Light pole banners, also known as "avenue banners", or simply "pole banners" are a wonderful enhancement to most public walking spaces, commercial parking lots and car dealerships. But like anything else, there are important considerations to take into account when considering the purchase of pole banners for your town or business. In this guide, we'll give you many helpful ideas for making the right choice when purchasing your banners. Read on and you'll be an expert in no time.
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Defining Your Project
As you begin your light pole banner project, here are some important considerations:
- How many poles do you want to decorate with banners?
- How long will your banners be up? Short term? Long term?
- What size banners will you need? Proportion and pole strength are important here.
- How many banners do you want on each pole, 1 or 2? <- There are interesting options here.
- What should you look for in pole banner hardware?
- What do you want your banners to accomplish?
- Designing your banners based on your goal
- Getting your banners installed - how not to get ripped off
Let's work through these one by one and get some best practices.
Best Practices for Buying and Installing Light Pole Banners
1. How many poles do you want to decorate with banners?
This is a fundamental question. But of course it's one of the most important. Depending on the number of banners you purchase, your overall budget could become quite large, but your per unit cost could drop. Deciding early how many banners you actually need can help you arrive at a reasonable budget before a lot of time has been invested. At current (2017) prices, you can expect to pay somewhere around $175 / pole for single banner applications. Or, $225 / pole for double banner (i.e. 2 banners per pole) installations. This estimate includes banners and hardware, but can vary widely depending on where you are in the country. Installation services will add perhaps another 40-50% to this cost.
The number of poles you decorate can be decided in a number of ways. For example, a key to marketing communications is the idea of repetition. So, how many times to you want to repeat your message? Too many times and passersby simply tune the banners out. Too few times and they may not notice the banners at all.
Similarly, will your intended audience drive by your banners or walk by? If they are driving, will they be going slowly - i.e. 35 mph or so in a town vs 65 mph or more on a highway. If your audience will see your banners while travelling at higher speeds, you may want to space them out more - perhaps skip every other pole if you have many poles to potentially decorate.
In the end, there is no right or wrong answer. What you want to aim for is an effective impact without more money than you absolutely have to.
It goes without saying that you should only place banners where they can easily be seen by passersby. It's a waste of time and money to place pole banners too close to trees that might obscure or damage them. If trees are very close to some of your poles, consider having them trimmed so that your banners are a safe distance from swaying branches and can easily be seen by your target audience.
2. How long will your banners be up?
This is actually a very important question for reasons of cost and budgeting. Many municipalities and companies will display their banners only for a short time - a couple of months, for example to advertise an event or to celebrate a season. In these cases, you don't need the most durable banners on the market (unless you intend to use them over a period of years, to celebrate summer, or a recurring festival, for example).
In other cases, for example, car dealers, banners will be put up which are intended for long term display - often for more than a year. In these cases, it's important to get the most durable banners you can find. You want heavy duty vinyl and you want fade resistant inks. These banners will be the most expensive, but when you factor in their useful life and the number of impressions they'll receive, they actually become quite affordable as a marketing tool.
In general, if you are going for a one-time, short-term promotion with your banners, then you should look for inexpensive offerings. If you think you'll want to keep your banners up for a period of months or years, then invest in the best quality you can find. Over time, you'll be glad you did.
