When you need to make an advertising poster for your business, there is a lot more to consider. Anyone can create a poster, but not everyone can create a poster that converts people into customers. You need to pay close attention to word choice, current trends in the market, and carefully composed photos; all the minute details that will set your poster apart from the crowd.

To get some tips and tricks on how to make a stand-out poster, keep reading.

The Text

What do you want your poster to say? How do you phrase it, so it is short and snappy but also informative? These, along with a list of other things, are what will make your poster effective.

• Step one: know the information you want to portray. Whether you are selling a specific product or advertising a business as a whole, you need to quickly and boldly state all the information. You can start by writing out full paragraphs of text, but then go back over them with a fine-toothed comb and pick out the things that need highlighting. You can then condense it down to those important points.
• Step two: refine your language. Whoever your target audience is, try to match your word choices to them. You don’t want to be advertising something for adults by using colloquialisms used by teens. Do thorough market research — look at other branding of similar products and the words they use.

The Image

Stand out from the competition with eye-catching photography. For this, you will absolutely need to call on an expert photographer to get the task done. There are likely hundreds of freelance and full-time photographers in your area who will be able to get the shots you need to create your poster.

When hiring a photographer, check out their portfolios, websites, and reviews before committing to an individual. Check that they can also do the edits and retouching if you can’t do that in-house, so you end up with perfect images for your campaign. Ask if they can use Photoshop or another editing software to edit out imperfections, change color and contrast, and create an eye-catching image that complements your message.

If you have an in-house photographer, work with them to create the image. The benefits of someone on your staff being able to take and edit the photos for you is that you can get almost instant results, and you can make edits on the fly without too much back and forth.

No matter what you do, make sure the image works in your favor to promote your product or business positively.

The Layout

Check out other posters before you start and get some inspiration. See what works and what really doesn’t. There is nothing worse than a cluttered, unreadable poster. On the flip side of that, a poster that’s too empty can easily be overlooked.

Try different variations — test moving the photo around and changing where the text sits. It may also be worth asking around to see what people notice first. If their eyes are drawn to the image but then miss the information, something will be off. Find a balance and you’ll be onto a winner.

In Conclusion

The perfect poster does exist, it just takes a little trial and error to get it done. Once you work your way through all the component parts to ensure they all fit together, and that the eye of your audience is drawn into the correct place, you’ll be set to send it out to the public.