Signs and Banners Will Make Your Business Stand Out From the Pack
There are countless aspects and avenues to explore when advertising your business. Many of them are invaluable. Others are nice to have in your back pocket if you’re looking to expand beyond the obvious customer base. Still others are questionable in their effectiveness. The job of any business owner is to do market research and then wisely use their (often limited) budget to experiment with these marketing techniques to see which ones provide the best return on investment.
What’s unfortunate, however, is that so many business owners skip one of the most important – and most easily overlooked – advertising options available to them: Using high quality signs and banners to make their business stand out from the crowd. They say you never get a second chance at a first impression, and nothing gives out that first impression more effectively than a great business sign. Whether you’re hanging it outside on a single or slapping it onto the side of your truck, these signs tell people what you’re all about. And if you can stick this first landing, it could potentially mean more for your business than any other form of advertising you can think of.
Buying Signs and Banners: 3 Things to Keep in Mind
If you intend for your business signs to separate your company from the pack, you need to be smart about what you buy. Here are five things to keep in mind as you create your first impression.
Quality – It’s not just about standing out, it’s about making sure potential customers know that you’re a place for high-quality goods and services. If you want to put a giant inflatable gorilla out in front of your store, that’s great. Just make sure it’s an attractive gorilla – not one that looks like you rescued it from the dumpster. The same principle goes for your signage. You don’t want people to get a “Bates Motel” sort of vibe from your sign. You’re a brand new business, so don’t put a sign out that looks like it might have been discovered in a junkyard somewhere.
Brand Messaging – Everything you do with your marketing should be consistent. You don’t want your logo to look one way on Twitter, another way in your TV ad, and different still on your business sign. Sure, there’s room to play around with variations on a theme, but there should be a recognizable aspect to your branding in every instance. You don’t suddenly see McDonalds using a blue-and-purple M in their online ads. When you buy your signage, use it to further your branding consistency.
Size – How big should your signs and banners be? Well, it depends. If you’re opening up a store in the mall, your needs will be different than a restaurant just off the interstate. The important thing is that your sign is large enough to suit your purposes. And what is the main purpose? To make sure customers see it! You can get further along this mission with lighting, flashy effects, and other tricks, but size definitely matters.
Four Benefits of Great Signs and Banners
If advertising your business is all about finding the sweet spot between expenditure and return, you’ll do well to focus your attention on making your signs and/or banners the best they can be. Here are some of the biggest benefits to using signs to make your business stand out:
Increase Your Visibility – Have you ever had the experience of coming upon a strip mall and having absolutely no idea what shops you were looking at? Too many businesses make the fatal mistake of failing to identify their own stores! Or they do so with a small plaque on the outside of the door or some white etching on the door itself. How would you ever find them? Don’t let your shot at increased visibility slip through your hands.
Non-Stop Marketing – There’s nothing wrong with renewable advertising. There’s nothing wrong with taking out an ad in the paper. But when you want a marketing solution that is working for you around the clock, seven days a week, you can’t beat a glowing outdoor business sign.
Bring Customers Into Your Business – A bold, beautiful billboard out by the interstate may be effective, but you have to remember that customers are busy – with their driving, at the very least. They may remember your billboard and they may not. However, when you have a stunning sign right outside your business, you have the opportunity to capture that in-the-moment impulse and bring customers right to your door.
Promote Sales and Special Events – Many business owners, instead of purchasing a static sign, like to opt for one with changeable letters. This can be a board out front or an LED message sign. In either case, these signs can be changed on a whim, giving the business the flexibility to promote special sales and events that lure customers in.
The Best Signs and Banners to Promote Your Business
Now that we’ve gone over some of the benefits to using signs and banners to promote your business, let’s dive deeper into a few examples of how you can do this. A comprehensive list of all the various types of signs would require more space than we have here, but we’re going to talk about some of the basics. Depending on the style of your business, the tone of your branding, and your budgetary limits, you can almost certainly use at least one of these options to bring new color and life to your company. And, more importantly, bring more customers in through the front door!
Custom Wooden Signs
There’s something about wooden letters that draw customers in. Maybe it’s the additional clarity you get from the natural cut and distinctive look of these signs. Maybe it’s something to do with the fact that you see these signs far more rarely than other common promotional materials. Maybe there’s just something about wood that speaks to us. Why question it? The important thing is whether or not it boosts your business – and custom wooden signs do that very effectively.
Businesses from across the spectrum have used custom wooden signs to increase their visibility. Doctors’ offices, restaurants, lawyers, hotels – the list is endless. Don’t think for a moment that these signs are just for saloons and shops that sell cowboy boots. Any business can enjoy the durability and unique style of a wooden sign. Crafted in a way that doesn’t veer too far into “farmhouse chic,” these signs can represent your business just as well – if not better – than any other form of signage you might consider. If you like the colors we offer the same in metal letters.
Yard Signs
When you hear the term “yard signs,” your mind probably goes immediately to those political placards that suddenly show up all over town every two-to-four years. And while it’s true that politicians have learned to use this transportable, easily-visible signage to great effect, they aren’t the only ones who can use yard signs to promote their brand. You can do it, too, and you can do it for a fraction of the cost of similar marketing models.
Yard signs are particularly effective when used to promote a special sale or event you may have coming up soon. Don’t underestimate how powerful something like this can be to drum up long-term business. Even if you’re holding something as simple as a raffle or a giveaway, you never know when you’re going to turn a curious visitor into one of your biggest sources of income. Bring customers in from all over town by using yard signs to attract their attention.
Neon Signs
Introduced to the marketplace in the 1950s, neon signs have earned their spot as an all-American classic form of business advertising. These signs may not utilize the latest technology, but their gas-based brightness transcends the decades. If you really want to make people stop and pay attention to your business, neon signs give you one of your best opportunities to do just that. These signs are also energy efficient, using up to 50% less electricity than a sign that is lit up with traditional incandescent bulbs, saving you money year after year.
Another great aspect of using neon signs is their native coolness. No, we don’t mean that they’re “cool, daddy-o,” although of course they are. We mean that you can leave them on for hours and still find them cool to the touch. This makes them a terrific option for signs that hang just outside your storefront or hang near awnings and other flammable decorations. Plus, with a little bit of normal maintenance, your neon sign will keep burning brightly for a decade or more. Try getting THAT kind of efficiency out of traditional bulb lighting!
Car Magnet Signs
Take your advertising on the road with car magnet signs that attract the eye and turn every other driver on the road into a potential customer for your business. We’d argue that while certain forms of marketing have decreased in value since the dawn of the online age, car magnet signs have only grown more powerful. After all, 99% of the drivers who see your sign have a phone in their pocket or locked into the dock of their dashboard. They can easily jot a note in their phone or look you up at the next light. In a world where marketing materials can easily wash over the audience without a second thought, car magnet signs catch potential customers and force them to pay attention.
Magnet signs are also beneficial from a cost perspective. It can be extremely expensive to get a custom paint job. Wraps are an affordable alternative, but they are still quite costly when compared to a magnetic sign – and they don’t necessarily impart any greater benefits. You can move on to paint and wraps in the future when you have a bigger budget; for now, a high-quality magnet sign is going to do all of the mobile advertising you need for a fraction of the cost. Plus, it’s removable, so you have that flexibility if you need your car in a situation where running an ad on the side would be inappropriate.
LED Signs
Requiring almost no maintenance, shining brighter than neon, and affordable enough to leave burning 24 hours a day for as long as you want, LED signs have quickly become some of the most popular business marketing materials in the world. You can purchase these colorful signs in both flashing and static varieties, and you’ll know that their unparalleled brightness will have the impact you need to make your business stand out. Not just during your business hours, mind you, but on through the night when your sign shines brightly into the world.
You may have to spend a bit more on an LED sign right up front, but you will more than make up for that initial expense over the life of your sign. LED signs are marvelously efficient when it comes to electricity usage, making them a responsible, affordable choice for any business. They are also far less likely to need replacement after a few years. The best LED signs are rated to burn for at least 100,000 hours, so you will get plenty of life out of this particular form of advertising.
Vinyl Banners
Does a sign have to be rigid and permanent to be effective? Not at all. In fact, more businesses than ever are turning to vinyl banners to accomplish things that structure-style signs can’t do. Whether you use these banners to “wrap” a physical billboard or hang in a place that’s likely to get a lot of attention, this is an affordable way to augment any existing signage that you have in place already. Many businesses use banners to promote an upcoming event, test out alternatives to their current branding, and take on the road for appearances at conventions and other on-location marketing opportunities.
Vinyl banners are advantageous due to their lightweight construction, which allows them to be easily transported, taken down, and put back up again. This flexibility gives the business owner a lot of options when it comes to modifying their advertising strategy. If the banner doesn’t work in one place, it may work in another. It may even serve well as an indoor marketing addition. If the name of the game in advertising is testing, testing, testing, vinyl banners are the perfect vehicle for endless experimentation. Find out what works best, and then go with it!
Changeable Letter Signs
Chances are you’ve seen changeable letter signs outside of restaurants, gas stations, churches, and virtually every other kind of business we can name. Where we live, there’s a dry cleaning place that uses one of these signs to great effect, putting up a new joke every week that delights drivers from all over town. That’s the great thing about these signs – you aren’t locked in to one particular message. With a collection of board lettering, you can change the message as often as you like. Promote sales, commemorate holidays, put up witty quotes: It’s all up to you!
Changeable letter signs work well in their larger varieties, but they are also a nice “sub-sign” if you want something to stand on a placard outside your business door. If your business is located in a strip mall-type of location, this is a great way to draw in walking traffic. Bars and restaurants can use these smaller signs to great effect: It’s a terrific vehicle to put out specials, menu changes, and drink deals. Don’t underestimate the degree to which you can leverage impulse buying to your profitable advantage.
LED Message Signs
LED message signs are basically changeable-letter signs…but taken into the new millennium! These signs are actually even easier to change than their old, analog cousins because you don’t need anyone to go out into the weather and physically change up the letters. With the help of an easy-to-use programming computer, you can change the message on the sign every day – or even more often, if you like! This gives the business owner an unprecedented level of versatility, which translates into a sign that customers will have no choice but to pay attention to. If you give them compelling content, that is.
The best programmable LED message signs can hold an astounding amount of information, giving a business owner the capability to store thousands of characters and up to 100 different messages at a time. Great LED message signs will also offer a number of different modes so you can make your message do whatever you want: Scroll vertically, cycle through, explode out from the darkness, and much more. Mixing and matching these modes turns your sign into a form of entertainment as well as advertising. It’s all in the service of getting people in the door, and LED message signs do this extremely well.
