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Back to Basics: How Shade Structures Remain a Brand Essential

Your business can greatly benefit from the instant brand recognition and energy saving benefits that come with commercial awnings and shade structures. All you have to do is find the awning that best suits your facility. Read on to learn more about the importance of branding, as well as appropriate styles and colors for commercial drapery structures.

Brand. While the gist of its usage may have been in practice for thousands of years, most cultural historians find the 19th century and the beginnings of mass consumer goods a more useful starting point. Even the name itself, long before its application to product promotion, branding was a way of marking animals such as horses and cattle, denoting ownership, either through words or, more commonly, symbols.

As a marketing term, those early roots are very much alive today. Whether it’s commercial awnings and shade structures or their more modern digital iterations, branding remains vital to a company’s success. Often with fewer words packed into even the shortest elevator pitch, branding is all about symbols, colors, flashy (but not irritating) methods of gaining potential customers’ attention. Think about it. A large billboard containing the Nike “swoosh” symbol is instantly recognizable. And not only does it instantly telegraph a large and successful company, secondary and tertiary meanings are also wrapped up in that iconic check mark. The same goes for McDonalds and thousands of other companies.

When it comes to your business, Nike Swooshes and Golden Arches aren’t all there is to it. Commercial awnings and shade structures have also been shown to be highly beneficial for businesses. Not long ago, their presence was felt even more keenly on the main streets and business districts of central America. There were so many, in fact, that pedestrians in some cities could practically avoid getting wet in a storm since many of the sidewalks were covered. Not surprisingly, stores and store owners benefited almost immediately after installing awnings, enjoying increased foot traffic due to increased visual appeal, lower energy bills due to cooler installations as a result of sun rays blocked and more business thanks to quick brand recognition. Your business can also get the most out of awnings, as long as you choose the right ones for your facility from the wide variety of awning shapes and colors available.

The color of fabric awnings also depends on their shape and structure. The structure of an awning is basically determined by the frame on which the fabric is fixed. you can choose between two types of awnings available, either stationary and retractable; however, shade structures and overhangs can also be designed in hemispherical shapes, increasing their surface area and potential for logos and lettering while tending to “stand out” from the typical awning crowd. Stationary awnings are the classic awning designs you have come to know and love. These are fixed frame awnings and are great for covering entryways, doors, or even oddly shaped windows. You can get these designed and tailored to suit your business installations and they can provide instant visual appeal once expertly installed. Restaurants with patios or balconies can create a great atmosphere with well-chosen fixed fabric awnings and also protect their customers from sun and rain. And by complementing these benefits with the right logos and lettering, you achieve a dual visual appeal and brand message: passers-by see customers comfortable and dry while also seeing the color and font schemes associated with your business or restaurant. And often these logos, like the billboard example above, can be seen from a distance.

Of course, fixed and retractable awnings require maintenance and proper cleaning to ensure your brand message looks fresh, crisp and bright at all times. In fact, backlit awnings are the ideal way to further spread your company’s message and marketing. However, fabric awnings are still easy to maintain and clean. Retractable awnings are a bit more advanced (pun intended) than stationary awnings and can be easily retracted with the flip of a switch. You can choose these retractable awnings to be automatically or manually controlled or sensor activated (they open or retract based on the heat of the sun). The choice depends on your budget for awnings.

Once you’ve chosen the type of awning you want, you can decide on the fabric colors, an important consideration when it comes to your company’s message. Just think of Best Buy’s distinctive and contrasting signage and the blue, yellow and black colors of the store front. Can you imagine a Best Buy that didn’t have that color scheme? No. And that is exactly the point. With that in mind for your own business, here are some tips for you to do the same:

1. The color can blend in with the rest of the building or stand out proudly. Therefore, you need to determine whether you want the awning to blend seamlessly with the façade of your business facility or whether you want it to be the highlight of your décor.

2. The location of your business also has a profound impact on your color choice. If you are a bank located in a financial district, your choice of color will be very different from a beach resort located on a popular beach or a designer boutique located on the most elegant street in the city. Choose earthy, neutral tones for an office among glass buildings and bright, sunny tones for a beach resort.

3. You can also ask the experts at your awning company if they have any ideas about what would work best for your business. Sometimes the contrast relative to your neighbors is a good thing. Too much contrast, although tasteful can get tacky very quickly.

4.Remember to choose the patterns that match the size of your business. A small awning on a window with wide bands of color will be overwhelming while the small bands on a large awning covering a door will be understated. So match the size to the pattern.

5.And finally, the color of your awning should also correspond to the tones you have used in the interiors or if you prefer – the colors of your brand.

In an age so dominated by digital technology, smartphones, tablets, and mobile web banner ads, it’s easy to forget that the basics of branding come down to the physical attributes of a building and how store owners convert to pedestrians with eyes on customers with wallets. The large, visible, complementary and clever letters and logos that are part of today’s commercial awnings and shade structures remain vital to the physical store experience, just as they have been for thousands of years! !

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