Poster Marketing Essentials

Poster marketing lets you reach a large audience, economically, and in a very short amount of time. Successful poster marketing depends on several elements, each playing a significant role in achieving a specific response. By heeding the following poster marketing essentials you can put your campaign on the path to success in no time.

Do your research

When you set out to develop a poster marketing campaign, consider who your audience is, what they want or need, what they feel and where they go when developing your poster marketing campaigns. What motivates your audience? What can you offer them? Where can you reach them? A well-placed poster can yield a huge return on investment, while a poorly placed poster is just a waste of time and money. You also have to know what you want from your audience, and tell them how to do it. A political poster campaign might influence a change in perspective by asking readers to think, while a business advertising poster might want the audience to make a purchase by asking them to visit a website. Consider your target audience as individuals, and not as a group. Even though posters are viewed by many people at once, each person's experience with your poster is personal. Strive to develop an evocative message with personal impact.

Design and copy

Poster design is a science; it takes a trained eye to create an effective poster that draws your audience into your message — up close and from a distance. Poster copy is just as necessary for conveying a tone or feeling and motivating a response. Hiring designers and copywriters to develop your posters is a sound investment that can dramatically boost your poster marketing return on investment.

Blanket the market ...

It would be folly to rely on one location for your poster marketing success. Diversify your venues as much as possible: indoor, outdoor, everywhere a healthy portion of your target audience passes by. Repetition is the key to long-term poster marketing success, so be prepared to distribute your posters to many places and often.

... But don't be boring

Even though your posters should be everywhere, you don't want to dissolve into the background. Mix up your poster campaign by incorporating different poster designs, messages, offers, imagery and other techniques for keeping your posters noticeable and fresh in the minds of your audience.

Measure response

Watching passers-by to determine if your posters are getting enough attention is a bad way to find out whether they're successful, especially since the best posters are effective at an almost-imperceptible glance. Instead, simply ask your customers how they heard about you, or what brought them to you. Was it your poster? You'll be surprised at how many of your customers are willing to share this information. It's not an exact science, but it can lend insight into your poster marketing campaign success. An even better approach, though difficult to pull off, is to include an offer exclusive to your posters. An online retailer could include a specific URL or coupon code to track whether a poster is bringing traffic: "Type 'Go' For 15 Percent Off!" or "Visit ]]>www.yoursite.com/poster]]> for a special offer," for example. The trick here is in conveying your message and keeping the offer/action easy to remember in a very short amount of time. As an affordable way to reach a large target audience, poster marketing is extremely efficient. With careful planning, poster marketing can yield robust returns on investment for any business or organization.