Getting the most for your money does not always mean spending the least amount of money you possibly can. In like kind, there is more to getting the most out of your sign than spending outrageous amounts of money on it.
Anyone who tells you making a sign is an art may not be telling you anything you do not know. Telling you the sign can significantly impact your business in a positive way may not be news either. However, telling you that a few simple tricks regarding your sign may completely change your opinion on the value of a simple sign.
No Such Thing As Simple
The expression, “life is what you make it” has great value in marketing. When you think of advertising your sign do you picture the thousands of signs you drive past every day that you do not remember or do you think of the one sign that caught your eye? The business of marketing is as competitive as any other business, and some companies are better than others while some companies are wholly superior in every aspect. It starts with your vision, like every other action you have taken.
The first consideration, when putting up a sign, is what you want it to say. If you are holding a yard sale, supporting a campaign or operating an at-home business, it is vital that you take the time to think through what you are trying to achieve. The decision to put a sign on your property is made because you want to accomplish a particular purpose. Taking the time to do it well is made because you care about what you are doing and want results.
Regardless of your intent with the sign, you should approach the entire process from a business perspective. Your sign has to compete with every other sign on your road; it has to compete with everything on your property. Your message has to be something that can be conveyed in the time it takes someone to glance at your sign while passing by. There is nothing simple in the whole process, but there are ways to use your signs best to maximize your business’s exposure.
Keep it Brief
The sign most people have seen most often has two simple words, “For Sale.” There is a reason this sign has been active in the market for more than twenty years. Everyone has seen it with a black background and big reddish-orange letters. Everyone knows what it means and knows what to do. Read the words in the rectangular white box for a phone number and a price. It is simple to understand, nearly impossible to confuse, and is almost always noticed.
This sign, while overly simplistic, sets an example for results that you want from your sign. In a two second glance, anyone can look at the sign and get the entire message that will direct their eyes to the little white box if there is any interest whatsoever. Does your sign do this? Does your sign convey a message that can be easily deciphered and interpreted? Does it lead the onlooker to an action or pique their curiosity? The average reader sees three to five words at a time for mental processing. If your sign takes more than five to ten words, the sign is going to require more time from the reader to process, and they may not give it a second look.
Make it Attractive
The word attractive can be severely misleading and is easily misunderstood. To be attractive does not mean to be beautiful colors and perfectly toned. To be attractive means to draw something or someone in. What one person thinks is beautiful may be ugly to someone else. The key to being attractive is to make someone want to look at you. Famous stars in the music, television, and pop culture in general have learned how to maximize this fundamental principal. Some stars are glamorous; others are rebellious, and others bizarre. Whatever makes the viewer hold their attention for more than the casual two to three seconds is a win.
If your building is brown with red trim, do not make your sign brown with red letters. If your lawn is green with lots of landscaping, do not put your sign close to the house with bright colors. The sign must contrast its environment. In a brightly colored environment pick dark colors like brown or dark grey. If your property has parking signs that are the same shape throughout, do not make your sign a vertical rectangle in the same way. In order to attract attention, your sign must not blend in with its surroundings. To get noticed you have to stand out!
Make it catchy, keep it brief, and put it in the proper place. Making a sign does not have to be a complicated ordeal, but it does have to be well thought out. Plan for no more than a two second glance to get your message across or at least to grab the interest enough to make someone look more studiously. The message and imagery are critical. Be aware of other signs in your area that can make your sign seem familiar. You do not want someone to glance at your sign and think they have already read it somewhere else because there is another sign just like it one block away.
Be willing to ask for advice and take the time to walk through the path your sign is meant to be visible from. Drive by the proposed location for posting the sign and make sure you can glance in that direction for two to three seconds. If you can look that way will your sign be in the central view of that area and naturally easy to spot? Are you doing everything you can to get the best use of your sign? Once you have settled on what you’re after from your sign, the next step is to order it, and you can order signs printed to your specifications from websites such as http://www.qualitysigndesigner.com.
The writer, Ray Donato, is looking into starting his own small business and has been researching traditional marketing techniques and how to make those techniques work for him. Before he begins, he writes on the side about what he has learned to provide supplemental income in the interum. If you wish to learn more about Ray you can visit him on Google+.
[“source-businessmerch”]
