|
Sign Up Your Business!
You have just been to the sign writer and she has made you a lovely sign for the business shop front. The correct colour, spelling and at a reasonable price. The next day the sign goes up. Does it get you any new customers? Like most business signs it has little impact. Why? Take a good look at the signs on most businesses. What do you see? Nothing and that is the point!! Nothing really catches your eye, because the signs don’t stand out, they are all the same, hard to see.
Take into account that Mrs Smith has just picked up the kids from school, they are hungry, they want to get home, it’s rush hour traffic, the streets are full and she is trying to find a shoe shop, while also trying to find a park and stop the kids from fighting.
Most of the shop signs were designed to be viewed from a couple of meters away, standing still, and in good light. Throw in a car doing 50kms on a busy road with a few distractions and the shoe shop has just been missed. This means no one stops to shop and this means sales have just been missed!
Design your sign so that you can see it easily if you are travelling along the road with the pace of the traffic. Most signs are normally positioned flat against the building, (Parallel with the building.) if you have traffic flowing straight for your building fine, like at the end of a t-intersection, great, however, most traffic flows the same direction as the building and sign, making it harder to see. Signage that is at a ninety degree angle or 45 degrees to the building will be easier to see. A combination of different signs (Same logo design and colour.) but at different angles will make it easy to find you.
The three dimensional sign like the McDonalds golden arches sign does this very well, as you can normally spot a shop from some distance away. (I think the children can spot McDonalds from miles away!)
Taking into account the type of image you want to convey about your business, but generally the bigger sign the better. I realize that some buildings, council, local by laws have restrictions on size, but make it easy to see, this includes from different angles.
A good idea before you get the sign writer in, is to just watch the traffic passing by for a while. Take note if there are pedestrians walking by than there is vehicle traffic. Or are the volume of cars the same amount as the pedestrian traffic that passes your shop. Is it on a hill and people are walking down the hill quickly with their heads down watching their step. Drive and walk by your shop and see when people could first notice it and how far away they are from your business at this point. Do not just do this once, go by on sunny days, cloudy days, rainy days, maybe night time and see what angles, sizes and formats of signs that would be the easiest to see.
You may need a combination of signs - A big sign that will able to be seen by drivers going by, a medium size sign that catches slower vehicle traffic and walkers. And signage on the window that is at eye level when people stop close to your shop that is has more information to pull them into your shop.
Keep the sign clear, do not try and put too many words or information on the bigger signs designed for vehicle traffic as it is too hard to read when you are travelling by. (Take a look at the bill boards on the highways, there are good and bad examples of this.)
As long as the sign is clear, without too much clutter and it catches your eye then it will also catch the customer’s eyes and this means sales!
For more retail and business marketing ideas go to
Craig Howlett's Blog
Disclaimer - The articles aim to provide general ideas. Neither the authors nor publisher shall take any responsibility for any loss or damages occasioned to any person or organisation acting or refraining from action as a result of this information. As always the advice of a competent legal solicitor, accountant or other professional advice should be sought.
|
Learn how you can get other website owners to send traffic to your site, score a top ranking in the search engines, and get 1,000s of dollars in free advertising... 