How to Make a Custom Banner: A Complete Guide

Congrats on securing a coveted spot at the big fair, seasonal festival, or bustling trade show. Of course, getting in was only half the battle. Now you have to draw customers in with creative branding and keep them there with a unique booth display.  

While the display will engage passersby as they approach, what’s the best way to grab potential customers’ attention at a distance? For trade shows and craft fairs, there’s one answer you should see from a mile away.  

Custom banners are a visually loud (but audibly quiet) way to get eyes on your booth. These brand assets are an excellent tool for engaging potential customers from way off into the distance. 

But how do you design a banner that will act as a classy bullhorn for your brand? What do you put on it? Where should you display it? 

The cavalry has arrived — Stomp’s guide to making your very own custom banner.

Where To Use Custom Banners 

You're preparing to strut your stuff at a bustling food festival, an artsy craft fair, or perhaps even a local farmers' market. Whatever the venue, you'll need a vibrant and eye-catching sidekick to help you stand out from the crowd. 

With a custom banner, you can proudly display your brand, announce new products, or simply add a touch of pizzazz to your booth. And don't think these versatile wonders are just for events. They're equally at home outside your storefront.

Let’s uncover the obvious and not-so-obvious use cases for custom banners before we get into the nitty-gritty of how to design them for maximum visibility. 

Custom banners are a must for event booths

Your custom banner is a head-turner at festivals and booth events. It should lure passersby to your booth like moths to a flame. So, think bold colors, catchy taglines, features (hand-made, organic, gluten-free, locally-owned), and a design that says “howdy.”

But that’s not all. Your banner can be a multitasking maestro, doubling as an informative billboard. 

Use the banner to showcase your best-selling items, promote limited-time offers, or share glowing testimonials from your adoring clientele. 

As cost-effective signage for fledgling small businesses 

If you’re a small business owner moving into your first brick-and-mortar establishment, you will need a sign. Perhaps you’ve been dabbling with the idea of investing in some lit signage for your new company. But then, you look at the price tag, and it’s no bueno. 

Enter the custom vinyl banner. They tell people about your business and let people know where you are at a more affordable price point. In other words, if money is a little tight when you first open your doors, a custom banner is a cost-effective alternative to lit signage until you get your footing.

For school and sporting events

School and sporting events are prime real estate for sponsorship opportunities. With a custom banner, you can showcase your brand to a captive audience of parents, students, athletes, and more. 

Your banner serves as a beacon of support, not only for the teams playing but also for your business. Let it proudly wave your company colors, boasting your logo, tagline, or even a cheeky message that scores a home run with spectators. 

Whether your banner is draped along the sidelines on a chain link fence, hoisted atop the bleachers, or displayed in the bustling food court, it’s spreading the word about your fabulous products and services.

Announcing new products or services 

For brick-and-mortar storefronts, a coming soon, monster sale, or grand opening custom banner is an effective tool for drawing attention to your business. 

These types of custom banners can be simple block text on vinyl or highly-customized and branded banners that are flashy and loud. Whatever you need to meet your goals and brand, a custom banner is a fantastic way to announce new offerings. 

Custom banners for parties

Invite your custom banner to a party, wedding, baby shower, or other celebration. In this setting, your banner's goal is to make a memorable impression on the partygoers, ensuring they'll remember your event long after the confetti has been swept away. 

Decorate it with custom logos, colors, and even a witty message that raises a smile or sparks a conversation. Prop the banner up by the entrance, place it near the food and drinks, or have it keep watch over the dance floor! 

Custom Banner Design Tips 

A custom banner basically follows the same design rules you’d use for oversized, high-visibility signage, like billboards. But unlike billboards, customers can get much closer to a banner. However, you still want to keep the banner text and overall design simple and readable at a good distance. 

Here are our top design tips to get you started:

• Keep the text simple and readable — Avoid complex, cursive-style fonts that are scrawling and difficult to decipher from afar. The whole point of a banner, especially at a place like a trade show or fair, is to grab attention from a distance – for that, you need to make the text large and legible. 
• Go for a minimalist design — Busy designs are more difficult to decipher. A minimalist design with your color, logo, and some mid-range visibility text helps keep your CTA front and center. 
• Include these must-haves — Make sure your banner has your contact info, like your website, email, phone number. Maybe even a QR code.  
• Brand it with a CTA — Include a call-to-action (when applicable) and design the banner in your brand colors with your logo, slogan, or tagline. 
• Social media handles and hashtags — Include your social media handles and any hashtags relevant to your business and marketing campaigns. 

Okay, now that you know what to include and avoid in your banner, let’s cover the two different kinds of banners.

A Tale of Two Banners: Informational and Call to Action

It was the best of custom banners, it was the worst of custom banners. It was the fabric of success, it was the vinyl of missed opportunities. It was everything a small business could dream of and all they wished to avoid. 

And you want to avoid a custom banner with no strategy behind it. Before you press the order button, you should have a firm idea of what your banner is meant to achieve and how it’s going to do that.

Basically, there are two kinds of custom banners — informational and call to action. Each type serves a different purpose and requires different designs to be most effective. 

Call-to-action banners are primarily for persuading viewers to take a desired action. When designing this particular type of banner, you want to keep it simple and minimalist regarding the text and information you include on the banner. 

The banner should have an intriguing design, i.e., eye-catching, branded colors. But focus on your call to action — whether that’s to place a call to the business, enter a giveaway, download your app, etc. — and the primary benefit of taking the desired action. 

On the other hand, an informational banner is meant to educate the viewer, whether it’s a sale, a new store location, rules for an outdoor event, etc. Give these types of banners big, readable text so people can take in the information from a distance. 

Design Your Custom Banner With Stomp 

When you need to make a statement loud and proud, a custom vinyl banner is the way to go. These signs are lightweight, portable billboards that roll up like a yoga mat. 

However, because these banners are so large, using the highest resolution images possible is essential as low resolution and pixelation on a small scale aren’t ideal for a banner. For more information about designing your banner, check our Artwork Guidelines, and if you need help, our customer support team is standing by!

So, what are you waiting for? If you feel inspired and you’ve got a design in mind, Stomp is here to help you design a custom banner that reinforces the professionalism of your brand and draws customers in from far. Start designing your banner today!

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