To succeed in today's market, being mobile-friendly is a must.

With the Internet becoming even more influential in creating brand awareness and driving sales, companies should be looking for every possible way to optimize their advertising campaigns for the online world. Surprisingly, however, few companies have considered the importance of linking physical advertising campaigns (i.e. flyers and signage) with their online campaigns. Because most customers browse on some sort of mobile device, being mobile friendly is essential. Today, we’ll take a look at five ways you can start building a synchronized marketing strategy using your physical signage and social media accounts. Upcoming Events: Are you participating in a community event sometime soon? County fairs, swap-meets, and other small business events in your city are a great time to connect with potential clients and other industry professionals. To get the most traffic to your booth, try promoting the event on social media before it occurs by giving people a “sneak peak” of what you will be presenting. Then, transfer the design from your digital promotions onto a vinyl banner and hang it on your booth for maximum recognition. Add Hashtags to your Everyday Signage: Hashtags are a way for individuals and businesses to rally around an event or topic on social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Is there a hashtag your company uses on social media to identify specific posts or promotions? If so, these should be added to the business’s everyday signage to encourage walk-in customers to “tweet” or “share” their location or purchase. Customers can share their experience online by using this hashtag to immediately identify your brand and connect with your other customers. Promote Mobile-Friendly Social Shares: Take our two above tips, merge them together and add a promotional twist for a truly specialized marketing campaign. A perfect strategy for businesses who need to build a presence on social media, try using specialized signage to advertise deals and discounts for customers who like your Facebook page or share a photo at your location. Ask for Outreach: If you don’t want to get mixed up in the technicalities of creating and monitoring hashtags, social media can also be used for simply developing brand visibility. If all you want out of social platforms is a loyal following and occasional customer feedback, consider creating a dedicated banner advertising your social media presence on different channels. For example, a pizza business who is active on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest can create a hanging banner or sidewalk sign asking customers to follow your account. Let them know that although they won’t get a special offer for liking or following the account, but they will have access to exclusive deals in the future. This strategy keeps your up-front costs low, and encourages continued customer engagement online after they leave your store. Using a combination of signs and social media is a new but effective way to drive traffic. Major brands have taken this strategy one step further by placing hashtags and social prompts on commercials and in promotional speeches with great success. If you have any questions about creating a social-friendly sign or banner, contact our team today.