5 Tips for Creating Storefront Signage that Drives Sales

The first step for any retailer that is trying to make sales is getting customers in their store. Storefront signage grabs the attention of passersby, communicates information about your business, and promotes incentives. Your business’s signage represents your brand’s voice and tone. Signage helps bring cohesiveness to your branding by carrying out the same look and feel from your storefront signage to all other signage and even your online presence. Signs allow you to highlight the visual association with your business. Even if you are a newly established business, your storefront signage can make a major impact on familiarity. Your business’s logo should be considered an essential part of your signage.

Marketing strategy is sometimes overlooked when businesses are creating budgets because money is one of those things that is hard to play around with – you can only stretch a dollar so much. However, it’s worth establishing a specific amount of your marketing budget each year for signage so that you can see the return on investment (ROI) in a concrete and quantifiable way – storefront signage is a great investment.

Here are 5 tips for designing storefront signage that captures attention, communicates the information about the brand, and drives more sales for your retail store.

1. Font matters . . . a lot. The most effective fonts for signs are pleasant on the eyes and don’t require the viewer to struggle to read the sign. You want to be direct and bold, but not aggressive. Unique, but not too unattainable. Fonts matter and set the stage for your sign.

2. Promote. Be honest, but also create a little wonder about your brand, sales, etc. by thinking outside the box. Make sure any promotions you are advertising in your storefront signage are clear and do not cause confusion.

3. Check out the color wheel for a greater understanding of how colors can complement each other . . . or work against one another. Occasionally logos don’t transfer well to signs, so be aware of this when designing your logo and branding. Customers gravitate to signage that’s easy to process. Consider all of the visual competition that your brand is vying for in our modern, highly visual world.

4. Location and size make a big difference. Visibility is crucial and where you place the sign and how small or large the sign is will affect the draw. Drive past your intended sign location and look at it from a customer’s point of view. Are there any obstructions? Are you drawn to the location? Is your sign too big (or too small) for the location? Where you put your signage will make a difference in whether or not it brings customers into your business.

5. Stick to your branding. Your logo should be part of your sign. The colors and the fonts should align with branding all along the way. This is the best way to build customer loyalty – you want them to keep coming back. Remember, your business is competing with others in the same industry, so you want to stand out and be remembered when a customer has a need or a challenge.

Roknod Studios takes great pride in working with small businesses to create storefront signage that works for the business. Our design team will help you be creative with your signage, and highlight the story behind your brand within a budget you feel comfortable with. Contact Roknod Studios to get the sign creation process moving for your business’s next major promotion – we’re here to help from concept to installation.