A well known and proven sales formula is the mnemonic AIDA. It stands for attention, interest, desire and action. Every good poster needs to include these attributes, if it's to do its job properly; after all you need your poster to sell your business.

Any poster must be designed to immediately grab the attention of someone passing by. It needs to stand out and say something. A large company logo, followed by a short message in large text can say who you are and what you about in a second or so.

Use eye grabbing colorful designs. People will only glance at it for a few seconds, so what they see in that time must be taken in. Avoid printing a poster than has a lot of text. It's unlikely anyone will stop long enough to read it.

Draw the person looking at the poster into the poster. Try and make it as if they are a part of it. You need them to sub-consciously record what they see, so when they see another poster from your company that is the same or similar, the brain recalls it and they consciously remember.

Ensure your poster is appealing. You need it to try and make people stop, even for just a few seconds. You have probably seen the "Uncle Sam" poster, "You're Country Needs You for U.S Army; the finger pointing straight out of the poster and the word "You" in large text underneath. You just have to stop and look and whatever angle you stand at, the eyes seem to stare at you.

Ensure your poster is recognizable. This means that it needs to be in keeping with other marketing material you use. It makes your company marketing profile link together and the more people get to see the same style, the more you are recognized.

Simplicity is important to good poster design. Before you get your poster printed, use a couple of drafts and get various people to look at them and take note of their feedback.