Designing Your Promotional Ad
For Maximum Effectiveness
Designing an ad for your use depends on many considerations including:
- Who is your Target Market?
- How Many Colors will be on the imprint?
- Do you have specific corporate colors or will general colors do?
- Will you be including a picture?
- How do you plan to distribute the ad?
- Will the ad contain dated material (such as a calendar)?
- What is your budget?
Each of the above is important because it will impact your image. Remember, promotional advertising is in general view 24 hours a day, it reflects on your image. People will see the ad and for many; this will be the only visible representation they have of your company. Magnets, for example, will be put on refrigerators, file cabinets, cubicles, desks, lockers, etc.
Remember you are buying advertising on an item, not a pen, magnet, etc. with an imprint!
Here are some items we consider when designing your ad:
- Design the ad with the end use in mind.
- Include your business name.
- Don't overdue your graphics.
- People see before they read - use a graphic that fits your business.
- For magnets, there are many thicknesses you can purchase with the majority in the 20 to 25 mil thickness (25 mil is about 3/4 the thickness of a dime). We do not recommend thickness' less than 20 mil as they have a tendency to curl and not hold up.
- Include your name. For 95% of us, don't make it the most important feature of the ad.
- The most important part of your imprint is how you can help the person reading your ad.
- Speaking of reading your ad, NEVER use a font size smaller than 7! Small sizes are unreadable by 55% of the population.
- If you're open 24 hours a day, say so (or anything else that will set you apart from your competition)
- Include a tag line (something catchy so people will remember you)
- If you have a logo, use it.
- If you have corporate colors, use them.
- Promotional ads are miniature billboards BUT don't say to much.
- Promotional ads can have coupons on them. Consider using this feature.
- Don't use more than two different styles of fonts.
- Include how you want your clients and prospects to contact you.
- Full color pictures can be used on most magnets but ususally are not cost effective on other items.
- Don't design your own art-work unless you know what you are doing. Over 80% of the art we receive (and we set up art for free!) has to be redone because it uses the wrong file formats, is to complex or just plain poor design.
- The three worst programs to design art in are WORD, EXCEL & PUBLISHER. The first two have very specific uses and PUBLISHER is a great hobbyist program. Anytime we receive art in these programs we completely redo them. It's best to tell us what you want, use our free clip art services and let us design for you while you go out and work with your clients.
- Don't put your whole life or business history on the magnet
- Make sure you deal with a reputable company that guarantees their work
- Get a proof before the magnet goes into production. In fact, demand it!
When you order from us, we include FREE design service service and at least two FREE proofs. We also give you suggestions on what works best for your situation. This is at no cost to you when you order from us.
We can also do custom work. Use our custom design form for more information.
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