As revolutionary as social media sounds, with online targeted marketing analytics and more, is it really more effective than a classic printed banner? It is easy to miss the full costs of an online campaign; sponsoring posts, regular staff time to keep a fresh feed and discounting product margins to create maintain an online buzz. The internet and social media has had many benefits but social has become a noisy place particularly in advertising for restaurants and pubs.

By comparison, pub banners have been generating proven returns for pub owners for years.

With a banner you are advertising locally, targeting directly the customers who live nearby or are passing trade. As accurately honed as social media has become, it cannot compete with a well-positioned pub banner. Being seen at the exact location of your business, they don’t rely on any marketing algorthms to be effective.

Here we explain how to design the best pub banners in the UK. A truly essential guide for getting more pub goers through your doors.

Planning Your Pub Banner

  1. Position

Before putting pen to paper and starting with your next pub banner design, consider where your banner will be hung. You want it to be visible by as many people as possible. Where your banner is positioned will also affect the colours, size and layout. If your pub is white consider a contrasting black as your background colour.

  1. Visible time

Think about how long people have to see your pub banner as they pass. If your pub backs onto a road your message will have to be extremely short, if your pub banner is read by pedestrians or traffic in a queue you have slightly more time. The average person reads at 5 words per second, if your banner is viewed by passing cars then I would limit yourself to 3 powerful words.

  1. Lighting

Banners can be backlit or frontlit, so keep mindful of opportunities to have your banner more visible at night.

Choosing the Best Content for Pub Banners

  1. Emphasise Local

When the big brands are hassling for consumers attention online, use your pub banner to highlight that your business wins at local. Whether it is the choice of a background image or the promotional text, people warm to local experience.

5. Value Add not Value Discount

Pub banners will create even higher returns if your promotions encourage additional spend rather than discounting margins. Why not upsell a larger meal with a drink instead of discounting the basic meal price?

Designing the Banner

  1. Bold is Best

Particularly in fast traffic locations, one simple phrase will always be more powerful than a list of all the features your pub has to offer.

  1. Don’t Forget Free Wifi

If your pub offers free wifi it never does harm to include a small ‘Wifi here’ symbol in the corner of any banner. For travelling customers

Additional Ideas

  1. Tie with Community

How much would it cost to sponsor the local football team to also have a PVC banner placed at their home ground?

For custom design PVC Banners and online quotes.

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