Originally published July 2009, Today's Garden Center

All Signs Lead to Boosting Sales
The 5 keys to better signage

The first thing I do when clients debate the merits of store signage is to ask them to do the ‘360 test’. It is a simple way to test how well you and your business are promoted at the store level through signage. Stand anywhere in your store, nursery yard, - even your parking lot, and do a full spin noting the number of times you see your company name or logo. Often times when I just describe this exercise retailers will grimace. (Are you seeing a Monrovia logo more than your own?). Whose brand are you promoting?

Effective store signage is an important way to direct shoppers to product, support and reinforce the store brand, and, of course, sell more products. The success of a signage strategy hinges on the integration of function, style, and placement. Signage can also help you avoid the pitfalls of ‘decorating’ vs. ‘display’. A pet peeve of mine is when I visit a garden center and see product, (usually your best stuff), collected in random fashion through out the store. Not sure of the difference? Well, here is an easy way to tell: is the product organized and supported with fixtures and specific signage? Does it complement the traffic pattern you would like to establish in the store or create roadblocks or distractions? No, well you’ve just failed Display 101.

Before we tackle the keys to better signage, let’s consider the different types of signage. At Sunrise Marketing we recommend Seasonal, Event, Sale, Departmental, Directional and Product Spotlights. These can be produced on a range of substrates (banners, paper signs, mounted signs, etc.), sizes, and display fixtures. Cumulatively they form the basics for organizing your store signage.

The 5 keys to better signage –

1. Design – Whether your objective is a complete store signage project, or just beginning with a few of the basics, you need to establish a consistent design style. Your signage should complement, and not compete with the rest of your marketing media. A specific message is communicated more effectively with consistent presentation. It is helpful to establish a specific color palette (identified by specific PMS – Pantone Matching System – numbers), fonts, logo placement and overall design standards. Try to include your logo and web address on every sign.
2. Style – Style, in conjunction with design, can create a ‘look and feel’ that will establish an environment your customers experience when they visit your store. Style will help reinforce the personality of your business, and the personality is usually an extension of ownership. The reverse of the process is also true; the experience should reflect the personality of the place. Are you fun and friendly? Upscale? Expert? A low price leader or something else entirely? These concepts can expand to communicate your USP, or Unique Selling Proposition, which helps you stand out from your competition.
3. Image – The image – whether a graphic or a photograph – is an important component to the signage process. Before you default to the near clinical precision of the ‘mug shot’ of a particular plant variety, consider images that again complement the design and style you wish to communicate. People respond viscerally to the images. The composition of images, in the case of photographs, can either nail the style or confuse the message. If your goal is a sophisticated, upscale look and feel, then the photography, or artwork, must work in concert with this idea. Another important consideration should be to consider how men and women respond to images. Women respond more to the emotion of color and composition, while men respond to the information contained in a sign or an image.
4. Purpose – It is essential to understand that signage, like any other marketing medium, needs to have a well defined purpose, or objective. What do you want to accomplish with your signage? Are you looking to assist customers in locating products, or specific departments, or are you looking to establish an atmosphere? It is not that these elements are mutually exclusive, but rather a simple ‘Sale’ sign has a different purpose than a sign that says ‘Spring!’ The purpose of the sign will, in many cases, drive the design and style of a sign. The ‘Sale’ sign can be as simple as a red background, signaling importance, or urgency, and the word ‘Sale’ in a high contrast color like white. Whether or not red is your school color (so to speak), a consistent use of the color red in conjunction with an urgent message is another effective way to establish consistency throughout your signage.
5. Location – I am a firm believer in using signage to move people through the shopping experience. When you consider that most garden centers sprawl across acres of product, it is easy to see how that might overwhelm your customer. For that reason I would suggest that you begin with a site plan, establish a traffic pattern, and then utilize signage to mark the path. While scale is important, good signage should move people in 25 to 50 foot increments. You can also organize your signage into primary, secondary and spotlight. Your primary signage might be a departmental sign such as ‘Greenhouse’; your secondary sign might be ‘Geraniums’ and your spotlight sign might be ‘Geranium Sale’. Remember to utilize signage to move the eye from a distance down to a destination. When you section your store into micro-markets, such as pottery or trees, it will provide a logical progression from large to small. This process can be applied to as large a concept as your parking lot – main roadside sign (primary), fence banners (secondary) and store entrance (spotlight) – or as small as a vignette for plants that attract butterflies.

In order to build a successful approach for signage, you may need to break some bad habits. Again, make the distinction between ‘decorating’ and ‘display’. Another benefit of organizing your fixed displays will be the ease and effectiveness of quickly changing out your promotions. Fewer displays mean less work, and in this case, less is better. At the very least you should establish displays in key areas such as the store, greenhouse, and nursery yard entrances. When you apply one of the key rules of retail – WIFS (What’s In Flower Sells) – the decision of what to promote is easy. A calendar of display changes can be worked into a schedule that can coordinate effectively with your other marketing messages. Success at the store level is the timely coordination between the right product, the right message and the right merchandising. Simply put, schedule your plant deliveries for optimum sales (bud & bloom), sign the product (spotlight POP), and advertise the product (direct marketing).

Just about all retailers realize how important store signage is, but fail in the execution of a plan. Despite what you may think, I would suggest that summertime is the best time to plan and execute a signage project. It is easier to work with product than to try to work from a blank canvas. Finally, shopping more tradition retail such as grocery stores (I like Whole Foods), specialty stores (Williams-Sonoma), and yes, even large box stores (IKEA), can spark ideas that might motivate you towards directing your business towards a boost in sales.