There’s no denying that the coronavirus pandemic sped up the changes that were already happening in our high streets. As more and more people move to online shopping and even order food from their phones, it is becoming ever more crucial that independent cafes and shops take advantage of new advertising trends to keep attracting new customers and bringing old ones back.
Make it an experience
This is a phrase that is thrown around often when it comes to high street cafes, independent shops, and coffee shops. If your café has something unique about it, your customers will tell their friends and potentially even post photos all over their social media platforms.
This applies to your point-of-sale display advertising too. By creating something unique, or even with a little humour, it will stick in your customer’s minds, and they’ll tell everyone they know. Photographs, bold designs, and snappy catchphrases are all a great place to start.
Any advertising that you have outside your café, such as A-boards, make it bold, bright, and eye-catching for anyone walking past. Catch their eye, make them look twice, and they will remember you.
Chalkboards and wipe-clean boards
Menus and offers can change all the time, and the truth is that traditional paper posters and vinyl banners that would be replaced regularly are just not very eco-friendly. If you do need to use a paper poster, consider paper that is recycled or from sustainably managed FSC certified forests.
As an alternative, why not use either a chalkboard or a wipe-clean board? With these types of board, you can simply wipe away the old information, and replace it with anything new.
In addition to large chalkboards, you can also use these for table-top advertising. Whether you’ve got a promotion that you are running that you want all your customers to know about once they sit down, you want to advertise the day’s special or just want an easy way to give a drinks menu, small table-top chalkboards could be just what you need.
Digital signage
In terms of future-proofing advertising for high-street stores and cafes, digital signage is the way to go. Digital signage for cafes is just as easy to change as a chalkboard is and is a great way to show off photos of your stunning food and unique drinks.
Eco and budget friendly
The fact that digital signage does not require frequent replacements like in the case of posters or banners, makes it a much eco-friendlier solution because you aren’t regularly throwing out and replacing printed materials. In addition, if you engage a company like National Signs to design and install a digital signage system, you could possibly save a lot of money in the long run since you don’t have to constantly replace advertising materials.
Save time
Investing in digital signage could save cafes time too. The software controlling digital signage can often be used to schedule advertising material. Daily, this means your digital menu board could automatically swap over from your breakfast to lunch menus without you needing to do anything.
If you have a limited-time promotion, you could schedule the advertising for this in advance too.
In these cases, you can schedule all of this ahead of time when you get free time, rather than trying to do them at the exact moment that the new content is needed.
Cross and up selling
Digital signage can also help to increase average transaction value by promoting add-ons and upgrades where they are needed most. You can use digital signage with eye-catching photography or graphics to catch the attention of your customers and encourage them to upgrade their drink to a large one or swap out their fries for an upgraded version. Over time, this increase in average transaction value will do wonders for your profit margins.
In addition, studies have shown that digital signage can help increase sales by as much as 30% from promoting daily specials, new items, promotions and more.
Show off customer content
If you have made visiting your café or store an experience, your customers will start posting about their visit on Instagram. Use your digital signage to encourage customers to tag you in their posts, and then display some of these photographs from your Instagram feed on your digital signage.
