On a hot, humid day, a refreshing strawberry daiquiri or iced mocha cappuccino could entice customers through your door. But if the restaurant next door has a visual window display of iced drinks with condensation dripping glasses, you can guess which door they'll choose. 

Using ice in your window advertising has a strong marketing pull, yet many bars and restaurants neglect to take advantage of the irresistible power of visuals. Instead, they order standard ice and serve up lackluster drinks. 

Alternatively, you could widen your iced drink menu to appeal to customers. 

Crushed Ice Drinks

Most people skim content, and if the content is visual, it will receive 94 percent more views. If you simply place a picture of an iced margarita in your window, though, you're missing a big marketing opportunity. Visuals should create an experience. Drinks to satisfy thirst, a basic human need, can have a particularly strong marketing pull. 

Consider a visual window with: 

• ice condensation on the glass whetting the appetite
• refreshing garnishes (mint crowning a julep or citrus slices or rinds garnishing a cocktail)
• a glass topped off with frothy cream or a sugared rim that makes the taste buds dance. 

Add frosty glass or metal mugs and passers will be enticed through your door for these thirst-quenching drinks. 

Cocktail Cubed Ice

Displaying different types of iced drinks will further improve your iced drinks appeal. Drinks have a personality. Your customers will choose drinks based on the image they want to convey. 

• The cocktail sipper will ask for a lemon gin or spritzer served up on cubed ice.
• The sports team will appreciate a side glass of cubed ice alongside their coolers.  

The Cool Large Ice Cube 

Many bars, though, neglect the large ice cube. If you want to look Dean Martin cool, there's only one way to serve up that drink—a spirit straight up on the rocks. But can you imagine Dean Martin's scotch or Frank Sinatra's whisky glass with a bunch of small ice cubes melting to the top? One big chunk of ice is Dean Martin cool. Truth is, the rat pack favored three big rocks. 

As the sales of your new iced drinks grow, there's one drawback—the constant grinding noise of blenders mixing iced drinks. By ordering ice delivery in various types of crushed iced (ground, cocktail, large ice cubes), your customers will not have to wait long for their refreshing iced drinks.