When it comes to spending your advertising budget, you want to be sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck. You also want to be sure that your investment will last, so you can get the best return on your investment. This is especially true for outdoor advertising materials like banner signs.
How can you ensure you’re investing in the right product for your business’ needs? First, you have to do your due diligence and research the various options you have when it comes to outdoor advertising. Here’s a quick list of some of the most durable options:
- Acrylic: This durable material a good choice for outdoor advertising. However, these are not as flexible as other textiles and may limit your printing ability.
- Polyester: A good choice because it offers flexibility in terms of patterns, designs, and colors. However, without special treatments the fabric can fade over time, seriously compromising the appealing look of your advertising.
- Poly-Vinyl: This is a great combination of polyester and vinyl, and offers the best of both worlds. The two fabrics are used together to create an excellent choice for outdoor banner signs that’s extremely durable and offers great design flexibility.
Thinking about the material your banner is made out of also involves considering the textile’s ability to withstand the elements and other environmental hazards. What are some of the qualities you should be looking for in an outdoor banner sign? Here’s a quick checklist:
- Durability: You’ll want to use a material that can withstand exposure to rain, sun, and wind for your outdoor advertising banner.
- Curl-Free: Some materials are specially engineered to resist curling or wrinkling at the edges, which means your sign’s message will stay fully visible.
- Color Quality: Using a textile that you can print photographic quality letters and images on is important to give you flexibility with the design.
- Flame Retardant: For safety reasons it’s important to make sure your banner material is flame retardant. A highly flammable banner could compromise an otherwise safe situation.
- Consistent Printability: You want your sign to look uniform in in its color and imaging, but if you’re printing on a fabric that doesn’t hold the ink consistently throughout the whole piece, your sign may look odd and unprofessional.
- Micro-Textured: A micro-textured banner prevents dot gain and can be printed on much more clearly. This means your image or lettering will be sharp and clear.
- Engineered Stiffness: Critical for the long term durability of an outdoor advertising banner. You don’t want your outdoor advertisement - like a billboard - or other banner signage to curl up or wrinkle. The engineered stiffness keeps your sign flat and therefore visible.
To make sure you’re as informed as possible during the banner design and purchasing process, you can keep up with advancements in banner signs or find resources like the Sign Industry Magazine. Another great resource is the Industrial Fabric Association International’s Fabric Graphics Association Division, which provides articles, tips, and resources about banner signs.
Keep in mind there are industry-standard high performance textiles like Bantex Banner Media fabrics that offer all the qualities outdoor advertising banners should have in an affordable, domestically manufactured material.
Make sure your banners and signs leave a great first impression. Download our free guide, Best Practices for Maintaining Seasonal Banners and Signs.
