POSM Retouching – Impactful POP and POS Advertising Displays
We help create impactful point of sale advertising materials
Before diving into details of POSM retouching, it seems better to understand what POSM stands for. It is a type of marketing drive that aims at boosting sales at the point of sale as well as purchase. Though the acronym stands for Point-of-Sale Materials or Point-of-Sale Marketing, it includes POS and POP both. While POP (point of purchase) displays are placed at purchasing points in a brick-and-mortar shop, POS displays are strategically placed near the checkout.
The sole purpose of this marketing drive is to attract customers’ attention, advertise new products and display sales-boosting offers, such as a discount offer. POP displays boost temporary promotions and special deals whereas POS displays help drive impulse purchases.
POSM Retouching enhances graphics and marketing materials, helping attract more customers and driving sales. Professional photo retouching services can ensure images are visually attractive, consistent with brand’s identity and effectively convey the intended message.
Like advertising or print media, POSM retouching entails processes that may involve color correction, background removal, object enhancement and image compositing among many other tasks. Retouching can help make signification difference in the highly competitive environment with features like maximized engagement, product highlights, and impactful in-store experience.
Issues with POSM Advertising
POSM materials exist in several formats – banners, posters, wobblers, floor graphics, self-standing displays or free-standing displays and digital displays. POS production projects often involve graphics in various sizes and resolutions. The images must be free from errors and imperfections. Raw images usually contain color cast, lens flare, lens distortion, unnatural colors, improper brightness and contrast, and many similar defects. These need to be corrected and properly aligned with brand identity.
Secondly, an advertising campaign usually includes strong text messages that must match with image style and maintain overall consistency. Graphic designers use several images and text elements to create composites that correctly convey the intended message. Usually, images’ backgrounds need to be removed or replaced before they can be processed further. Moreover, experienced retouchers know how to merge various elements seamlessly and create uniform-looking graphics.
Images need to be visually attractive with accurate yet captivating colors. Marketeers and advertisers must ensure that texture details are preserved, and various elements are properly aligned to create an impact. Shadows, reflections, color grading, gloss effect and vignettes are some of the techniques that retouchers use to create realistically appealing images. Finally, digital images must be converted from RGB to CMYK with proper resolution to make them print ready.
How photo retouching helps
POS production retouching projects retouching usually involves high-resolution images that need a very high level of skill and experience to process. We must use high-end retouching techniques along with steps that make the images print ready and easy to use. Among the services include resizing and scaling, object extraction, photo recoloring, conversion of raw images, RGB-to-CMYK conversion, raster-to-vector-graphics conversion, and image manipulation.
We process raw images to correct photographic issues, remove imperfections and improve the look. Some of our normal raw image processes include color correction, white balance adjustment, cropping and resizing. Next, we use clipping path and image masking techniques to remove background and eliminate unwanted elements. We then focus on the subject and clean it, removing dirt, dust or spots, using healing brush tools.
For human subjects, we take additional retouching processes, such as hair masking, skin retouching, face makeover and enhancement of eyes and lips. For products, we do things like perspective correction, adding realistic shadows and color matching with brand identity. Finally, we prepare the images for print media.
Here are some of the usual photo retouching steps we employ for point-of-sale marketing materials.
Color Correction
Raw images usually lack color accuracy and may feature color cast. White balance adjustments help ensure that colors look natural and consistent. It also helps minimize the effects of lighting conditions, thus helping remove color cast. Adjusting brightness and contrast helps images pop with detailed edges. We aim to bring back color accuracy and then enhance it further to make the images vibrant and consistent with the brand.
Background Removal
A common retouching task for POSM is background removal or replacement. We can isolate products from the background, create individual image from group image, or remove background altogether and replace it with a brand-consistent one. We use clipping path and image masking techniques to create pixel-perfect cutouts. Moreover, we can also use the same techniques to remove unwanted objects, blemishes, shadows and distractions.
Image Retouching
In this step, we work on pixels to edit specific areas on an image. This is a highly skilled job and needs years of experience and perfection. Among the common tasks include removing blemishes, smoothing surfaces, reducing wrinkles, brightening skin tones and making sure every detail of the product or model is clear and sharp. We aim to sharpen texture, highlight logos, accentuate fine details, remove imperfections and turn the image flawless. Besides, we can also create drop shadows and other visual effects to make the images realistic and more appealing.
Text and Graphics
Creating composites is a vital step as the entire purpose of POSM advertising retouching is to convey intended messages. We work on text clarity and consistency to emphatically display product details, prices, promotional messages and calls to action. Retouching helps enhance the text, making it clearer, bolder and more visually striking. We do this by sharpening, adjusting opacity, and choosing the correct font style and size.
Print Media Retouching
POSM retouching involves many steps of print media retouching, such as RGB to CMYK conversion, resizing and a change in resolution. Different print formats require different resolutions. You must ensure that images meet the standard resolution for each type of digital or print medium so that pixelation or blurriness is prevented. For printing, images must be 300 DPI or higher. Moreover, anti-aliasing techniques are used to reduce jagged edges and keep lines and edges smooth and sharp in print.
Conclusion
Several industries and businesses can benefit from POSM retouching. Retailers need high-quality product images to decorate physical stores. Fashion brands need pristine imagery to showcase their clothing lines in catalogues and in-store displays. Electronics companies require clean, crisp visuals to show off features and functionality on posters, brochures and banners. Restaurants and food brands depend on high-quality images to attract customers.
POSM advertising retouching helps make a powerful impact at the point of sale and point of purchase. Brands can achieve visual consistency, USP highlights, adaptability across formats and increased customer engagement with professional photo retouching services. Improved brand consistency, increased engagement, and cost-effectiveness can help drive sales and strengthen brand identity in any retail environment.