When customers drive by your business, the first aspect that they’ll see is its curb appeal. This encompasses a wide range of design-related factors which contribute to a building’s aesthetics. So how can you improve your business’s curb appeal?
There are many ways you can improve your business’s curb appeal; here are a few ideas:
1. Landscaping
Landscaping can include grass, ground cover, flowers, bushes/shrubs, trees, and vines/creepers along walls or rails.
It can help your business by making it more aesthetically pleasing to passersby, reducing the amount of heat reflected off the building’s exterior in warmer months (reducing air conditioning costs), improving real estate value for surrounding properties, absorbing rainfall rather than having it run off into storm drains which may cause erosion issues downstream, etc.
If you are renting space for your business, landscaping can also make your premises appear livelier and increase its perceived worthiness as a potential tenant to landlords looking to improve their property value as well as the marketability of the space.
2. Outdoor Furniture
Outdoor furniture can include benches, tables, and chairs, cafe-style seating (such as that seen at coffee shops), etc. Outdoor furniture helps your business by increasing its perceived value to potential customers looking for a place to sit and eat a meal or drink a cup of coffee while enjoying the pleasant weather, encouraging people to linger for more extended periods, which may result in them making impulse purchases from your business or coming back later down the road, etc.
If you are renting space for your business, outdoor furniture helps make your premises appear more lively and increases its marketability as tenant spaces to landlords who wish to improve their property values as well as the desirability of your space.
3. Sidewalks and Walkways
Sidewalks and walkways help to guide customers from parking spaces, through the parking lot, up to your business’s main entrance/exit, and back again.
If possible, sidewalks should be made of durable material such as concrete or asphalt, which is less likely to crack over time than dirt or gravel walkways are.
Additionally, you may wish to consider adding lighting along the sidewalk leading up to your business to make it more accessible at night when natural light becomes sparse.
4. Lighting (Exterior and Interior)
Lighting can include floodlights, spotlights, and interior lighting. Lighting helps your business by increasing its visibility to passing customers (and employees), making it safer and more secure for customers and other people who might be there at night, helping them stay visible when preparing food or drinks in the case of outdoor seating, etc.
For parking lots especially, floodlights can help increase customer security by illuminating parking spaces which discourage potential criminals from hiding in shadows cast by shrubbery during the evening hours. Also, keeping parking spaces clean and properly manicured can make parking lots appear more sanitary and appealing. So contact a commercial parking lot sweeping service to regularly maintain parking spaces and walkways.
5. Outdoor Signage
Outdoor signage includes advertising banners/signs, neon signs (for bars/clubs), billboards or posters along roadways, planters or flower beds with your business’s name written on them, etc.
This type of signage helps your business by advertising its existence as customers drive by, making it more visible and thus increasing the likelihood that customers will recognize it from a distance and consider patronizing your business as they drive/walk by or parking there.
Additionally, some types of outdoor signage can be illuminated with floodlights to make them more easily visible at night which is an excellent way of drawing attention to a bar or club especially.
6. Exterior Building Appearance/Accent Colors
The exterior appearance of buildings includes everything from building design (such as having a brick exterior vs. a wooden exterior) to window-dressing (for example, putting up decorative window boxes with flowers in them).
A painted accent on doors and window frames can also add appeal. Exterior building appearance helps your business by giving it a unique look to stand out from among its competitors, making it more attractive and exciting to customers as they walk or drive by, and drawing their attention so that they may patronize your business.
When it comes to increasing your business’s curb appeal, you can do many things to make it more inviting for potential customers. We’ve outlined 10 of the most effective ways in this article, so be sure to try out as many as you can! Not only will these changes help increase customer traffic, but they’ll also make your business look more professional and polished from the street.
