Finding the voice & tone for your signs

Your signs communicate both the selling points of your products and the benefits of your brand. The words you choose tell your customers why they should buy specific products. But the font, color, style, and other elements allow them to appreciate some of the more subtle aspects of your brand.

Your brand allows customers to identify with, relate to, and trust not only what you are selling, but the story of you. Creating this may seem like a daunting task, but remembering one thing will make it easier – maintain consistency.

Determine what you want to say with your brand

What values do you hold that your customers will also share? Do you value simplicity or other aspects that were predominant within a particular era? An easy way to reflect some of those values is to use a font reminiscent of that era. Depending on what it is, it may make sense to add hand-drawn images next to the text or hand-draw and write the entire label. Using Shelfwiz labels makes this easy, as the labels are easy to switch out, and you can use scratch paper until you develop the right look.

Are you establishing your business as being on the cutting edge of a particular industry? Most likely you will want to avoid hand-drawn elements and stick to clean, modern-looking fonts.

If you're struggling to pinpoint the personality you want for your brand, try an exercise with brands you commonly encounter. Think of a business and try to list what they say they value. Then do some background research and look at what they say on their site and what others say about them. Try to brainstorm reasons people think what they do about that brand.

From plan to perception

Once you have a sense for how other brands convey what they are about to the public, apply it to your own. Brainstorm ways that you can communicate an atmosphere within your store. Start with a collection of images of displays from your storefront or ones that you like online and try out the different fonts that are available with the Shelfwiz labels. We'ill talk more about this in next month’s post on how to use Shelfwiz PDF and Word Templates to create labels.

If you have drawing skills, also try hand-drawing some of your shelf talkers or enlisting the help of a friend. Hand-drawn labels convey an informal, friendly atmosphere that is playful and fun. It seems like you are talking directly to the customer about a product. If this is the feeling you're trying to create, keep in mind that if you decide to go with the hand-drawn option, you will have to have people available to keep up with the labeling in your store. Fortunately with Shelfwiz shelf talkers, switching labels if you change your mind is easy.

Consistency is key

While integrating the look of your storefront with your signage, remember that consistency is the most important factor in promoting your brand. If your brand has a quirky, custom look, your signage might be hand-written with doodles on the side. A sophisticated, clean appearance should be paired with printed labels in a font that matches that style.

It will take some experimentation, but luckily the labels used in the Shelfwiz system make this process easy. The frame in which the labels will be placed are clean-looking – you can create either a more modern style or use them as a blank slate to showcase a more artistic or whimsical feel. Try different fonts on scratch paper and look at them next to your displays. Ask trusted friends what they think when they first see the displays.

Key Points

The style of the signage you choose for your storefront can add to the impact of your brand as well as sell more products.

• Consistency between the style of your displays and the signage in your store is important. If signage is not adding to the impact of your brand, it is detracting from it.

• Choose hand-written signs with artwork to create a more informal atmosphere within your store and printed shelf talkers with sleeker font styles for a more sophisticated look.

• Experiment with different combinations of font styles and displays.