How to Strategically Use Pavement Signs to Increase Footfall
Attracting more people into your store means increasing visibility.
It is not enough to just put out the bunting and hope that the masses come traipsing in through your door. You have to make sure that what you have to offer is enticing to your customer.
Customer Demographic
No article relating to the placement of pavement signs to increase footfall would be complete without discussing customer demographic. In order to entice the right people into your store, you need to use the right tools and signage that your customers will respond to.
A pavement sign is a universally accepted and widely used method of increasing the visibility of a shop or business. It attracts attention with the idea that once read, the customer will glance in the direction of your shop for more visual clues – is this a place they want to visit? Providing you get the impression right, the curiosity of the customer will be aroused and they will take a closer look.
Understanding your customer demographic should bring rewards.
How to Use a Pavement Sign
The pavement sign is just one piece of kit you have in your marketing arsenal that you can use daily. However, familiarity breeds contempt, and although a pre-printed pavement sign is common – for example, you may serve a certain brand of coffee – we think that placing the same sign on the pavement day after day loses its effectiveness.
A customer needs to ‘see’ a sign, its logo and information several times before they recognise the brand and what is on offer. So it needs to grab attention and create recognition, but you don’t want it to become stale and too familiar.
There are several ways that you can use a pavement sign to increase footfall:
· Directions
Not all businesses have their front doors opening onto the high street. There are many towns and cities that have small lanes, nooks and crannies that house pretty little shops… if only customers could find them.
A pavement sign is a relatively inexpensive way of pointing customers to your shop. They can be pre-printed with images and information, as well as your logo. With a professional design service, your pre-printed A-frame or pavement sign can really grab attention.
· Offers
Some businesses opt for a partial pre-printed sign, leaving some parts of it free to write on. Some can be chalkboards, others plastic using a water-based, wipeable marker to add information to the board.
Enticing more customers into your store means giving them products or services at great prices. Like most businesses, you probably have a sale every now and then or a ‘flash sale’ with heavily discounted items, or a daily, weekly or monthly offer.
A pavement sign can be a great way of highlighting one or two offers, along with the information that customers need to know – how they go about getting it, where they can find the offer and when the sale ends etc.
· Messages
There are examples all over social media of funny or poignant messages on pavement signs outside of various businesses and stores, not just in the UK but across the world.
You may think this is a frivolous waste of a pavement sign. Or is it clever marketing?
Customers, tourists and so on will often photograph these boards and post them on social media. If you are on social media, you can be found and this means your pavement sign works to increase footfall via online means too.
When you see these signs, you will note the majority of them will have the logo of the business on the board somewhere.
A Visual Reminder of Your Business
Shop signage should attract attention. Your window display should attract attention. How to enter your store, what you sell and the impression of your business should all be clear. This way, a passing customer can make the decision about whether to walk in your shop or not.
Once they do, the rest is down to you, from the merchandising of your store to your sales patter, quality products and prices.
Colour Graphics can design and print all kinds of pavement signs. With a variety of styles, you can buy a frame that has a changeable insert, or opt for a plain pavement sign but with your logo printed on it.