everywhere else and make a great impression. Here are five ways street banners can help boost sales, along with some innovative ways you can use them to trumpet your brand and get the word out.

Enhancing Local Visibility

Do the people in your neighborhood know who you are and what you do? One of the biggest advantages of street flags is their ability to enhance your visibility at the community level. When you place banners in high-traffic areas, they’re guaranteed to be seen.

Passersby will witness your messaging and note whatever call to action you print there. This is ideal for advertising in the immediate vicinity of your store. Essentially, a street banner with memorable imagery, messaging, and brand colors is your first and best salesperson! Whether you hang the banner right outside or close by so it casually directs the viewer’s attention to your place, it should work.

Street banners are especially effective in busy neighborhoods since they pop and make you stand out more. This makes it more likely that community members will choose you for their product and service needs, despite the crowded local market.

Promoting Special Offers and Events

Short, sweet, and simple: street banners are excellent for presenting to-the-point messaging that promotes sales, offers, events, discounts, and other deals. Use street banners to announce your grand opening or reopening, special and seasonal sales, invitations to special events, and more.

Banners communicate messages directly and effectively in a boisterous and larger-than-life way. This is not to say that they can’t be subtle too, but for big messages, banners are best!

Make sure you design your street banners with memorable graphics and messages with a call to action. As a bonus, the affordability of banners allows you to comfortably buy them for all your future promotional needs, no matter how temporary.

Strengthening Brand Identity

Your brand is who you and your business are. The colors, logo, and messaging are all coded to symbolize what you offer and stand for. Customers connect with your business through your branding and can feel encouraged to make repeat purchases because of it.

Street banners can reinforce your brand identity and therefore help boost sales. Imagine several branded street banners as a series of arrows pointing the way to your shop, restaurant, or company. With consistency, the colors and logos on your banners tell a story that supports your print and digital campaigns. When people come looking for you because of those other ads, they can easily find you via your banners.

Leveraging Seasonal Themes

Unlike many forms of advertising, street banners can serve a decorative as well as declarative purpose. Aligning your banners with the seasons and holidays creates a positive sense about your business, adds to the festivities, and shows advertising that’s both participative and persuasive. Seasonal and holiday banners also carry a sense of urgency and not wanting to miss out on the limited-time joys. This adds to the emotions your customers already carry with them, driving seasonal sales. And again, the affordability of street banners and flags allows you to switch messaging as the days roll on without straining your budget.

Tapping Into a Sense of Community

As a local business owner, you can drive sales by underscoring how local you are, as well as the part you play in your region. Use street banners to foster a sense of connection and community, and back it up by sponsoring or mentioning local events, groups, and organizations in these banners. You’ll boost your brand by assuring locals that you’re one of them and always trying to help build a better town or city. Partner with sports teams, charities, schools, clubs, scout troops, and other groups that work toward bettering the community. Working together and promoting one another for the greater good reflects well on you and them and puts your business in a better, brighter light.

Tips for Effectively Designing and Using Street Banners

Now that we’ve covered how street banners can boost sales, it’s important to review some best practices to guarantee the most successful impact.

Ensure Dynamic Designs

Enlist the talents of a designer who can help you create banners with dynamic and visually appealing designs. Of course, your brand colors and logo should be represented. But you should also use effective typography, images, and messaging that make for a memorable experience for the viewer. To help, ask your current customers what exactly in your advertising brought them to you.

Experiment with bold colors, contrasts, and high-quality, striking imagery. Make sure people can read your street banners both up close and at a distance by employing sharp, no-frills fonts that don’t clash with the background. As part of your call to action, include your address and either a website or a QR code. This is so people can easily find more information about your business and engage online. Add social media platforms as well so viewers will see comments and ratings from previous clients.

Optimize Placement for Maximum Impact

Once printed and arrived, where should your street banners go? The easiest answer is above your place of business or nearby. But wherever you place the banners, be sure they’re in a spot that makes them pop. Choose locations that align with your target audience’s demographics, buying habits, and personal behaviors.

Do a little visual research on an area before placing a banner. Note how many people walk through at different times of the day, local competitors, distractions and obstacles, sunlight and other lighting, and the like.

For instance, if you cater to professionals, place a banner near where they work, board trains and buses, or eat at lunchtime. If you run a family-friendly business, place banners closer to playgrounds, schools, libraries, shopping centers, and other places where parents and children congregate. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how good your messaging is if the right people can’t see it.

Those are just five ways street banners can help boost sales and how to make the most of their impact. Do you want to learn more about using banners and street flags as advertising? Contact Action Flag for a consultation. Banners and flags are versatile marketing tools—find out how they can help your business thrive today!