In a fiercely competitive retail environment, being able to draw the attention of rushing drivers and uninterested passersby can mean an edge over your competition. With a bit of creativity, one of the few marketing tools that can give you such an edge are retail signs. The use of signage in retail is a tried and true practice with numerous benefits. But these benefits won’t come your way unless you use the signs correctly. To ensure you’re using signage effectively in your retail location, here are the must-have features to consider.
1. Use of Images
How fast and how well you capture an audience or customer’s attention can make or break your interaction with them. This is true for magazine covers, newspaper headlines or email subjects that have to provoke the interest of the reader to open or read them. When it comes to retail signage, this truth becomes even more critical. The sign is only effective if it can capture the interest of the customer enough to read it.
How better to grab the attention of your audiences than with a striking image? Chances are that there are tens or more other retailers competing for the limited attention of the same target customer. You want to give them reason to settle for your offer; you must do it fast and effectively. While using many words can explain your value proposition, just a single well-crafted, eye-catching image can get the job done, telling your entire message. And the customer can get it in just a single sweep of their eyes.
So, whether you include words or not is upon you to decide. Just don’t miss out on the image leverage. The customer might not have the time or interest to read your message, but they’ll certainly see your photograph or image.
2. Standing Out from Afar
A good choice of font, color contrast and retail sign holders can do the magic for your retail signage. The objective is to draw the attention of customers to what you’re offering from as many angles and as far away as possible.
Can you read the sign from a distance? If you answered negatively, realize that it’s the same for everyone trying to read the sign. You don’t want to limit your audience coverage. So, keep your inscriptions bold, colorful, legible and outstanding from a distance.
3. Simplicity
Ultimately, you want people to be able to remember your retail signs. People should not only be able to read your signs at a glance; they should also be able to recall what they see on it. The surest way to promote recall is to have a simple, concise message on an unsophisticated layout.
Wrap-Up
Creating effective retail signs can be a cheap but extremely rewarding way to market your business, draw customers into your retail store and sell your merchandise. The anatomy of an effective retail signage can consist of a long list of features. However, the above three should never forgotten if you wish to be successful in your use of retail signage.
