This time of year, customers are running here, there and everywhere buying gifts and goodies for loved ones ahead of Christmas. For businesses everywhere this time of year, there’s ample opportunity to get a customer’s attention and get them to stop in to your place of business.
These days, every company with even a little bit of technology experience likes to bombard customers with email blasts and social media messages. Those are definitely effective, but even more effective is digital signage and electronic business signs. Studies have actually shown more people are apt to remember a message from a digital sign than something they saw on Facebook.
If you’re looking to use electronic business signs, here are seven tips for doing it effectively:
- What’s the goal: Any business, big or small, can use electronic signs for business and digital signage, but one of the biggest keys to doing it effectively is to define what exactly you’re looking to accomplish. Let’s say your business is retail. Are you using signage to promote sales? Are you promoting an upcoming event or a grand opening of another location? Whatever you’re using it for, focus on one key message that you want customers to focus on.
- The Rule of Eight: You may not know it, but the average American consumer is exposed to something like 3,000 messages and promotional ads a day. Being exposed to so much has given folks, especially younger ones, very short attention spans so many of those messages are in one ear and out the other. As a result, companies only have about eight seconds to grab and keep a customer’s attention. What does that mean for electronic business signs? It means less is more. So make sure your message is clear, concise and to the point.
- Know your intended audience: Electronic business signs and digital signage can no doubt get peoples’ attention, but businesses need to know their audience. Not knowing who your audience is can lead to confusing messages or signage that no one bothers to stop and look at. Keep in mind too that different types of communication aren’t universal across different demographics or different venues.
- Make it readable: Electronic signs for business, LED signs and digital signs are all visual platforms. Because they’re visual, businesses need to make sure they’re signage is readable. It can be tempting for those with a creative side to play with fonts, colors, sizes, background etc. There’s nothing wrong with showing some creativity, but ultimately your signage needs to be easy to read. Simple, direct fonts and simple messages are easily seen and easily digested by customers whether they’re walking by or stopping in to your establishment.
- Have fun: If your signage is engaging and brightly colored by LED lights, people are going to notice. Simple, direct signage works best, but that doesn’t mean businesses can’t have some fun within those parameters. Humor is one way to really make your company’s message stand out.
- Go easy on movement: There’s no doubt that human eyes are attracted to signage. In fact, surveys have shown that 35% of people wouldn’t have discovered a business had it not been for its sign. That being said, companies would do well to use movement and animation sparingly. Your audience needs time to absorb your message, so make sure if there is movement, it’s slow. You may also want to keep things like a company logo on the screen all the time, rather than having it move.
- Encourage involvement: These days, some of the most effective electronic business signs give customers a chance to interact with a business. That might include visiting the company’s social media pages, calling their store or texting them to get sale offers.
In an age when consumers are constantly bombarded by information from businesses wanting to get their attention, your business can stand out from the rest by using electronic signs for businesses. Remember to keep the message simple and direct, keep movement to a minimum, know who your target audience is and find a way to keep them engaged with your business.