Pavement Display Boards (sometimes called A-Boards, A-Frames or Sandwich Boards), were one of the very first forms of advertising, and they are still going strong. Why? Because they are so simple and cheap: an eye-catching, engaging, affordable and highly-effective way to GRAB ATTENTION, LIKE THIS!!!
A well-designed, written and produced pavement display board can have passers-by impulsively popping into your shop, café, restaurant, wine bar, pub, music venue, art gallery, you name it… And if you are a stall owner, a great A-board can draw people towards your stall and help boost your sales (with the cost of high business rates and High Street rents being completely avoided).
Pavement display board printing is inexpensive and fast. But there’s no point in investing in A-board advertising unless you make maximum impact, and to do that you need to first decide upon:
- Your target market (age, income, consumer-type, etc.)
- The tone to adopt (cheeky, chirpy and laddish; or something more serious, cerebral and sophisticated?)
- Whether you’ll be advertising in daylight or at night (this can determine your colour scheme, where your main message is best placed on a well lit board…)
- Where you’ll position your board (to avoid accidents; to ensure it won’t be in direct, blinding sunlight for most of the afternoon, and therefore, useless)
With all this sorted, be sure to then:
- Use a large-sized font, so that your message can be read from afar (and so passers-by won’t have to rummage in their bags for their glasses, etc.)
- Keep your message brief – it’s a sandwich board not an À La Carte menu!
- Stick to one message only: the promotion of your latest Special Offer? A new product announcement? Raising awareness that a certain author is in your shop RIGHT NOW doing a book signing? A longer-term offer that will require durable printed A-board advertising ‘with legs’ (excuse the pun)?
Whatever your pavement display board’s purpose, don’t crowd it with more than one promotion; the whole idea is to make it effortless for people to read, to quickly grasp. If they have to ‘work’, they’ll keep walking. And you don’t want that.
Include an image? A clear and striking (and relevant to your written message) image can work wonders when it comes to snagging attention, catching the eye, ‘telling a story’… Have a think.
Finally, although in most instances conveying an understandable message will be essential, there may be rare occasions when holding information back could be a smart move; rather than spelling your message out, how about just hinting at it, or getting people into a frenzied ”It’s no good; I’ve just GOT to know” state with a subtle yet powerful message that is teasing, tantalising, tormenting and simply downright irresistible. Believe us; once potential customers are in that A-frame of mind, folks, they’re as good as sold.
P.S. Create a sale, not a hazard
To stay on the right side of the Law, be sure of course to always keep your marketing message clean, and do check with your local Council before putting out a board (this is essential); you don’t want to ‘do a Dick Turpin’ and be accused of Obstructing the Highway, or worse!
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