When I published my first children's book, I had plenty of ideas for getting it in front of people.
A giant marketing budget was not one of them.
For my first book event, I ordered an inexpensive 30-by-48-inch vinyl banner featuring Oliver the Owl. It did exactly what I needed it to do—until the event was over and I was left holding a very large piece of vinyl with nowhere particularly useful to put it.
I could have rolled it up and forgotten about it.
Instead, I started thinking.
What if I could turn it into something I could use again and again?
One Banner. One Idea. One Displaced Dining Table.
I wanted something portable enough to take to book events, sturdy enough to stand on its own and substantial enough that people would actually notice it.
Eventually, I pictured an oversized easel or sandwich-board-style sign.
And apparently, once I can picture something, there's a reasonably good chance I'm going to try building it.
So, I headed to the hardware store for a few inexpensive pieces of lumber, screws and one gloriously cheap container of mistinted paint.
Then I pushed my dining table out of the way.
Because obviously this was now a workshop.
Saturday Night, Power Tools and Oliver the Owl
There I was on a Saturday night with a 30-by-48-inch Oliver banner stretched across my dining-room floor.
Some people watch Netflix.
I build promotional signage.
I constructed a simple rectangular wooden frame sized to the banner, squared everything up and secured it with screws. Then I added a hinged easel-style leg to the back so the finished sign could stand on its own.
A cord between the legs controlled how far the support could open, and finishing washers and screws held the vinyl securely against the frame.
Then came the important part:
It had to look like it belonged to the brand.
I painted the wood to coordinate with the original banner, attached everything, stood it up...
…and realized I had built an absolutely enormous Oliver the Owl sign in my dining room.
Exactly What I Needed
It was big.
It was slightly ridiculous.
It was perfect.
I've since taken the sign to multiple events, where it can stand near an entrance, beside my table or wherever I need Oliver to announce that we've arrived.
More importantly, I didn't have to throw away the first piece of marketing I'd purchased simply because the event it was designed for was over.
I gave it another job.
And that may be my favorite part of the whole project.
The Marketing Lesson Wasn't Really About the Sign
When you're building something new, it's easy to assume good marketing requires continually buying more things.
Sometimes it does.
But sometimes the better question is:
What do I already have, and what else could it become?
A vinyl banner became a reusable event sign.
A few dollars in lumber became something I've used repeatedly.
And an ordinary Saturday night became another one of those “I wonder if I could make that…” moments that seem to happen around here fairly often.
You don't necessarily need a huge budget to make yourself visible.
Sometimes you need a good idea, a little resourcefulness and a willingness to move the dining table.
What I Used
The original build cost me $14.38 plus tax, not including the banner or materials I already had on hand. My original supply list was:
- Two 2 × 2 × 4-foot furring strips — $3.72
- Four 1 × 2 × 4-foot furring strips — $3.52
- Finishing washers — $0.70
- 30-count package of 1½-inch Phillips-drive wood screws — $5.33
- 8-ounce mistinted paint sample — $0.50
- 2-inch foam paintbrush — $0.61
Total: $14.38 plus tax
Prices were what I paid when I originally built the sign in 2024 and will, of course, vary.
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