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SIGNS AND
YOUR BUSINESS
Summary
Have you considered the impact that your sign has on your business?
This Aid discusses signs, what they can do for your business, and how
they can be used to advantage. A checklist for ordering a business sign
is also provided.
Introduction
Most businesses regardless of size depend heavily on their signs. Signs
are one of the most efficient and effective communication available to
the small businesses. Signs help people find you; they reach people who
are passing by your establishment; they present an image of your business.
In short, signs tell people who you are and what you are selling.
Signs are such a powerful communication medium that it is difficult to
estimate the extent of their influence. Other media require the directed
attention of the person receiving the message. Signs, however, can convey
a message while creating a mood or feeling of atmosphere. It is not necessary
for people to give full attention to your sign in order to derive meaning
from its presence.
What Is a Sign?
A sign is the most direct form of visual communication available. In fact,
so many people use signs without a second thought that it is easy to overlook
their importance. When we cannot talk to other people directly in a given
location, we tack up signs: wet paint, beware of dog, enter here, garage
sale, etc. Signs are the only form of mass communication directly available
to everyone--they are the people's street communication system.
What Signs Can Do for Your Business
Signs perform three major communication functions for your business: they
give information and direction, provide a format for street advertising,
and build your image.
Signs Give Information About Your Business and Direct People to Your Business
Location.
Signs index the environment so people can find you. This is especially
true for travelers, new members of your community, and impulse shoppers
who may be on a journey to purchase a particular good or service which
you sell. Americans are mobile. Each year 40 million of us travel over
1.7 trillion miles by automobile and approximately 19 per cent of us change
our place of residence. A primary source of customers for your business
is the large number of people who are new to your community or who may
be just passing through. Your sign is the most effective way of reaching
this mobile or transient group of potential customer.
Signs can correct a poor location by substituting effective communication
for poor site characteristics. If your business is located on a site which
is not visible or in a building which does not correspond with the goods
or services offered, your sign can overcome this disability.
For example, most buildings are not built to conform to the design needs
of any particular type of tenant.
Without an effective sign it is often impossible to determine what type
of business is being conducted in a given building. In addition, when
your site is located off a busy traffic artery or in an area which is
not easily accessible your sign can communicate to people who are passing
on a busy street several blocks away. If you are located off a busy freeway
but far from an exit, your sign becomes your main device for directing
people to your business. High-rise signs are used when a business is located
away from potential customers' normal pathways of travel.
Signs Are Street Advertising
Your sign provides an easily recognizable display format for the goods
or services you are selling. For most businesses the street is where potential
customers are. The message conveyed on the street reaches people who are
close enough to make a purchase.
Street advertising also helps people develop a memory of your business
name and the products and services you sell. People tend to buy from businesses
they know.
Signs can build an image for your business and help you identify with
the market segment you are trying to reach.
Through materials and design, a sign can appeal to a given group of potential
customers. For example, some firms attempt to capture the youth market,
others senior citizens, others unmarried single people and so forth. If
you have a particular market segment that you wish to attract to your
business, your sign can be an important means of bringing these people
in.
The Advantages of Signs
On-premise signs are your most effective and efficient means of commercial
communication because they are inexpensive, available, practical, easy
to use, always on the job, and directly oriented to the trade area of
your business.
Signs Are Effective
Your sign is an integral part of your advertising program along with the
other forms of commercial communication such as television, radio, newspapers,
magazines, and billboards. There are four basic criteria used to judge
the effectiveness of these advertising media: (1) coverage of the trade
area, (2) repetition of a message, (3) readership of a message, and (4)
cost per thousand exposures of a message. Two other criteria important
for the small business owner are (5) availability and (6) ease of use.
Let's see how your signs measure up to the above criteria.
1. Signs are oriented to your trade area. Signs do not waste your resources
by requiring you to pay for wasted advertising coverage. The people who
see your sign are the people who live in your trade area.
2. Signs are always on the job repeating your message to potential customers.
Your on-premise sign communicates to potential customers twenty-four hours
a day, seven days a week, week after week, month after month, year after
year. Every time people pass your business establishment they see your
sign. The mere repetition of the message will help them remember your
business.
3. Nearly everyone reads signs. Signs are practical to use for nearly
everyone is used to looking at signs and using signs, even small children.
Studies have shown that people do read and remember what is on signs.
When special items are displayed, sales increase for these particular
items within the store.
4. Signs are inexpensive. When compared to the cost of advertising in
some other media, the on-premise sign is very inexpensive. Table 1
below indicates the cost-per-thousand exposures for various
media in a given type of community. Unless your trade area encompasses
an entire city or region, where you must rely upon broad based media coverage,
there is no better advertising dollar value than your on-premise sign.
5. Signs are available to each and every shop owner. There is no need
to schedule the use of your sign. Your sign is available to you whenever
you need it and to be used however you please.
6. Signs are easy to use. No special skills or resources are needed to
operate a sign once it has been installed. If it is an illuminated sign,
all you need to do is flip the switches and that may not be necessary
with timing equipment. Once the initial expenditures are made, no special
resources or professional services are needed. You need only operate and
maintain your sign.
Typical Monthly Advertising Costs of Various Advertising Media
Table 1
Cost Per Thousand Exposures in a Community of Approximately 130,000
Population
Cost to
Total Adult Reach
Audience/ Monthly Each 1,000
Exposures Cost Adults
Newspaper (1-1/4 p. ad/week) 685,000 $1008 $1.47
Radio (6 1-min. spots/wk.) 91,200 264 2.90
Television (6 1-min spots/wk.) 1,176 1,580 1.34
Outdoor Billboard, Painted 900,000 500 .56
Junior posters 192,000 25 .13
Sign (8'x 6' double-faced,
acrylic plastic, internal
illumination) 1,050 58.33 .06
Sources: Claus, K.E. and Claus, R.J., Signage, Planning Environmental
Visual Communication. Palo Alto, Calif.: Institute of Signage Research,
1976, p. 31.
Checklist for Ordering a Business Sign
Before you select a sign for your business there are several things you
need to consider. A competent sign company in your area can help you with
the answers to some of these questions if you are unsure how to obtain
them.
1. Who are your customers?
Potential customers for your business are people who reside in your trade
area. Most of your customers come from the immediate area within a half
mile to a mile of your business location. Trade areas come in assorted
shapes and sized depending upon the business. Trade areas may also vary
seasonally.
2. How do you get information on potential customers?
Plot a dot map of your customers as soon as you begin business. This is
easily done by plotting the addresses of people who stop in your store
(and particularly of those who purchase) as a dot on a street map of your
city. Within a few months time you will have a fairly clear idea of the
trade area from which you are drawing your customers. You will then be
able to decide what type of sign would best meet the needs of the people
in that trade area. For example, if your customers can only reach you
by automobile or you are located on a very busy street, the type of sign
that you use will be very different than if you have a shopping center
location and people must walk to your store from parking lots.
Obtain your street profile from a city traffic engineer. Since your sign
communicates to people who pass your business establishment, you can direct
your message to potential customers if you know what type of traffic passes
your door. Your city traffic engineer can provide information which will
tell you: where people begin and end their trips, how people travel, when
people travel by time of day, why people travel, and where they park when
they reach a destination. Even small cities and towns have traffic volume
maps available to tell you how many people pass by your business every
day.
Know how many new people move to your area each year. This is a potential
market for your business. This type of information can be obtained from
any board of realtors, chamber of commerce or police department.
3. How are you going to communicate with the customers?
In order to communicate effectively, a sign must be noticeable
and readable.
A sign must be noticeable.
After a while a sign becomes part of the landscape. It loses some of its
ability to attract attention. By periodically changing some small design
element or by using changeable copy, a sign can continue to attract interest.
Time and temperature devices or rotating and moving parts can be used
to maintain interest in a commercial message. Time and temperature units
also provide a needed public service.
A sign must be readable.
A sign needs to be large enough to read. You need to know how far a person
is from your store when he first sees your sign and the real speed of
traffic on your street. With this information, a competent sign company
can use a formula to calculate the necessary size for your design and
build you an effective sign.
4. What are you trying to say?
Decide on a message that is clear and simple.
Focus on key words.
* Choose one or two words which describe your business.
* Clever or strange names may only attract certain customers.
Be Brief.
The cleaner and clearer the message, the more impact it has. Listing or
names or unclear symbols confuse rather than communicate.
5. What image are your trying to portray?
Design of your sign is very important. Your sign tells people a lot about
your business. Stark simple design and materials may suggest discount
prices and no frills. Elegant and expensive sign materials may suggest
luxury goods and services. Two basic design considerations are important
when ordering a sign.
Physical elements of sign design.
These include considerations such as size, placement, materials and structure.
The size of the sign is an important consideration for your business.
The biggest sign that you can afford may not necessarily be the best one
for your needs. A sign should go with its surroundings. A sign which is
either too big or too small will not communicate your message effectively.
The number of signs is also important. Too many signs compete with one
another and reduce the effectiveness of your message by presenting an
image of confusion to potential customers. The materials used by your
sign determine its appearance and performance. For example, differences
in cost, appearance, color, durability, flexibility and reaction to extreme
weather conditions can be found in the many types of plastics available.
The structure of a sign also contributes to its effectiveness. Pole covers
and cantilevered construction help portray an attractive message.
Graphic elements of sign design.
Graphic elements of design include layout of the message, colors,
lettering, shape, symbolism, harmony, and daytime versus nighttime lighting
conditions.
Legibility is a test of good design.
If your sign is well designed, it will be easy to read. Legibility means
that the letters or characters on the sign are distinct from one another.
Some color combinations of background and letters give excellent legibility
while others are very poor. To test your sign's legibility, drive past
your business and see if you can read it from a distance. Look at it both
day and night. Some signs are difficult to read because of illumination
problems such as glare from street lights, signs on nearby business establishments,
or shadows caused by buildings. A well-designed sign blends with the environment,
has a message impact and overcomes viewing problems.
6. How much should your sign cost?
You should consider several factors when determining the cost of your
on-premise sign.
A sign is an investment.
Your sign is one of the most permanent parts of your business and is exposed
to weather and constant use. The average life of signs varies from five
to eleven years, depending on type of materials used, construction and
other factors. Find out how many years of service to expect from your
sign. It pays to purchase good materials if you intend to use the sign
over a period of years.
Maintenance costs.
No business can afford to have its sign fall into disrepair. A dilapidated
sign tells the public that you are not concerned with your business image
or their visual environment. Some types of signs are virtually maintenance
free while others require more attention. Find out how to replace burnt
out bulbs or tubes in your sign. Determine who is responsible if the wind
blows your sign down and someone is injured.
Energy consumption.
New technological developments now enable some types of signs to achieve
energy savings without sacrificing effects. Inquire about new energy saving
bulbs and internal materials.
Owning or leasing.
Many sign companies have programs whereby you can lease a sign for a given
period of time and they will maintain it for you. This may be more economical
for a new business, especially if there is any chance that logos or names
may change in the first few years of operation. Statistics show that if
a small business fails, it will happen somewhere between the first and
second year of operation. Leasing a sign during this period of time might
help save some of the initial capital needed for operating expenses.
Custom or standardized.
Some large companies offer standardized types of signs which are cheaper
than signs which are custom designed and constructed. Many of these standardized
units can utilize ingenious design techniques to bring forth creativity
and individuality. Often the standardized units can be arranged in different
configurations depending on your needs. Some standardized sign units use
the highest quality materials and are designed to be relatively maintenance
free. Mass production enables these units to be sold much cheaper than
if designed and produced from scratch.
7. Signs communicate in a shared environment.
A sign's ability to send its message beyond its locations
requires that you be sensitive to the effects of your message on others.
Since you share your space with others, consider their rights and sensibilities
too. They are potential customers.
Consider city or town planning goals and regulations when ordering a sign.
Some types of signs are not permitted. Determine what the regulations
are in your community before you discuss design with a sign designer.
Most sign companies are well aware of the regulation in any given community
and can guide you in selecting a sign which is not in violation of the
law.
Taking care of your new magnetics is easy, but absolutely critical
in order to avoid damage to your signs and/or your vehicle. The
following steps should be taken in order to have happy and contented signs
for a long time to come.
NEVER put magnetic signs on a vehicle that has been painted in
the last three months, unless you are willing to remove the signs nightly
and let the paint breathe. Otherwise your finish will be ruined.
EVERY TWO WEEKS remove the signs from the vehicle and wipe down
both the signs and the vehicle with glass cleaner. Carefully replace
the signs when the cleaner is dry.
WHEN INSTALLING MAGNETICS make sure that there is firm contact
over the entire surface and that there are no 'pockets' where the magnetic
material is not fully adhered to the surface.
ALWAYS CLEAN YOUR VEHICLE and your signs before installing them.
Dirt and rust under a sign can cause it to blow off in high speed traffic.
Follow these basic guidelines and enjoy your signs for many years!
Please call us if there is any other sign work we can help you with.
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