6 Reasons your Restaurant’s Outdoor Signage Isn’t Working

Improving your Restaurant Sales with Signage Are you a restaurant struggling to entice customers with your outdoor signage? When done correctly, a menu advertisement can increase your sales without incurring a monthly advertising cost. Today, we’ll give you some likely reasons your restaurant’s outdoor signs aren’t driving traffic. Let’s get started! 1) Boring Item Descriptions If your outdoor signage is used to advertise specific items on your menu, it’s important you include highly descriptive words to communicate expectations to your potential customers. Use words that describe the flavor, texture, and design of the dish you are advertising for the best results. 2) No Listed Prices Especially when you’re advertising house specials, including a price on your sign is important. Often, customers determine where they dine based on their food preference and budget simultaneously. Neglecting to list your prices on any menu advertisement can cause customers to write your business off due to lack of information. 3) No Imagery Over the years, society has become more and more visual. As they say, “a picture is worth 1,000 words. Because images offer so much appeal and information at the same time, adding visual imagery (like pictures of your menu items) on outdoor signage like mesh banners can allow passing traffic to make a snap decision to eat in your restaurant. For this reason, many restaurants will also add window graphics to their outdoor display. 4) Too Much Information Is your menu advertisement telling your customers what’s in your food, as well as how it’s prepped? If the item description on your outdoor advertisements is exceptionally long, it could be the reason customers are passing up your facility all together. Customers want relevant information in a short time frame; taking up their time with too much irrelevant information could cost you their business. 5) Unusual Formatting The format and size of your outdoor signage plays a large role in people’s ability to see and react to it. Many businesses make the mistake of using signage that is too small (or too large) for the space they are trying to fill. As a result, their marketing attempt appears inexperienced to customers. Because the quality of a sign heavily impacts a shopper’s decision to make a purchase from that business, ensuring your outdoor signage is made by an experienced sign manufacturer is a must. 6) Poor Placement Many restaurants place their menu advertisement directly above an outdoor menu, or in the front window of their store. These restaurants place their signage here because it allows passing shoppers to review their special deals while peeking at the original menu or as they walk by the restaurant windows. It takes time, trial, and error to discover what type of signage works best for your business. If you believe your signs many need a new item description, formatting, or high quality graphics, take a look at the different types of outdoor signage carried by HTH Inc.