Ad blockers and spam filters can prevent consumers from seeing a plethora of ads they might actually be interested in. Unfortunately, when it comes to digital ads, there isn’t a lot that marketing teams can do to get around this struggle.
However, physical advertising isn’t so easy to ignore in many cases. Take storefront ads. When they’re placed in urban, high-traffic areas, people are going to see them because spam filters and ad blockers don’t exist in the physical world.
Let’s examine the often-overlooked method of advertising via physical storefronts. There are more opportunities to attract new customers this way than many marketers might realize.
What is Storefront Advertising?
As the name implies, storefront advertising is a marketing practice that utilizes the front spaces of physical stores for advertising purposes. Storefront ads can take on several forms, but in general, these ads are physical pieces of media that are posted near the entrance of stores.
Like any ad, they’re designed to attract customers, but storefront advertising offers marketers unique benefits that they can’t get when promoting their products and services online.
Types of Storefront Advertising
There are several types of ads that can be posted around the entrance of a physical store and depending on the budget, goals, and design needs of a given company, certain ad types will be more appropriate than others. Let’s explore a few of the most common forms of storefront advertising.
-
- Window Films: Window films are a mix between a poster and a massive sticker. These films are often large enough to fill a store’s front window, and they’re usually affixed to the window’s surface with the help of an adhesive. Most of the time, window films are made from flexible plastic, and in some cases, the ad is transparent enough to still allow people to look into or out of the window.
-
- Banners: Banners can come in several sizes, and they can be posted vertically or horizontally. A banner can hang over a store’s entrance, be posted near the front door, or have its own stand. Banners that come with stands can be placed a little closer to the sidewalk than other banners, which allows the ad to be seen by far more consumers who are bustling about in urban shopping areas.
-
- Digital Signs: Digital signage is also common in storefront advertising, and these signs can take the form of text-only ads announcing deals and promotions, or full posters that are displayed on screens rather than paper. Digital signs are backlit, and when they’re posted at street level, they prove quite useful in attracting new customers to the business in question.
-
- Standing Signs: Standing signs, like banners, include stands that prop the advertisements in the best possible location. Cafe menus or daily specials are often posted on standing signs near the closest sidewalk. Other times, standing signs can be placed directly in the middle of a walkway when they’re located in a large shopping center.
-
- Posters: Posters are one of the most classic forms of storefront advertising. They’re printed, usually contain a compelling image, and they present a reason to visit the store they represent. For example, posters in front of a bakery usually display high-quality images of the pastries available, as well as a brief description of the deal the poster is promoting.
Storefront Advertising Benefits
Plenty of companies assume that there isn’t anything storefront ads can do that digital ads can’t. However, the constant evolution of digital marketing has drawn valid attention away from a highly beneficial way to advertise. Storefront ads can be both unique and beneficial for a number of reasons. For example:
-
- Storefront ads get noticed. So many people shop online in today’s world that we often forget about the massive number of consumers who frequent physical stores. Additionally, people have to leave their homes for work, school, groceries, and other amenities. When consumers are interacting with the physical world, the storefront ads they pass can be impactful for all the right reasons. For one, a well-designed ad will draw attention to it. People tend to look straight ahead when walking around, and their eyes involuntarily pick up on the details surrounding them. In-person shoppers aren’t able to block physical ads, scroll away from them, or skip them. As such, they interact with storefront ads as intended.
-
- Storefront ads can be changed quickly. Depending on the season or the specific promotion happening during the time, storefront ads can easily be switched out. Marketers simply need to print and organize new signs, then swap them with ones with outdated deal information. After designing the ad and organizing the prints, changing the ad takes a matter of seconds in most cases.
-
- Storefront ads are cost-effective. For small businesses, marketing budgets can be tight. As such, these companies are limited when it comes to the type of ads they’re able to use. Storefront advertising is not only one of the most cost-effective ways to market a business, but the number of people who see and interact with ads in high-traffic areas can be incredibly effective when it comes to converting leads into customers.
-
- Storefront ads offer chances to get creative. Most ads require some level of creativity in order to be effective, but storefront ads can encourage creativity in ways other ads can’t. For example, a storefront ad being physical can garner attention and interaction from customers. A double-sided poster might encourage consumers to flip the ad over to see both sides of the offer, for one. Additionally, a creatively-placed ad might convey humor or wittiness that customers appreciate. An image of a person smiling at something to their left might only look like a picture in some cases, but placing the image at window level to the right of a promotional product in that same window creates a clever advertisement.
If you’re looking for an affordable, effective way to market your business, storefront advertising might be the right choice for you. Grab the attention of shoppers you might ordinarily miss and take advantage of the opportunities that other marketers are missing out on.
