Three Ways to Improve Your Outdoor Signs and Stand Out

Almost every business in operation has outdoor signs. However, not every business owner knows how to capitalize on their storefront signage as fully as possibly, resulting in the possibility of lost future sales potential. Here are three ways to take advantage of your outdoor signs and attract more customers to your business.

Place Your Outdoor Signs in Well-Lit Areas

This is a no-brainer. Your outdoor signs should be placed in a well-lit area so customers can see your business advertising. However, this is not good just for the night-time, as many business owners believe. There may be times during the day when customers have visibility issues with your outdoor signs.

If your business is located in an area that gets foggy or humid weather, customers and pedestrians may have trouble seeing your outdoor signs. Other issues to consider are street events, attractions, and construction. If your signage is blocked, customers will not see it and you will lose potential business. However, such intrusive activities are unlikely to cause you issues if your sign is well-lit, due to public safety ordinances.

If an event organizer, for instance, blocks out streetlights for a parade and someone gets hurt because they could not see where they were walking and walked into a wall, that is the fault of the event organizer if the accident is linked to the blocked streetlight. While this is an exaggerated example, increase your sales potential and customer base by placing your outdoor signs in well-lit areas.

Renovate Your Signs Whenever Necessary

Understanding that your outdoor signs are customers’ first impressions of your business is not enough. If an issue arises with your signage, whether structural or cosmetic, you should fix it as soon as possible. Not doing so will signal to pedestrians that you do not care about your professional image, or their business.

In addition, your outdoor signs should change with the current trends to attract customers. Trends are not just based on popular culture though. If you change your business in some way, for instance transforming a sports pub into a fine dining establishment, your outdoor signs need to reflect your change in business strategy. Not doing so will deceive customers, even if it is an honest mistake, and you may lose current customers. As well, potential customers interested in fine dining may not know to eat at your restaurant because they think it is still a sports pub. Your signage reflects your business identity and it must be accurate if your business is to gain new customers and increase sales revenue.

A Unique Outdoor Sign Draws Attention

Having unique outdoor signs will help you stand out from your competition and attract customers, as long as you are careful not to go beyond the stylistic boundaries of your signage.

Returning to the food industry, if you own a bakery that sells cakes in the shape of children’s toys, an outdoor sign in the shape of a racing car cake is a good idea to attract customers. However, a 3-dimensional racing car cake sign in the middle of the street is not, because it will impede pedestrian traffic and people can get hurt if they walk into it. This is a tort lawsuit waiting to happen, and bakeries already have enough tortes to worry about (pun intended).

Before finalizing your plans for your current or future outdoor signs, make sure you understand the limitations and liabilities of using such designs. Show your designs to family and friends and ask for their advice. Ask loyal customers if they think your plans are good and get their suggestions on how to improve them. Your customers will appreciate the thought and effort you are putting into your business, resulting in future customers and sales.

Vital Signs, an industry-leader in outdoor signs, is located in Markham, Ontario. We service businesses and clients in Concord, Brampton, Toronto, and the GTA. Contact us today for all your outdoor signage needs.