Considering all the steps it takes to get a business up and running, not to mention keep running, it’s not surprising to learn that many small and large business owners neglect to do the research necessary for proper signage. Generally, by the time they get around to considering what would be a good sign and signage for the company there is very little budget left. Little understanding of what good signage can do for your business and little dollars left in the budget are an unfortunate mix. Quite often, the signage and signs purchased for a company are inadequate and end up costing the company more money in the long run.
Careful consideration of what role the sign will play for your company is important. Branding is just one of the more obvious roles, that should be factored into the design purchase and placement of your signs. A sign is a very visible symbol of your business. It’s quite often the one thing that many people will remember. It’s worth considering featuring your sign in a fairly prominent area of your companies building.
I’ve heard several success stories relating to adequate and inadequate signage for a business. One that springs to mind at the moment is a story I heard from a friend who has a client that own a fairly successful restaurant. The restaurant was well-known and established as it had been running for a number of years with many happy, repeat customers. The owner however had dreams to expand and grow the business into an even more profitable one. As it turned out, better signage was the answer to a much increased customer influx.
In the early years of the restaurants success, they had done nothing in regard to signage as a means to attract new customers to their location. After consulting with an expert in the field, some recommendations are made. As it turned out, there were several large and busy roadways, not far from the restaurant. Some strategically placed, prominent and attractive signs were put into effect as a result. The restaurant entrepreneur saw some fairly impressive growth over the next few years. As time went by, buoyed by the success of all the new customers, the restaurant actually expanded and saw staggering growth of over 300{3d5275f9508c9dd4021075398e098e5db9cf49de07ee931b769af6a77a0ab5ee} in their customer base.
It makes you wonder, how successful they would’ve been with those signs from the very beginning of the restaurant. The moral here is, obviously, that signs and good signage should be considered from the very beginning any new business venture. While signs may not seem like a big deal at first, this story obviously demonstrates how important they really can be. The amount of money spent on good signs in the beginning may seem prohibitive. But in fact, good signage is one of the best marketing tools there is for getting the message out about your business. In some cases it can even be better than word-of-mouth advertising.