For many businesses, summertime presents a great opportunity to increase sales thanks to impulse purchases for items such as pool supplies, refrigerated beverages, party snacks, swimsuits and sandals, and so on. Depending on your location, you may experience increased traffic as new people visit fun, dining, or recreational venues around you, so it’s just a matter of directing that traffic to your store using custom signs and other ideas.
When you’re looking to draw in customers and increase foot traffic, it is mostly a matter of enhancing your store appearance so it’s eye-catching, enticing, and engaging. Here’re a few ideas to achieve this:
1. Use summer colours
Summer is associated with bright, vibrant colours, a change in wardrobe, and even different eating habits. As people spend more time outdoors with family and friends there’s an atmosphere of positive energy and joy. The theme for all your marketing and promotional materials should entice the same feeling. From your blog topics to store decorations to promotional tactics, anything aimed at selling your brand, products, or services should portray the fun, vibrant summer theme.
Use vibrant colours and dynamic designs and graphics to attract people with similar summer energy. You can also consider adding your brand logo or contact information on popular summer items that compliment your brand, or general items such as t-shirts, sunglasses, beach balls, and frisbees. The objective is to increase your brand visibility and associate yourself with fun summertimes.
2. Create memorable signage
It’s easy to replicate the outdoor and indoor signs that you see everywhere. But creating a unique design can make your brand stand out, grasp attention, and increase traffic to your store. For instance, you can choose to install an illuminated sign that is eye-catching and easy to spot during the day or at night.
Illuminated signs come in a wide range of custom options, including shapes, sizes, neon and LED lighting, flush and raceway mounting options, and many other design options to make your business location easy to remember while giving it a professional look that will last year round, for many years, even in the harsh rain or snow.
3. Use window displays
If your store is located in a high-traffic area, you can use your window real estate to tell an enticing story that will make people want to come in. Your window display should be catchy enough to serve as an invitation to people passing by and encourage impulse purchases. Use a combination of graphics and letters to communicate your message in a simple and clear way.
4. A red welcome mat
A simple mat with the words “Welcome” written is a great gesture from the business owner, inviting your customers inside. It means that you’re ready for business, and prepares the customers for a pleasant experience once they get inside. When placed in a high traffic area, people will naturally expect you to provide just as clear direction inside to guide them to what they need or want to purchase. So you can compliment the welcome mat with floor drawings, images, products or services you carry, or arrows to guide consumers to different areas.
5. Put your best in front
If you have a store, consider putting your best products, or the most enticing products out front to get consumers through the door, especially those in a hurry. Once you grab their attention and get them inside your store, you can use other strategies, such as glass displays, indoor signage, and floor arrows to get consumers to explore other products.
6. Use outdoor signage
With people spending a lot of time outside, your integrated marketing approach should use advertising strategies that reach your customers wherever they are. Start by putting a sign in your parking lot. This could be as simple as a light pole sign, printed in full colour, with your logo and offer indicated to entice people. You can also advertise through leaflets, kiosks, posters, and other outdoor media to showcase your best product or service, perhaps with an offer, so it’s memorable. The product or service should be relevant to the summer season to spark imagination and encourage sales.
7. Connect to summer sports
No matter the industry that your business specializes in, try to find an angle to promote your brand through summer fun activities. Bookstores can promote summer reading, while coffee houses can promote their iced beverages. Clothing stores, on the other hand, can promote beach hats and comfy summer attire. Beyond that, you can find a way to associate your brand with a local favourite summer sport or activity so it remains visible throughout the season.
8. Maintain a fresh look
Consider if it’s possible for customers to immediately recognize the products or services you provide by simply looking at your building. Window displays are a good way to complement your outdoor signage and increase the visibility of your brand. You can also decorate your walls with eye-catching designs to achieve the same effect.
For a temporary or seasonal option, you can use tall banners that extend from the roof to the sidewalk, showcasing your best products or business with eye-catching images to advertise the items that people may “want” during summertime. Freestanding banners can be just as effective, plus you can change the content every few weeks.
9. Harness wind power with balloons and flags
If you’re looking for a cheap way to create movement and attention outside your store, then you can simply arrange multi-colour balloons outside the entrance, and a string of multi-colour pennant flags extending from your storefront to a nearby light pole. You can replace the pennant flags them every two weeks or monthly so they remain bright and in good condition, while the balloons can be replaced often since they deflate fast in the sun. Tie the balloons to cinder-blocks that are disguised with burlap or cloth to keep them from flying away.
10. Use QR codes
QR codes refer to the square barcodes attached to items that can be scanned to provide additional product details at night. They are particularly good in high traffic areas for customers to view product information of items in your front window display. They can also choose to visit your website to view other items.
To give your business visibility during summer, you need to take your brand outdoors with custom signs, promotional events, attractive storefront, and so on. You just need to find a creative way to work the summer angle. But for any business, an outdoor custom sign in Toronto is the first step to get nearby foot traffic inside.
For more information on attracting customers in the summertime, call New Style Signs at Phone: (905) 363-0101 or contact us here.
Leave A Comment