Attract Customers with Unique Store Decorations

When it comes to attracting customers to your store, decorations are your greatest commodity. They make your store a fun place to shop by giving customers a treasure trove of things to look at. The more you use decorations to create a fun and exciting environment for shoppers, the more customers you will attract.

A custom engraved acrylic desk block in a retail store as part of a business' store decorations.

Decorating a store goes to the heart of what makes great retailing. … It piques a shopper’s curiosity to discover what is new. When you introduce new, yet familiar elements to the shopping experience, you change the energy of your entire store.

Store decorations also increase your sales by putting your customers in a good mood. For most people, decorations remind them of the happy times they’ve spent with friends and family celebrating birthdays, holidays and other special occasions. Triggering these happy memories makes your customers feel good, which causes them to see your products in a positive light. The more customers see your products as desirable, the more they will want to buy them.

While it is better to have decorations than none at all, remember that decorating your store is a continual effort. To attract customers to your store, give them something new to see by constantly adding or rearranging your decorations. Yes, this can include decorating your store for every holiday, but it can also be something you do for other occasions such as back to school week or sporting events. In the end, you don’t need a reason to decorate your store other than to bring in more customers.

Using Store Decorations for Business Success

Store decorating is a strategy many businesses use to attract customers. To stand out from these competitors, give your customers a unique shopping experience using custom decorations. Accessorize your store with stunning custom products such as acrylic blocks, wooden plaques and more. Using personalized decorative pieces will not only strengthen your brand identity but will also promote word of mouth marketing as customers tell their friends about their unique shopping experience.

To get your creative ideas flowing, here are five custom store decorations you can make to get shoppers into your store.

Acrylic Blocks and Desk Wedges

Decorate your cashier desk, shelves and window displays with these exquisite acrylic blocks and desk wedges. Made of quality materials, these blocks and wedges are sure to impress your customers. And turning them into beautiful decorations is easy. Just customize the text with a famous quote, the name of a song or something else you think your customers might like. With different color and style options available, customize these blocks and wedges to match your store’s interior design.

Wall Plaques

A custom engraved plaque to use for store decorations.

Keep customers in your store for longer by giving them decorative wall plaques to look at. Customize these plaques to entertain your customers with movie quotes or inspire them with a poem. No matter what type of store you own, wall plaques can help you create an atmosphere that will attract your ideal customer. Stores that sell graphic t-shirts can customize plaques with pop culture references, while vitamin shops can use them to share health tips with their customers. So, use the custom options available to make the perfect plaques for your business.

Store Signs

Give customers an incentive to come into your store using custom signs. Customize them with sales and other perks then display them in your window. When customers walk by and read these signs, they will want to take advantage of the special deals you offer. And with their bright colors and optional graphics, these signs will make your window display look even better!

Custom Shaped Name Tags

A retail employee wearing a custom shaped name tag as part of the business' store decorations.

Make sure your employees look festive too by giving them fun custom shaped name tags to wear. These name tags will add to your store’s overall look and will make your employees appear friendlier. After all, who wouldn’t find someone wearing a pumpkin shaped name tag approachable? So, put these custom shaped name tags to good use. Get name tags for every holiday, or choose one name tag shape that reflects your product line, such as boot shaped name tags for a shoe store. However you choose to customize these tags, make sure to stick to simple shapes that allow enough space for a person’s name.

Customize the Perfect Store Decorations

Use custom decorations to highlight new products, mark items on clearance and provide your customers with an exceptional shopping experience. As you decorate your store for success, you will bring in more customers and sustain your business.

A Teacher’s Guide to Student Engagement

You may think having students who want to be at school and learn from their teachers sounds to good to be true. But that’s what schools that focus on increasing student engagement are seeing. More than coming to class and turning in homework, engaged students are enthusiastic about their education and have a desire to excel in their classes. If you want to see your students succeed, you must figure out how to engage them in the learning process.

A custom sign with classroom rules and a plaque with an inspirational quote, each designed to increase student engagement.

What is student engagement?

In education, student engagement refers to the degree of attention, curiosity, interest, optimism, and passion that students show when they are learning or being taught, which extends to the level of motivation they have to learn and progress in their education.

How does student engagement affect learning?

Multiple research studies have found that students who arrive on time, pay attention in class and complete assignments are more likely to get higher grades and graduate on time. On the flip side, studies have found that students who do not pay attention or participate in classwork have lower grades and are less likely to graduate on time. Because student engagement directly impacts student performance, it is essential for teachers to recognize when students are engaged and increase that level of engagement.

How can you tell when students are engaged?

There are three types of student engagement: behavioral, cognitive and emotional.

Behavioral Engagement is when students actively participate in the learning process. They show up on time, turn in their homework and bring the materials they need for class. They also participate in class discussions, do what their teacher says and consistently try their best.

Cognitive Engagement is when students try to learn as much as they can. Not only do they pay attention in class, but they also ask thought provoking questions and go beyond what you ask them to do.

Emotional Engagement is when students have a positive outlook on their educational experience. You can tell students are emotionally engaged when they treat you and their classmates with respect and approach schoolwork with optimism.

To know how invested your students are in their education, look for all three types of engagement. If you only concentrate on behavioral engagement, you may overlook students who feel left out or need to be intellectually challenged.

What makes student engagement challenging?

Custom ribbons with a school mascot and logo attached to an apple, used to increase student engagement.

Keeping students engaged is hard, both in a classroom setting and an online learning program. In a classroom, you have to teach all of your students at once. This makes it hard for you to determine how quickly you should go through a lesson. If you go too fast, some students will get frustrated as they fall behind. If you go too slow, other students will lose interest as they wait for the next activity

The difficult part about teaching students online is that they can get easily distracted. Not only can they get lost in browsing the internet or playing video games, but they can also get disrupted by other people who do not realize they are in class.

Online learning also makes it hard for students to connect with the class emotionally. If students feel that they don’t have a relationship with you or their classmates, then they are less motivated to participate in discussions or do their homework.

Student Engagement Strategies

Now it is time to plan how you will increase student engagement. To help you get started, here are some ideas that apply to almost every grade level. And they work for classroom and online teaching.

Behavioral Engagement Strategies

Students will know how to behave when you give them class rules to follow. List your class rules on a custom sign or plaque, and hang it where students can see it. Make sure to include a rule about students treating each other (and you) with respect so that everyone has a positive experience.

Get more students to participate in class discussions by putting each student’s name on a name tag. When you have a question for the class, draw a name tag out of a box and ask that student to answer it. This strategy prevents the same students from answering all of the questions. It also motivates your students to stay alert because they never know when their name is going to be chosen.

Another way to get students to stay alert is to use blank ribbons as attention signals. Hold up one color ribbon to say when it is time to listen and another color when it is time to discuss. Using these visual cues helps your students know what to do and stay engaged throughout the lesson.

Cognitive Engagement Strategies

Motivate your students to do their best by coming up with learning objectives for your class. Learning objectives show your students what they can achieve if they pay attention and complete assignments. Once they understand how your class benefits them, they will take it seriously. To keep these learning objectives on the forefront of their minds, add them to a custom sign or plaque for all your students to see.

Keep your students focused on their schoolwork by making educational bookmarks for them. Use Custom Top Ribbons to make full-color bookmarks that teach grammar rules or math formulas that will help students with their homework. Your students are sure to appreciate these learning tools and use them for textbooks and other class materials.

Part of keeping your students engaged mentally is giving them a chance to unwind. To make this easy, customize name tags with a wide variety of mental breaks (e.g., sing a song or play rock, paper, scissors) and put them in a jar. When it is time for a mental break, take a tag out of the jar and have your students do that activity.

Emotional Engagement Strategies

Get your students excited to learn by decorating your classroom with ribbons, plaques and more. Even if you teach online, decorating the room you are in with bright colors and custom designs will stimulate your students’ imaginations. Hang a ribbon chandelier from the ceiling or drape a ribbon garland along a wall. Give your whiteboard a little flair by lining the edges with a brightly colored ribbon. To decorate your desk, customize an acrylic plaque or desk wedge with an inspirational quote and graphic.

Emotionally engage your students by helping them get to know you and their classmates better. Customize badge ribbons with a wide assortment of positive characteristics, such as Life of the Party or Proud Computer Geek. Have each student wear these ribbons during class by attaching them to their shirt. (Don’t forget to wear ribbons that describe you.) By using these descriptive ribbons, your students will emotionally connect to you and their classmates as they see (literally) how much you all have in common.

Students will have a positive attitude toward learning when you make it fun. Use paper inserts to play trivia and other games with your students. While you are at it, why not throw in some friendly competition with spelling bees and other contests. Don’t forget to pass out Prize Ribbons so your students will always remember the fun they had in your class.

What engagement strategies have worked for you? Share them in a comment so other educators can benefit from your expertise.

Improve Performance Through Student Engagement

No matter if you are teaching online or in person, keeping your students engaged in the learning process will improve their school performance. They will earn better grades, score higher on tests and graduate on time. So what are you waiting for? Put custom name tags, ribbons, plaques and signs to work for you so your students will reach their potential.

The Best Name Tags for a Low Budget

From blank tags to reusable badges, these name tags are the perfect solution for companies on a tight budget.

Name tags may feel like a luxury that your business can go without, especially when you have a tight budget. However, name tags are necessary for achieving business success. When everyone at your workplace wears a name tag, customers feel comfortable working with you. They see you and your colleagues as people, just like them, who can relate to their needs. The more customers feel comfortable doing business with you, the more sales you will have. If you want to not only survive but thrive in the business world, then having company name tags is a must.

Fortunately, providing name tags for your whole team does not have to be a financial burden. There are plenty of low cost alternatives to traditional, permanently engraved name tags. And, they look just as professional too.

Check out these high quality name tags (or name badges) that go easy on your budget while still making a great first impression.

Conference Name Tags

Two full-color Conference Name Tags customized for companies with a tight budget.

Full color, laminated name tags work just as well for everyday office work as they do for conferences. Because they are meant for large events, they come at a low price, making them a low cost solution for your identification needs. Use them to take control of your brand by customizing them with the colors, graphics, logos and text you need to promote your business. Once you see your new name tags in all their full-color splendor, you will want to keep them around forever.

Blank Name Tags

Looking for highly durable name tags that fit your budget? Plastic and metal Name Tag Blanks are made from the same quality material as our laser engraved name tags. Not only are they made to last, but they are also reusable. Just print the names and titles you need onto adhesive labels and stick them onto the name tags. If you want the text to be more permanent, write directly onto the plastic or metal surface using a marker. Customize the size, color and fastener for these blank name tags so they go well with your company uniform or dress code.

Badge Holders with Paper Inserts

By far the most affordable solution, badge holders are a professional choice for any company on a tight budget. They are made of quality vinyl plastic and come with reliable fasteners such as bulldog clips, magnets and pins. When you use them with colorful paper inserts, they make a positive impression on your customers. Use thicker badge holders for your full time employees and thinner ones for temporary staff (e.g., interns, volunteers) to save on business costs. If your staff does not like to wear name badges on their clothing, pair your badge holders with lanyards.

Reusable Name Badges

Three Mighty Badges with different shapes, ideal for companies with a low budget.

Quality reusable name badges are not only affordable, but they save you tons of money in the long run. Whenever you have a change in position, these badges let you replace names and titles on demand using printable inserts. By replacing old inserts with new ones, your company’s identification is up to date within minutes.

Mighty Badges™

With a metal back plate and domed lens, these reusable badges give your business a professional style. Choose name badges with a blank background or with a UV color logo to promote your brand. These badges also come in different sizes and various shapes (rectangles, ovals and squares) so you are sure to stand out from your competitors.

Speedy Badges

Each badge features a plastic, window style frame with a forward curve to give it a distinct look. Add a name and title by sliding an insert into the frame and placing the clear lens over the top. With a pin or magnetic fastener on the back, these badges will hold in place throughout a typical workday.

Name Tags for Any Budget

Whether you are a start up company, small business or large corporation looking to cut costs, these name tags are for you. They go easy on your budget while giving you the quality you deserve. As you use these quality name tags to identify your employees, you will see an increase in sales as customers come to trust your company’s ability to meet their needs.

Plan the Perfect Event with Quality Name Badges

From conferences to seminars, every event needs quality name badges. Personal identification is key to any event whether it’s a conference, seminar or trade show. As an event host or planner, you want your attendees to enjoy networking at your event. And, when they do, they are more likely to return again next year. Use quality name badges to put people at ease and make your conference or seminar a success.

What’s in a name?

Knowing someone’s name makes people more comfortable socializing with that person. With each attendee sporting a name badge, people will have a positive networking experience at your event.

Which type of name badge you use depends on your specific needs. Each one comes with many positive features and all of them are great for networking. Here are a few options to help you find the right fit for you.

Adhesives Name badges for any event.

Adhesive Name Badges are perfect for when you need a quick, short term option. The adhesive will stick to almost any clothing and works well with any dress code. Have attendees write their name on these sticky tags using a pen or marker. Or, print their names in advance for faster registration. These name badges also come in five different colors so you can divide attendees into groups or identify them by their job position for easy networking.

Badge holders for event identification.

Badge Holders are commonly used for conventions, schools, security and visitor passes. And like with Adhesive Name Badges use the different colored inserts to separate attendees into groups or categories to keep your event organized. Slip a printed insert inside a holder for easy identification. Once the event is over, collect each badge holder for reuse. They also come with different fastener options including punched slots to use with custom lanyards.

Conference Name Tags to customize for any event.

Conference Name Tags provide you with a pre-printed solution that is also budget friendly. Each tag is laminated to give your conference badges a professional style. Available in three standard sizes, customize these name tags with full color logos or graphics. Like Badge Holders, they come in a horizontal or vertical orientation with multiple fastener options.

Whichever name badges you need, what matters is having quality identification to impress your attendees and create a positive networking event.

Camping Adventures & Fun With Lanyards

camping adventures with custom lanyards

Complete your camping adventure and have fun all with custom lanyards! Whether planning a family reunion, a summer youth program or a nature retreat, lanyards add fun and efficiency to any outdoor activity. Custom lanyards are great accessories for all campers and party goers. And, they serve as excellent souvenirs for the memories made while camping or at a family reunion.

Here are some quick tips on how to use custom lanyards while camping or during your summer festivities.

Lanyards are great for necessary camping gear.

custom lanyards are perfect for summer activities such as camping and family reunions

Most campers use a compass to help them navigate through their camping terrain such as the woods or a desert. Knives can come in handy when you need to cut a piece of rope or a tree branch. So, carrying essential camping gear like these on a quality lanyard ensures that these items will not get lost while exploring the great outdoors.

Lanyards are also a great idea to keep in camp kitchens and latrines! Use them to hold spices and kitchen utensils. Or, keep small containers of toiletries together for easy use and quick accessibility.

And, because lanyards can be worn around a neck or attached to a bag or piece of clothing, hands remain free to engage in camping activities. Setting up a tent, starting a fire and rock climbing all become easier by using this fantastic tool!

Maintaining security and keeping people identified are common camping issues.

For summer programs, campers can wear a name badge or other form of identification to create unity and elevate camp security. Camp leaders need to be able to identify each participant in their program. And, having each camper wear a lanyard with a name badge will help identify those who belong. They also aid in remembering people’s names.

For family reunions, name badges help everyone remember each other’s names and how they are related. If there are other campers around, lanyards help you see who is a part of your group.

Lanyards are also tons of fun!

finding new ways to wear custom lanyards while camping and participating in summer activities

Campers will love coming up with creative ways to wear their lanyard. Wear it around a wrist like a bracelet, slip it through a belt loop or tie it around an ankle. Try wearing it like a headband or an armband. Or, maybe use it like a shoelace. There are many possibilities, and finding all of them can add an extra dose of fun and creativity to any camping adventure.

Because they are so versatile, custom lanyards are one of the best tools to bring on a camping trip.