Awareness for a business’s products or services is promoted through its marketing department, with anything from radio ads to television and Internet ads to outdoor signs, and the style, placement, and contents of these signs can make all the difference between booming business and being totally ignored. Many businesses, big and small, of different kinds will need good signs to get business moving and draw in customers to a location or to entice them into calling a phone number or visiting a website, or even attending an upcoming event. A custom sandwich board, for example, is necessary for any cafe or sandwich shop, and real estate agents and companies will make use of a good custom real estate sign to draw customers into the housing market and promote particular real estate agents and their business. Similar to a custom real estate sign, lawyers and their firms can use custom display boards or banners for their practice, and a car accident law firm may have signs and billboards along roads in particular. A custom real estate sign, a printing company sign, a concert hall’s promotional signs, and much more can be placed and designed to appealing and draw in the crowds.
The Power of Signs
Despite being mundane, physical signs such as billboards or signs over a shop’s entrance can be very effective in a business’s local area. 70% of consumers, for example, said taht they think that a business sign’s quality will reflect the quality of the business itself. If a business sign is eye-catching and professionally done, and is kept in good repair and clean, it can go a long way to make customers want to visit and try their products or services. In general, 85% of a company’s customers live within a five mile radius of that business, so signs can have maximum effect on a huge percentage of that business’ market. Such potential customers are likely to see the business’s signs 50 or more times per week, offering plenty of exposure. And on the road, 71% of people typically read the messages on the billboards that they pass, and a company that uses a sign for its merchandise will outsell competitors who do not use a sign by 20%. On a final note, it has been determined that on-site signage has the same value as 24 full-page newspaper ads in a year, showing just how powerful signs can be. What kinds of signs are out there? What are they advertising?
Varieties of Signs
A custom real estate sign or a law firm’s roadside billboard is just the start. A high quality poster for an upcoming movie is a staple at movie theaters/cinemas, and moviegoers walking in and out of the theater will pass many posters for upcoming and currently playing films, creating a concentrated atmosphere of signs. Movies may also be advertised on billboards or on electronic screens, and musical albums may get similar treatment. A small, independent business such as an ice cream shop, coffee shop, or art store may not have the funds or even the need for major advertising campaigns like television ads or magazine ads, especially since such stores only have one location anyway. Far-reaching advertisement would be wasted on customers in another city or state (as opposed to chain stores that have hundreds of locations), so signs are by far the more cost effective route for independent businesses to take. A shop for tea and coffee will not put ads on cable; instead, it will set up signs, either those that stand in the middle of the sidewalk, or a sign that goes right over the business’s front door. This allows a huge range of creativity, such as showing off the business’s name and logo, as well as choosing the right colors (red, yellow, and white often stand out), and any other patterns or novelties to make a place stand out. An antique store, for example, might use a charming, turn of the century look for its signage, making it easily stand out. Signs are also an excellent opportunity to promote deals, discounts, and new items, as well as showing off the fact that a business is brand new and just opened.