How You can Create Effective Retail Signs

Retail signage is not just a matter of making prominent a product name and its price to catch the eye of potential customers. It is about telling him what he needs to know (whether or not he realizes it), and giving him a compelling reason to buy it.

Many retailers with the best of products, locations and displays are often left wondering why their sales are flat. The reason is usually signage problems. There are a few basic points, if kept in mind seriously, will help you create and use effective signs that will surely sell fast your products.

Be to the point

Remember we live in the times of Twitter, one-minute YouTube videos and the like. Attention span of viewers is getting increasingly shorter; no one has the time or patience to read longish fine print on a congested sign. Let the message of your sign be brief and to the point.

Use the right fonts

Fancy lettering may look attractive, but reading it takes more time than straight forward clear-cut letters. Once again, your potential customers have other things to do than spend a few extra seconds looking at a hard-to-read sign. And for the older generation, who wants to use binoculars to read a sign with a tiny font?

Provide a reason to buy

Tell the potential customer why he should buy what you are selling. Saying that it’s good or not expensive is not enough. Tell him it will improve his appearance or increase his safety. Once again, with limited space, you need to be direct and to the point.

Get the potential customer to relate to the product

Get the customer to visualize himself or herself, using the product. Use the words “you” or “your” in the sign to create a link between buyer and product.

Let images be powerful

Texting is trending these days, the messages getting shorter and shorter with abbreviations, initials and emojis, replacing the full word. Use these elements in the sign wherever you can; but remember that the texting style is generation-specific; it is primarily the lingo of the world of netizens and teenagers. You may have to use the old world style if your target population is the 40 plus generation.

Let not your signs be monotonous

The aim of the sign is to attract attention and appeal to good humor; puns, jokes, amusing images and anything else that keeps the sign from being insipid is good. A person who can be made to smile at your sign is always an easier person to whom you can sell your products.

Test the signs

A sign may be perfect as a concept or when you hold it in your hands. However, it may not be so good when put up in its chosen location. The tinting of the glass, the reflection from the sign and other things could make it difficult for a person driving by to view it. Test out the sign with a few customers before actually using it.

Knowing how to use effectively your signs is half the battle won to increase sales. The other half is to get the right signs made effectively in the right way. That means using the right fonts, colors, sizes and materials.

This is where a professional sign making company can be a huge help. They have the experience and expertise to guide you properly and create the best signage for you. Your business acumen coupled with the proven skills of a signage professional will give you signs that sell your products to your satisfaction.

Designing Your Outdoor Sign: The Key Issues for You to Consider

Geography is an important factor in brick and mortar retailing. Your business is in one location. Your customers are located all over the city. Yes, there are roads that can bring them from wherever they are to the place where you are.

But how do you get them to travel? – by placing outdoor signs to remind them of who you are, and what you have to offer them. The outdoor sign, like a magnet, draws customers’ attention.

The effectiveness of this pulling power depends on how well the sign is designed and made. Here are the key issues you need to consider when planning the use of outdoor signage.

• Design: The design is what makes the initial impact. A well-designed sign, though in a bad location, is certainly better than nothing. But a badly deigned sign even in a good location will create a negative image: that will be the undoing of your business. When finalizing the design, pay special attention to logo size, color and fonts.
• Size: Check on the municipal guidelines on outdoor signs to ensure that you comply with them. It can be incredibly frustrating for you to have a great sign removed, just a day after its installation. You will feel bad when you are told it did not meet the specs of the local authorities. The despair will be intense, because you spent so much time and money on its creation. And the market will wonder why your sign came up and disappeared so soon. That is the kind of negative business image you should never ever send.
• Height: Height is critical in terms of visibility. When you drive your car, you will see easily a sign, if it is pole mounted and above the tree line. Pedestrians can, however, see the signs mounted at lower levels. The abundant response of the main audience being the deciding factor, place your signs at the optimum height following, of course, the municipal regulations.
• Mounting: The style, design and size of a sign are often dictated by the way it needs to be mounted. Better to know how the sign will be mounted, before starting to plan the design and size. Mounting considerations should not mandate last minute modifications that would impact,  for sure, the effectiveness of the signs. Moreover, any additional cost, wasted labor, or wasted time would certainly make you feel bad.
• Environment: The sign must be durable with capacity to cope with environmental extremes like scorching shine and heavy rain – two things that can seriously affect the life and the quality of your signs.
• Surroundings: The sign must be prominent and noticeable. At the same time, it should not clash with the surroundings, and stick out like a sore thumb and seem out of place.

Your retail establishment may be confined to only one location, but your outdoor signs will make your presence felt wherever they are placed; the message they send through the passers-by will travel in all directions. It’s of utmost importance, therefore, that the kind of your business image you try to create through them at these multiple locations should be very effective.

Your signs are the vital things that will improve your retail footfall, and your sales depend on how effective the signs are. That is why using the services of a professional sign making company is so important. They will be able to guide you on the type of sign, the size, the design and everything else that goes into making it an excellent marketing tool.

Ring in Your New Signage!

We live in a world where new products, services and innovations appear at an ever-increasing pace. The market has grown accustomed to this bombardment, and expects it to happen regularly and easily.

A small business or retail establishment just cannot afford to lag behind in this race: there is a constantly-increasing need for it too, to change and evolve its business strategy to keep up with market expectation.

A status quo is no longer profitable. In business, change is the only constant. But change in itself is not enough. You need to let your market know about it – in an effective manner. So, Ring in Your New Sign, and Ring out the Old!

Upgrading is not enough

It is essential for you to renovate regularly your retail space, and the products and the services you offer. But by itself, this is not enough, for the simple reason that your competitors too, do the same. Even if you fare much better than all your competitors in business, no impact will be perceptible unless you tell your market about it – and do it effectively.

A really great new product or showroom will not bring in more business unless people know that you are offering it. Advertising is important, but it is costly and has its limitations. An ad, whether in print or electronic media, has a fleeting presence and even the best of them have only limited recall value. And how long can you afford to keep putting out your ads?

Your sign: the cost-effective messenger

An ad, after repeated viewings, becomes dull, boring and even irritating. Think about the numerous ads that irritate and repel you? How often have you seen them? Is their regular repetition a major cause for your disliking them? Large corporate houses have huge advertising budgets, and can keep on churning out new ads on a regular basis. Small business owners just cannot afford to do this.

The use of a sign as the cost-effective messenger is an entirely different proposition: it has an aura of permanence and ever-lasting impact. It can, over time, become a prominent landmark of a trade area, and turn out to be both a conscious and subconscious constant reminder of your brand. It has even the potential of a standalone trademark.

Signs rarely become irritants. If a sign you see regularly on your drive to work disappears, perhaps you may feel that something is missing. In terms of cost effectiveness, there is nothing that can beat a well-placed and well-designed sign as your brand ambassador.

The old cannot support the new

The permanence of a sign is definitely a most positive virtue; however, an old sign cannot support a revamped business or new product line. Stability and permanence are great assets that inspire confidence in customers. But they cannot counter the attraction and effect of something that heralds a new order.

When you are ready to launch new products/services, you need to tell the market about them. That means your great ambassador – the old sign – necessarily has to undergo transformation. That requires a balance between reminding customers of who you are, and at the same time telling them that an old trusted friend now has something new to offer them.

Yes! Investing in new signage does involve considerable expense. But it is, at any time, much less than other ways of spreading the word about your new line of products/services. An investment in new signage to support the changes you have made in your business is certainly worthwhile: it will surely bring in the best returns.

There is no cost-effective way of providing information to your market other than a sign. While the information the sign offers is crucial, the way it is presented is equally important. A professional sign-making company will be able to create the right type of sign to spread word about the changes you have made in your business, and attract the walk-ins and trade enquiries your business needs.

How Monument Signs can Promote Your Business

As a business owner you know the importance of signage. You may have used everything from standard plastic and metal signs to high tech digital ones. One type of sign that is very effective is the monument sign. These are generally ground level signs that have a low profile with little space between the sign and the ground. As the name suggests, they are like monuments. They are usually made of metal, wood and masonry, and are meant to be permanent monuments to act as an ambassador of your business.

Monument signs are extremely versatile and functional, and can take almost any shape or form from built-up lettering to logos and artistic structures. The intended permanence of these signs conveys the message of permanence, quality and reliability of your business.

Many business owners do not fancy these signs thinking that they are not cost effective. That is a myth. A professional signage company, with expertise and experience in monument signs, will be able to produce economically-priced signs; they pay off the investment, in terms of increased business, in a surprisingly short period of time.

The Benefits

Consider these factors to understand better the advantages of monument signs:

• They are weather resistant. A well-made monument sign should be able to accept whatever nature throws at it. In fact, the more it is subjected to the vagaries of weather, the stronger the impression of permanence it gives.
• Most communities accept them, even those that have height restriction, as long as they do not clash with the surroundings.
• Monument signs can be customized to be in compliance with all local ordinances.
• They are low to the ground, which means they are in the direct line of vision of the passersby; they achieve thus much greater visibility.
• Because they are typically different and more prominent than other types of signs, they attract more attention and create a longer-lasting impression on the viewer.
• In many cases, they can be made from materials that are associated with the product being advertised. For example, a metalworking business could have a sign made of metal and a woodworks one of wood.
• These signs can be used for individual businesses, shopping centers or professional services like a medical clinic.
• Monument signs are never crowded together. Because of their size and the ground they occupy, local ordinances usually limit the number of monument signs that can be placed in an area; they stipulate the distance that must be maintained between them. If yours is the first such sign in a niche area of business, it will not be crowded around by those of your competitors.

It is not easy of course to make monument signs. It requires high levels of design capabilities along with expertise in working with a wide range of different materials. As important as the design is, the quality of the sign and its finish are critical. A monument sign is one that will last for a long time, in the same place, as a never-failing ambassador of your business.

A sign that looks rough and unfinished or one that deteriorates over time is a sad reflection on the business, service or product it is supposed to promote. Using the services of a professional signage company will ensure that your investment in a monument sign is one that will give the expected returns for generations.

Modern Trends in Sign Design and Usage

Signs, in the forms that we know them, have been around since medieval times. Even today, in the world of electronic information exchange, they continue to play a major and continuously evolving role in advertising and marketing.

The modern sign

The signs of today bear little resemblance to those of 100 years ago. Today there is mobile and digital signage and visual graphics using neon lights, LEDs, standard lights, all of which are common. Recently, high resolution interactive screen displays have started to be used. Signs today are no longer basic advertising media. They are now highly evolved, innovative design platforms that allow businesses to show not only who they are and what they do, but also indicate how creative they can be. The modern sign does not just convey information about a business or product – it reflects the character of the business using it.

In addition to technology, the modern sign is no longer limited by shape, size or dimension. It can be of any shape, not just round or rectangular. It can be so big it covers the wall of a building. And it need not be two dimensional. It can resemble the shape of the product being promoted.

Making the modern sign effective

Despite the technological advances, the basics of effective signage remain more or less the same as they have always been.

Aim for maximum exposure

With the explosion of other media and the proliferation of signage, signs attract less marginal attention today than what they did in the past. In marketing terms this means that conversion is low. It is this way for all media today. Signs must be placed to attract the maximum eyeballs, even if it is in unconventional locations.

Design for the market

Signs should be designed to appeal to a target audience. Anything that connects the shape and nature of the sign to the product and the potential customer need for it, adds to its effectiveness. Surprising, amusing and in some cases, even shocking the viewer can increase the effectiveness of the sign exponentially.

Use creative designs: 

More is not always better. With signs becoming increasingly complex and high tech, simple signs in black and white can stand out from the crowd and be memorable.  Being creative with designs means that they should stand out from the context they are placed in so that they grab eyeballs. Often simplicity is more creative than complexity and trumps it in terms of attracting attention.

With so many signage options to choose from, it is difficult to know what will work best for a particular business, product or service. When properly used, signs can be the most efficient way of cost-effective business promotion. Working with a professional signage company will maximize the returns on your investment. They will know what type of sign, of what size and what shape, what materials need to be used and what lighting is required to maximize visibility and memorability. The visible and memorable sign is what brings customers to a business.

World’s Most Famous Signs

Sometimes a sign says it all. There are some images that tell you all you need to know about a place or a business. As a business owner, it may probably be a dream for you to create a sign that will be recognized all over the world and by which people worldwide will know all about you and your business. But in practice the more memorable and unique your signage is, the more flourishing will be your business. Here are a few world-renowned signs anyone will recognize immediately. Your signs may not achieve this degree of fame, but the better made they are, the better will be your business.

The Hollywood sign

If there is any one sign that symbolizes the movie industry, it is this one. It was originally put up in 1923 as an advertisement for a local real estate development. As the movie industry continued to expand here, and the name Hollywood became that of the home of the industry, the sign was modified to its present form. No other sign, anywhere in the world, can come close to it in terms of saying “this is where you are and this is what we do.”

The Las Vegas sign

Las Vegas is proud of its glitz, glamor and incredible nightlife. Even the nickname of Sin City is worn with pride. The one thing that symbolizes the Vegas experience more than anything else is the famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada” sign. Although not on the Strip itself, it is, on its own, a tourist attraction with people stopping to have their picture taken below the sign. It is even a well-known place for having a marriage conducted by a celebrity impersonator.

The Radio City sign

New York may be known as the Big Apple, but that fruit is not its sign – it belongs to a company that is equally well known. The sign that people from all over the planet associate with the city is that of the Radio City Music Hall. The theater came into existence after the stock market crash of 1929, and its size and illumination symbolized the larger than life experience that the theater, and now the city itself, have come to offer all those who go there today.

The Route 66 Sign

The Route 66 that originally covered a distance of about 2,500 miles and spanned the distance from Chicago to Santa Monica is no longer intact. But it remains a symbol of long road trip and the freedom of travel. The image it projects is so strong that there is even an apparel brand-named after it.

The Penny Lane Sign

A small street in Liverpool, England, shot to fame when the Beatles sang the song of the same name. Today it is one of the most photographed street signs in the world. The image it projects is one of all things English.

Most probably you are familiar with all these signs. The point made in this post is that images can bring information to the forefront of your consciousness. Working with a professional signage company that creates unique and memorable signs for your business will be beneficial to you: it will impact your present and potential customers greatly and bring them to you. And when they come, they will start buying your products.

Signs Have Always Sold

Signs have been around for almost as long as man has. A sign, in its most basic form, is a visual presentation of information. The pre-historic cave dwellers in what is now France painted pictures of hunting scenes on their walls to let others know what great hunters they were. From early times to the neon madness of Times Square in New York today, the function of the sign has remained more or less the same – to report news, provide directions to locations, tell people about products and services and so on.

The origin of signage

Signs, as we know them now made their first appearance in ancient Rome. Most people were illiterate, and commercial activities were growing. Inns, shops and other business houses started using pictorial representation of what business was being done at different places. Pictures were the means to inform people where they could get swords repaired, sandals made and food bought. How else would a stranger find a tavern where he could get a drink? Early signs were mainly made of stone or terracotta. Blacksmiths would have used metal, and carpenters wood. The combination of the image and the material used provided all the information that was required. Early Christians used the cross to identify places of prayer.

The need to stand out

As commerce expanded over the following centuries, competition grew, and regulations were put in place to control these activities. The first legislated use of signs was in the 14^th century when the King of England decreed that any place that sold ale must have a sign in front of it. The reasons for this decree are unknown, but it made life easier for those in need of a drink. However, other problems cropped up for the customers: for example, questions like which tavern, located where, selling what particular brew, etc., if a group of them wanted to socialize at a particular tavern.

The solutions came in the form of more complex signs that had pictures (and perhaps words) identifying a specific establishment. As competition continued to increase, and the need to establish a specific identity became more intense, signs became increasingly elaborate. Inclusion of brand names and use of advertising techniques in signs became a necessity.

The advent of modern signs

The growth of cities in the 17^th and 18^th centuries increased the need for more signage, both to tell people where in the city they were, and guide them to specific places they wanted to go to. The complexity of the urban jungle made signs essential. The invention of electricity heralded exciting changes: the material, color and design of signage gained a lot more attention; they could now be seen in the dark. The sign continued to advertise the business even when it was closed for the day.

The Sign Is Still Relevant

Today you have a wide array of options for informing the market about your business; print, TV and the internet are all major channels. But the sign still remains relevant and essential, as it is the most cost-effective way of telling people who you are and what you do. Investing a small amount of time and money to get the best and most attractive signs will always pay. Remember, your sign identifies you: the better it is, the better will be the projection of your business image. YOUR SIGN IS YOU!