Every year, millions of dollars are spent at various research firms to figure out the best marketing and advertising techniques for businesses to use. After all, a good marketing campaign may be the difference between strong sales, and going out of business. The results show that today’s businesses can take two routes for marketing: digital, and physical displays, such as billboards, signs, and even plexiglass sign holders inside a store. Retail display fixtures inside a store can make all the difference, and the same is true of free standing signs, neon signs on a window, and even digital signs. Internet marketing is very powerful and far-reaching, but it has not made signs like these obsolete. More often, modern companies and retailers take both routes, so that they can compliment each other. When it comes to signs such as plexiglass sign holders, deli signage in a grocery store, and brochure display racks, there’s a lot of marketing power to be had.
The Power of Signs
Businesses will place signs of all different sizes and shapes all over the place, some inside a retailer, others outside where pedestrians and drivers can see them. As for outdoor signage, the numbers show how effective they can be. The value of on-site signage is similar to that of 24 full-page newspaper ads per year, and a new business may get half of its customers just from the signs that it put up. Studies also say that for a typical business, 85% of intended customers will live within a five-mile radius of that business, so signs placed in that area can efficiently spread a message to many people at once. Customers, according to surveys, are impressed with high quality and attractive signs, and this often alerts them to a local business and entices them to visit. By contrast, shoddy or ugly signs make a poor impression and draw in few customers.
An outdoor sign may be a billboard by the road, or it may be a sign placed right over the business’s front door. Those signs, made mostly of wood and metal, may have a plastic face that glows when light bulbs inside the sign are turned on at night. Some signs may even be placed atop a tall pole to draw attention, and other signs may even be placed on top of a business’s roof where there’s more room. Neon signs are often used by night-based businesses such as movie theaters, bars, and night clubs, and an electronic ad screen can scroll through many digital images at once. In this way, they are many signs in one, and they might even feature animated visuals. Finally, smaller shops such as sandwich of coffee shops may place an easel with a chalkboard on the sidewalk, and write new messages on it every day.
Indoor Signs
Outdoor signs will bring customers inside a store, but the battle for the guest’s attention and money does not end there. Indoor signs will draw customers to particular brands or sales, and they may range from plexiglass sign holders to free-standing displays. Small plexiglass sign holders can have papers inserted into them to display any desired message, and they are often placed on shelves or on tables next to any merchandise that they pertain to. Such displays make good use of vivid colors, attractive symbols and patterns, and numbers to draw a customer’s attention. The sign may show the exact discount available, such as “40% of all items!” or “Now just $19.99!” or anything to that effect. Shelf tags in grocery stores do something similar, using bold numbers to clearly emphasize low prices.
Studies confirm how effective plexiglass sign holders and other indoor signs can be. In fact, most customers enter a store still undecided about how to spend their money, so signs and displays will compete for that shopper’s attention and sway their spending decisions. These signs and displays may also inspire an impulse purchase, and it is believed that 60% of all store purchases are impulse purchases. Meanwhile, the same merchandise may sell much better with a nearby sign than without, and even fully priced items may sell 18% if they have a sign to show off their presence and appeal to shoppers.
