The great contradiction with the light business is that we always talk about the objects we’re lighting rather than the lighting itself. It’s understandable; lighting can be admittedly pretty dull, especially when compared to the cool stuff we can illuminate with our lights as well. But, what if we told you it doesn’t have to be that way?
Steel barn lighting is one of the most in-vogue styles of lighting in the business world. Why? Because steel barn lights and farmhouse-style lights are the best at creating a sense of authenticity to any establishment that other lighting solutions simply can’t mimic. That ability of steel barn lights becomes even more pronounced when applied to store signage.
Sure, a simple sign doesn’t seem like the most important thing to stress about when running a store, particularly when you’re talking about the image’s lighting. However, the reality of store ownership is this: visibility is king. Sure, there’s marketing and the internet, which will bump those exposure and sales numbers if you have the proper insight, but there’s a reason why traditions stick around for so long – because they work.
In this blog, we’re going to talk about the importance of good store signage to your business and the techniques that you can use, with steel barn lights, to maximize your investment!
Read on!
Sign Me Up
In the current day and age of e-commerce and digital retailing, with retail behemoths like Walmart dominating the business space, it seems old-fashioned to speak about store signage.
But it’s not just about letting people know where you are from within eyesight; store signage plays a massive part in the impact and effectiveness of your business to communicate its message to customers. Signs help customers navigate your business and answer multiple basic questions about your business simultaneously.
Broadly speaking, the best practices for maximizing your retail signage goes as follows:
Simplicity Above All: A sign for a business has to be clear and concise with its message. Too much info, and you’ll often lose your customer before they’ve gotten through the door.
Get Specific: Making sure your sign can convey vital info about business is critical. Items of interest such as location, specific details, and instructions will be the best piece of information to share.
Create a Message: Creating a sign isn’t just about saying where you are; it’s also about creating a message that will engage a viewer to act on the information you’ve shared. The best signs are the ones that can effectively communicate a simple goal for potential customers.
Mind Your Business
So, with the basics out of the way, this begs the question: just what are the styles of signage to think about? There are admittedly a lot of different kinds of signage, enough that we’re simply not going to be able to cover every single one of them.
However, we will try and cover the most common styles you’re likely to experience/need as a business. They are as follows:
Persuasion Sensation
Persuasive signage is arguably the most essential type of signage you can use. Compelling signage will influence the viewer to act on specific behaviors and influences using convincing language and attractive, or often provocative, imagery.
Persuasive signage is also often highly adaptable and can be useful across a whole range of mediums, from being used on individual garments to, as is more commonly seen, being used in shop window displays.
Using signs like this will often allow certain brands to establish a dialogue with customers about who they are and what they are all about without even needing to speak with them directly.
Lighting for these displays is often tricky to establish, as there are so many options. While wall lights are a great feature, ceiling lights are where products and clear signage can shine.
Our lights, such as the Carson ceiling light or the Eagle Rock ceiling light, provide the perfect accompaniment to any piece of persuasive signage, providing a great compromise between incredible lighting quality within a smaller package than contemporaries. Combine these fixtures with an LED bulb, and you have a product display that will look timeless and attractive in no time.
The Great Outdoors
There’s no better form of signage than the classic outdoor sign when it comes to raw visibility because your store sign is the first meeting between a potential customer and a retail business. As a result, the humble outdoor sign is invaluable for many storefronts.
But it isn’t just about announcing where you are; outdoor signage has the weighty responsibility of needing to convey as much about your business as possible – in as little time as possible. For the outdoor sign, the ultimate victory is being able to convince a passerby to give your store or restaurant a chance when they previously may have simply ignored your location entirely.
Lighting for this type of signage is, unsurprisingly, all about getting as much light as possible. So while the ceiling light is more effective for window signage and such, the wall light becomes invaluable to the outdoor sign.
Lights, such as the Gardena or Redondo, are best suited to the task of many larger signage pieces and provide the ultimate illumination for your business. However, the Hollywood Bowl and Hawthorne steel light are fantastic options for those with limited space or simply looking for something more subtle. Both lights providing an astonishing amount of light in a small package while also giving a great sense of style;e in the process.
Welcome
Making customers feel welcome into your business space is a crucial element to the success of many ventures. The signage of your business is an essential part of creating a space for your potential customers to feel safe.
As with storefront signage, many inclusive sign features aim to be as visible and accessible as possible. Providing a form of lighting that pursues that end then is critical. Again, biggest is often best in these cases, and using either the wall-mounted Redondo or the ceiling-mounted Manhattan would be best. However, for a more subtle and focused approach, smaller fixtures – such as the ceiling-mounted Inglewood or the wall-mounted Westchester-would be fantastic options.
If you need help making the right choice of lighting for the next piece of signage for your business, then contact our friendly team at Steel Lighting Co., our friendly team of experts would be more than happy to give some advice and recommendations on what kind of steel barn light can best suit your commercial needs.
