If you own or operate a retail business, you need impactful signs and visual graphics to create a great customer experience.
We've provided hundreds of tips for unleashing the power of interior advertising in our book Signs Sell, co-authored by Rick Segel and Matthew Hudson in conjunction with FASTSIGNS International, Inc.
As a general rule, the larger your retail location, the more signs and graphics you need, however, quality (in terms of message, appearance and placement) trumps quantity, and there is great value in using signs and visual graphics to inform, promote, sell and help people find their way.
Consider these ideas for getting the most out of your signs and visual graphics:
1. Be an experience engineer. Think about what you are trying to accomplish and what messages you want to communicate, and then determine the type of signage you need. Plan for the experience you want your customers to have in your store, and then help communicate it using impactful and creative signs and visual graphics.
2. Involve others in your plan and then monitor/change as needed. Get your employees and customers involved in your visual communications plan by asking them what they think and then later, ask them for feedback on other signs and graphics they think would be helpful. Ask about the others stores that your customers shop in and visit some of them yourself to see how they use signs and graphics to communicate.
4. Write out your action plan and calendar. Put your initial plan in writing and then commit to reviewing the plan monthly or at least quarterly to see how it is working, which messages need to change and how sales and customer engagement are changing based on your plan. Sharing the plan with your key employees and committing your plan to writing improves the probability that you will execute it.
6. Create a budget for your interior advertising. Signs and graphics deserve a percentage of your overall marketing budget. You can achieve a lot from your visual communications for a small investment.
7. Create a budget for your exterior signs and graphics. Don't forget about impact of having graphics on your delivery vehicle or the importance of ensuring that your pylon sign is in good shape (lights are working, graphics not faded, etc.).
8. Determine metrics to monitor and measure your plan. Measure the success of the visual communications you have implemented by creating a way to track what is selling and monitor the increases over a time period. You can also see how engaged your shoppers are or you could create short surveys from time to time to ask them how your signs and graphics impact their experience.
9. Work with a professional. Make sure your vendor is an expert in visual communications. You need more than just a sign company; you need people with visual ideas who understand how to market your business, and FASTSIGNS® is more than ready to help.
