WINTER TIPS FOR YOUR SIGNS

For many businesses, the holiday season is a busy time of year.  However, it is still important for businesses to do what they can to draw customers in for a successful holiday season.

The holiday season is a great opportunity to get creative with seasonal signage.  Effective exterior signage will make people aware of your business as they do their holiday shopping and bring more customers through your doors.  In this guide, we will discuss tips for effective outdoor signage that will not only help improve business this holiday season, but also through the rest of the winter.

Outdoor Christmas Signage

The colors and imagery of the Christmas season are instantly recognizable and resonate with potential customers.  When you combine holiday imagery with eye-catching signage, you are sure to increase the foot traffic coming into your business.  Here are some outdoor holiday signage ideas you can try with your business.

Sidewalk Signs

Sidewalk signs are ideal for attracting passing foot traffic as people walk from store to store doing their holiday shopping.  This type of signage is commonly used during the holidays because of its effectiveness at grabbing the attention of passersby.

Sidewalks signs are so effective during the holiday season for the following reasons:

• An eye-catching design on a sidewalk sign can evoke feelings of the holiday season among those passing by.

• Sidewalk signs are commonly used during the holiday season and can help stir up fond memories of previous holidays and get potential customers into the spirit.

• A well-designed sidewalk sign may encourage shoppers passing by to take a picture with your sign and post it on social media.

• You have creative freedom with the design of your holiday sidewalk sign.  You may choose to incorporate traditional holiday characters, colors, and imagery associated with the winter season.

Holiday Sale Banners

If you are running special sales and promotions for the holidays, let customers know with a festive banner.  Banners are large, temporary outdoor signs that can be hung outside your business to draw customers in with your special promotions.  Once again, you have a lot of creative freedom as you can incorporate the colors and imagery of the holiday season into the design.  Including a catchy phrase that references popular phrases or holiday carols can further appeal to potential customers.

Holiday Hours Signage

The holidays typically cause businesses to deviate from their normal hours, as they may close earlier or later some days and be closed on the holidays.  If you have different hours during the holiday season, make sure you update your sign to reflect these hours.  If you are creating a new sign for holiday hours, you can incorporate holiday fonts, colors, and imagery into the design.  

Informing your customers of the days you will be open later will help you attract more business during your extended hours.

Holiday Directional Signage

Holiday shopping can be stressful and exhausting.  Using holiday themed directional signage can help make the shopping experience smoother and more enjoyable.  Directional signage such as sidewalk signs and signposts can seamlessly guide customers to your storefront, increasing the foot traffic in your store.  Once again, you can incorporate holiday characters, colors, and themes into your directional signage to invoke the holiday spirit as shoppers navigate towards your store.

Invite Christmas Carolers

As the holidays near, Christmas carolers may appear in busy shopping areas, bringing Christmas cheer to shoppers through song.  If Christmas carolers are known to frequent the area around your business, put out signage that welcomes the carolers and encourages them to stop and sing in front of your business.  Your signage can include imagery of carolers as well as lyrics from popular Christmas carols.

Welcoming Christmas carolers to your business has the following benefits:

• Creates a sense of community spirit that your customers will appreciate

• Helps create a festive holiday atmosphere

• Sharing videos of carolers on social media shows your involvement in local festivities among a wider audience

• Carolers will attract more people to your storefront which means more customers

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Additional Outdoor Signage Tips for the Winter

The winter season often brings harsh weather conditions that can affect your outdoor signage.  It is important to check the following at the start of each winter season to ensure the safety and effectiveness of your outdoor signage:

• Information: If it’s been a while since you got your sign, give the information a look over.  Is your phone number the same?  Have you changed your other advertisements and marketing?  Do you display your hours?  Do they need to be adjusted?  Even if all the information is the same, think about getting a fresh look by arranging the information differently to catch your customers’ eyes.

• Sign fasteners: Over the year, the nuts and bolts that attach your sign to your establishment can become loose and face some serious wear and tear.  Before it becomes a major safety issue, take the time to check on the condition of the fasteners that your sign hangs by and tighten or replace as necessary.  This is especially important as the harsher weather conditions near.

• Light replacements: Whether your signage is back-lit or front-lit, you want to make sure it stays lit.  Make a point to check on your bulbs and keep your whole sign illuminated throughout the dark winter.  As the days get shorter, you’ll be relying on your lighted signage even more.  

• Visibility and location: Are you visible?  Potential customers will pass right by if they don’t know you are there, especially during winter with darker and less visible conditions.  Make certain you have big, bold signage displaying your brand to ensure visibility in all locations necessary.

• Safety: Winter comes with safety hazards such as plows moving across parking lots, lower driver visibility, slippery floors, etc.  Be sure you have all the necessary safety signage in place on your property.  Do you have cautionary signage in your parking lot?  Can drivers see dock numbers and directions clearly in all weather conditions?  Will customers be aware of wet floors?  These are all things to keep in mind when preparing your space for the winter.

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Winter Outdoor Signage from Divine Signs and Graphics

The holiday season is here, which means it is time to get out your holiday signage and inspect your existing outdoor signs to ensure they are prepped for the winter conditions.  Incorporating holiday themes into your outdoor signage will contribute to the holiday spirit and help attract new customers to your store.

If you need new outdoor signage for the holidays, talk to our experts at Divine Signs and Graphics.  We can work with you to design, print, and install all types of outdoor signage, including ground signs, monument signs, outdoor wall signs, banners, sidewalk signs, and more.  Our design experts will work with you to create and finalize a design that incorporates holiday imagery as well as the branding of your business.  Well designed holiday signage will keep the customers coming into your business during the season and the positive experience they have with your business will have them coming back the rest of the winter.

Don’t hesitate to call our professional signage experts!  We have the experience and technical knowhow to keep your signs looking good as new.  Regardless of the time of year, keeping your signs’ appearances up is key to driving business.

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Winter is almost here! Design new signs or update old ones With Winter In Mind. Download this infographic and follow our tips to get the most of your signage.

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