Top 8 Types of Outdoor Signage Solutions and Factors to Consider

Every advertising agency conducts various promotional activities for various clients to advertise the product or they create a mode of communication with a target customer group. These promotional activities are Above the Line (ATL) and Below the Line (BTL).

The outdoor signage falls under Above the Line category. There are different outdoor signage is used specifically to address different above the line advertising and marketing activities. Let’s understand some of the outdoor signage solutions used now a day.

1. Awnings

An awning is good to show a company’s name and logo. They are made of canvas in a metal frame used in retail stores or restaurants or other buildings.  Awnings promote business and shade for customers who enter the premise.

2. Channel Letters

A Channel Letter is good to feature a company’s name or logo. It is three-dimensional signage made of metal or plastic. Due to depth in dimension, they are easily seen during the day and are often lighted at night for more visibility. It is used in retail stores, offices, malls, and similar businesses.

3. Digital signage

A Digital signage is known for displaying text, graphics and video messages with an electronic platform such as LED. The digital signs are fantastic to attract attention and promote the purchase or to announce an event. It is extremely dynamic, bright, and eye-catching in nature.

4. Directional Signs:

Directional signage is used as a tool to facilitate visitors to find a way and guide people to walk through a building, or a complex or campus. They are mounted on a building structure and sometimes freestanding to promote the company’s name or logo.

5. Monument signs

Monument signs are ground-mounted at the entrance with a low profile built with bricks, concrete, foam, and steel. They are of a building or a mall or a campus or a subdivision.

6. Outdoor banners

Outdoor banners are affordable and ideal signage solutions that are used temporarily for a specific objective. They are often made of nylon or canvas with slits to resist strong winds. These objects can be announcing a grand opening, promoting a sale or a special event, or even to alert people.

7. Pylon signs

Pylon signs are lightboxes to enhance visibility. They are often next to major highways specially used at gas stations, retail malls, shopping plazas, restaurants, car dealerships, and hotels.

8. Window graphics

A window graphics are strategically positioned either next to the entry, or in a store where the customers can easily see. It is a good way to promote their products and services.

Some key factors to consider for effective outdoor signage.

You should understand who your target customer is and how your brand interacts with them at each stage and engage with them. The core purpose of outdoor signage is to enhance and encourage communication between brands and their customers. It requires the right approach and active participation to achieve this objective.

Here is an ultimate guide on the checklist to set up effective outdoor signage.

1. Who is your audience?

Understanding the target audience is very important. A good understanding of your audience increases customer engagement and gives better results to form a good base for future success. You have to know with whom you are interacting. Creating the right audience persona will help you in set up effective outdoor signage. You need to create the persona by knowing about their location, age, gender, lifestyle, income, hobbies, interests, political views, etc. the audience means learning

2. What’s your purpose to achieve?

Are your ads targeted for Awareness, or consideration or recall?

You must define the purpose and the goals to be achieved. Customers go through a long buying journey. Before you invest your time and efforts in an ad; you must know in which phase your customers are in their buying of the journey and target them accordingly with your ads.  

3. What’s about your content?

In outdoor signage, good content is very important to express and convey the right message to a potential customer. There are many types of content that can be used in outdoor signage.  Based on your ad purpose content could be anything like texts, images, slideshows, or even videos. It should always be short and simple, with high readability with a scannable text and eye-catching colors. Other factors such as crowd, time to see the ad, the customer persona are important to consider.

In short, it is completely based on location, target customer, the purpose of the ad, speed of delivery and product.

4. What is the value for the customer?

With Outdoor signage, brands can create valuable content for their customers. Advertising has evolved from a boring and tricky content to more value-based content. The content should make sense to the customers and bring some real value in their life. It should give them a hint of how they can benefit from your product or service.

Hence, outdoor signage is a good tool to reach clients effectively to improve overall communication and conversions.

Conclusion

Advertisement is an important but continuous, time-taking and tedious activity for any business. If you are a business, then you should definitely consider using an effective outdoor signage solution for your advertising activities. You need the right partner who can understand your brand, your business goal, your customers, their way of communication, etc to achieve your advertising goal.

In the advertisement industry, there is nothing as a perfect ad content plan. It’s a continuous process and you have to make changes to find a way to optimize the engagement metrics. Once the ad content is published, you have to make small adjustments to evolve with the time, the need and the platform.

You should have a checklist for an effective outdoor signage solution for steady customer engagement.