Digital signage
in Liverpool

The useful part is that the schedule is published well in advance, so this is something to programme rather than to remember:

• Time before price. Somebody due back on board at four decides on how long things take. «Ready in ten minutes» outperforms any offer on those days.
• Where you are, not just what you sell. How far from the terminal, how long on foot. Locals never need this, which is exactly why it is never written down.
• Nothing that assumes a second visit. Loyalty cards and «back next week» are wasted lines for an audience that will not be here tomorrow.

And the day after, it needs to be gone. A window still addressing cruise passengers on a Tuesday tells regulars that nobody is looking after the place — an end date on the content handles that without anybody thinking about it.

The half hour that pays for itself is in January: put the season's call dates into the schedule in one sitting. They are published, they do not change much, and on the day itself the shop is far too busy for anyone to open a dashboard.

Four moments that matter more than the ones in the marketing calendar:

• The arrival fortnight in September. Thousands of people are choosing, in one week, where they will buy bread and get their hair cut for three years. It is the single highest-value fortnight of the year and it does not repeat.
• The exam weeks. Trade does not stop, it changes shape: earlier, quieter, more takeaway, longer stays over one coffee.
• The long emptiness. From June the area loses a large share of its footfall for months. Planning a promotion for July here is planning it for an audience that has gone home.
• The Sunday when parents visit. A different customer entirely, with a different budget, on maybe six weekends of the year.

The practical move for the September fortnight is worth stating plainly, because it is unusual: that is the one time of year when it pays to advertise what you are rather than what is on offer. Someone choosing a regular bakery is not comparing prices, they are working out which door to walk into for the next three years.

There is a trap in the emptiness that catches a lot of businesses: cutting everything in June and restarting in October. The people still around in summer are the residents who were there before the students arrived — and they are the ones who keep the place alive during the quiet months. Speaking to nobody for four months teaches them to stop looking too.

Find the university term dates for next year and put two things in your calendar: the arrival fortnight and the start of the summer emptiness. Those two dates plan more of your year here than any national retail calendar will.