Dispelling the Cheap Banner Myth

Your customer wants a sign that has the pulling power of a black hole; it has to reach out and suck in everyone that comes within reading range. This sign needs to withstand the elements for months, even years. The customer wants to be able to remove or install the sign at will, and wants to be able to store it in a closet or a car trunk for easy transport. In fact, it needs to be collapsible – even foldable – because who has the time to neatly roll it around a storage core and tuck it safely in a protective carton? Further, your customer has a deadline for the delivery of the sign, but has very little advertising budget to cover its expense. The customer wants a banner!

Question: Is a banner a cheap sign?

Answer: Not a good one! Why? Because it takes as much time, talent, facility and personnel commitment to create an effective banner sign as it does to create any other quality sign production. Good banners are also as expensive in material cost as most other producer-supplied sign components. The only adjustment that can be made when pricing a banner is in the material used and the media to decorate it. Your time, talent and business commitment cannot be discounted! The current professional and public perception is that banners constitute a class of quick, easy, cheap signage. This attitude can be changed only by sign companies willing to educate themselves, their clients and their competition – in that order. (The competition often refuses to catch up until they start losing clients to companies that do make the effort to educate.)

I agree that banners can be quick. I also agree that banners can be easy. They should never, however, be cheap. Banners can potentially be the most effective signage we ever produce for our clients. Therefore, they often have more value – not less – to our customer's business. Are we as sign-makers properly marketing those benefits and values? Or are we giving them away?

The gimmick's gotta go

A lot of marketing problems occur because we choose to use cheaper materials when we produce a banner. The real material costs may make only a $10-20 difference in selling price. Yet some signshops treat banner production as a loss-leader enterprise – a gimmick to tempt clients through the door, in an attempt to get more profitable projects from them. Using this gimmick is poor marketing; it conditions clients to expect low prices for signage and graphics. Often, these same clients mysteriously evaporate after they find we have no desire to be as cheap with other types of sign production. Hmmm. Correctly marketing banners requires building respect for the value of well-designed signage. Do clients respect us as sign designers and producers, as artists and craftspeople? Do clients respect our stand for quality products made with high-performance materials? Do we provide visual examples of effective signage, along with visual examples of failing, ineffective lettering applied to low-grade substrates? Maybe it's time we showed clients the bad with the good. Maybe it's also time we started trusting clients to make the right decision on behalf of their own business prospects.

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When selling a banner to a client, I say, "I can sell you a banner made with materials that might perform 40% as well, for a price difference of $5 to $10. Is that what you want me to do?" Invariably, the client opts for quality materials at the higher price. I have made his purchase decision one based on quality, not price.

Even if the competition's banners cost several dollars less then mine, my client has enough natural sense to realize, if I discount my time, talent and business commitment to him (as my competition has), then I will have to cut corners. He also realizes that cutting corners undermines the durability, appearance and effectiveness of the signage. Trust your client! If you trust his business sense, he'll trust yours. Let the other clients go! Banners take more abuse than almost any other kind of signage. They must endure rain and UV, but they must also withstand harsh winds; in fact, banners are like sails without boats! In addition, banners are often hung by a client's hourly help, most of whom know nothing about proper installation methods.

Banners also receive little or no cleaning. Just like a car, they need washing and waxing. Yet when was the last time you saw someone cleaning her banner? Park your car out on the curb for 6-24 months without maintenance and see how well the paint holds up!

Automotive paints, by the way, are usually superior to most sign paints in durability – yet car manufacturers will not honor a warranty on the paint if the owner has not provided reasonable and consistent washing and polishing. This would be considered abuse and neglect of the paint. Further, vehicle surfaces are generally very smooth (for improved UV resistance) and are not particularly flexible, which means the media used to decorate them does not have to be very flexible either. Banners, on the other hand, are typically textured (which allows more UV-ray absorption) and are often stored roughly or even folded. Therefore, their construction and decoration needs to be with the best materials, not the cheapest. (I guess we should be thankful that folks don't run their banners through high-pressure car washes, eh? Although I have seen awnings [a.k.a. fancy banners with bones] take high-pressure washings. Makes you think, doesn't it?)

Obviously, if a banner will be used for a one-time affair, we can make material choices that will save the client some money. And if the requirement is for the most basic lettering production, we can save him more. But at some point we have to draw the line. And that line is generally where we've decided to preserve our profit margin and our reputation. If all you want out of your business is to be known as the maker of cheap banners, no doubt you can succeed at becoming very efficient and specialized at this type of production. But then you shouldn't be disappointed when all the really nice projects pass you by – or if someone (equally self tortured) tries to compete in your niche.

If you cross the line, you may find yourself in the same dilemma as a wholesale banner producer who asked me: "How can I use the cheapest materials to be competitive, warrant my productions, and avoid all the comebacks I am currently having?"

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Not surprisingly, my response was: "If you expect to be the cheapest and stand behind your work, you will probably end up frustrated and broke! Are you running a business for profit or for your client's favorite charity? None of your clients can be properly served until you take a stand for quality productions with quality materials – productions that you can warrant because there will be few or no returns."

Remember, if you don't have the time or money to do it right the first time, how can you afford to do it over?

Banner blunders

1. Usually the first mistake banner producers make is in using calendered vinyl rather than flexible cast vinyl film. If you have properly prepped and installed vinyl on a banner, yet the vinyl still separates from the surface, is it because you have tried to cut material cost by using a calendered film? True, in limited circumstances, with certain banner materials, you might be able to get away with this. But why take chances? Also, why double your inventory requirements when a cast vinyl will likely perform well every time?

I was called upon to replace a banner that a company had purchased from another signshop for use at tradeshows. This particular banner had been used only once, correctly rolled up and placed in a protective carton. Three weeks later, when the client removed the banner from the box, the vinyl letters had started to separate. This is when he brought the banner to me. The culprit? Calendered vinyl. I removed and replaced the graphics with high-performance cast vinyl. End of problem. But not end of story. I did two more banners, three vehicles and a storefront window for this same company. The signshop that did the first, troublesome banner saved about $10 by using calendered vinyl . . . and lost thousands of dollars in repeat and referral business. We have to start looking at customers as clients for life and sources of free referrals – not as one-shot transactions.

2. The second mistake sign-makers make is in failing to correctly prep the banner. All environmental pollution, skin oils and migrating PVC components must be removed from the surface before applying graphics. You can accomplish this by wiping the banner several times with isopropyl alcohol, denatured alcohol, or non-oily automotive tar, wax and grease removers.

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3. Sign-makers often do not lay out the banner properly. When applying graphics, the banner should be as flat and smooth as possible. If you do not do this, air pockets can form and/or wrinkling can occur. To prevent pockets and wrinkling, I staple the banner to a hard, flat surface before graphics application.

4. A fourth mistake involves the improper squeegeeing/burnishing of graphics to the banner. Because most heavier-duty banners have a textured surface, it is good to use a surface conforming squeegee (the ever-famous chopped-off paint brush) and a mild application of heat with a heat gun or heat lamp. This will facilitate full-surface contact between vinyl and the banner. Following vinyl application and pre-mask removal, re-burnish the graphics with the brush or a towel, paying special attention to the edges.

5. Typically, signmakers do not give clients proper use and care instructions, nor do they instruct clients how to properly hang banners. Don't leave this to chance! Attach a set of instructions to your written warranty that disclaims responsibility for improper use, abuse or neglect. Make the client shoulder some of the responsibility, just as makers of products that you buy do to you.

6. The sixth and biggest business-crippling mistake sign-makers make is to set prices too low. If you commit one or more of the above mistakes and compound the problem by setting prices too low, the market takes your price as a benchmark. This is a terrible situation for the rest of us trying to do everything correctly.

If you're unsure about prices, use a pricing guide to arrive at an equitable price for your work. This guide shows that outdoor banners should sell between $5 and $11 per sq. ft., depending on duty requirements and the degree of detail. A typical 3 x 8-ft. outdoor banner would properly sell for $120-$264. Multiple banner discounts should never exceed 12%.

What I am saying here also applies to "fancy banners with bones" – awnings. The nice thing about awnings is that they are usually correctly tensioned; the bad thing is that they are on someone's building, not in your shop. But that's what trip charges are for, right?

Banners can be very profitable and they can serve as stepping stones into all types of signage production for appreciative clients. Avoid the false economy of using cheap materials and practices. Producing a quality "black-hole" banner for a customer who walks through your door enables you to build a long-term relationship with her. A good banner – like all effective signage – will pull people off the street and into a parking orbit around your client's business.