Visual Marketing: 99 Proven Ways for Small Businesses to Market with Images and Design

61. An A Cappella Visual Promotion for Musicians: Attracting Your Target Market with a Banner Containing Images and No Words

The banner that rises above the newly converted warehouse in the Benton Harbor downtown arts district in Michigan has no words—it's strictly visual. Piano keys form the shape of a stairway at the top of the banner with a large quarter note at the bottom. The Quarternote Lofts are banking on the fact that its target clientele of music students and aficionados of the Citadel Dance and Music School—located on the first floor—will know what the symbol means.

Why It Works

There are four residential lofts (or living “quarters”) above the Citadel Dance and Music School. Paula Bodnar Schmitt and writer Keith Oppenheim of the Bodnar Design Consultancy created the name and the symbols, which have become a beacon within the burgeoning arts district. Kenneth Ankli, owner, calls the banners, “a fitting exclamation point to the building's rehabilitation.” He says the visual identity of the building has taken them from the ranks of “near tear-down” to a historical, avant garde mixed-use facility in a neighborhood that is now experiencing a renaissance.

Success Metrics

• Building owner Ankli says, “The sidewalks are busy, parking is scarce and the atmosphere is dynamic,” due in part to the Quarternote Lofts identity and presence in this revitalized neighborhood.
• The building ...