The first interaction between your business and foot traffic is your signage. With well designed, adequately placed retail signage, you can optimise brand recall and entice potential customers to enter your business — as well as encourage a mindset to purchase your wares. Here are some tips and ideas for effective in-store promotional signage for your retail business.
Purpose and Benefits of Signage
Retail signage serves many functions. First, signs are a cost-effective marketing tool that grab consumers' attention and introduce or reinforce your branding. They promote sales and new products and help navigate interested customers to your business. Finally, they encourage and influence shopping behaviour by creating demand and a sense of urgency (in limited-time promotions). Signs come in a variety of formats, from foam board and posters to customised artisanal pieces made of wood, metal, or other more expensive materials.
Outdoor Signage
Your outdoor sign provides consumers with the first impression of your business. Therefore, it should be visible, eye-catching, and reflect your brand personality. It should also include your brand logo and provide hints about your inventory.
Directional Signage
Directional signage helps customers navigate the different areas of your store and guides them to the product categories that interest them. For example, if your retail business is larger, you may have signs showing where the bathrooms, cashiers, stairs, or elevators are.
Informational Signage
These signs tell customers that you have certain programs or services and provide information to allow customers to take action. For example, information signage can set out membership programs or cards, social media handles to follow, and reward systems for customers to enjoy.
Promotional Signage
Promotional signage is persuasive, encouraging purchases ("buy now") or creating a sense of urgency that inspires impulse buying ("limited time only"). These are signs advertising sales or specific items that you want to draw customers' attention. Depending on the layout and size of your space, you may have one or more large promotional signs or a number of smaller ones peppered throughout the store. They can also take the form of inside or outside displays that showcase particular products.
Creating Effective Signage to Increase Sales
Maximising the effectiveness of your retail is an art as well as a science. From a marketing and psychological standpoint, you need to make sure your signs are:
- Specific and targeted. In the marketing and public relations world, it is better to reach potential customers who are more likely to be interested in buying your products than to cast a broad net. Therefore, the details — such as location and product offering — should be specific. "Cool stuff" may pique the interest of more people than "customised ceramic pots", but many people entering your store to see what "cool stuff" is will turn around and walk back out. On the other hand, people who come in specifically to look at "customised ceramic pots" are doing so because they seek those products (or your sign has reminded them that they are).
- Clear and succinct. If your sign is rambling and contains too much information, you will lose the attention of potential customers. Your signs should convey your message and themes in a matter of seconds, not minutes.
- Balanced in terms of placement. A good signage scheme will make sense in the amount and design of the space you have. If you have a small store, you do not want to overload the area with signs, whereas a bigger space may require more signage to assist customers. Posters in windows should be big enough to be seen but shouldn't block out too much light or obscure the view of a beautiful store.
- Aesthetically Pleasing. The text should be in legible, headline sized font. For example, your signs should stand out with illumination or bright colours. Just make sure that they're not so bright that they hurt the eyes or look ugly. If your brand has a particular colour scheme, whether you want your signs to use those colours or stand out with complementary colours will depend on the layout of your space and personal taste.
Signage should also create a "call to action", motivating visitors to purchase, join mailing lists, or follow your store on social media. Incentives should be clear.
You can quickly transform the look and appeal of your store with gorgeous, high-quality foam board prints and posters. Contact us today and find out how.
