When you’re a small business owner, you probably don’t have a multi-million dollar advertising budget to plaster your name and products all over the television and radio airwaves. You most likely cannot afford to hire an A-list Hollywood star to promote your products and services. But you know it’s essential to stand out from the competition, especially if you’re in a saturated market.
Offering the best quality merchandise and service are important elements in helping your small business to stand out. But your superior offerings will hardly make a difference if no one knows about your company. Along with word of mouth and other long term marketing strategies, corporate signs represent a relatively low cost tool to promote your business to the public. The right signage can draw customers in off the streets, so it’s worth the investment necessary to create the best possible signage for your company.
How to Stand Out on the Street
When it comes to corporate signs, bigger is often better. That’s why you frequently see skyscrapers and large complexes with corporate logos fixed right on the face of the building. As a small business owner, you probably cannot afford to purchase the rights to name an entire building. However, you can borrow from that strategy to place your company’s signage as prominently as possible within the boundaries of the space that you have purchased or leased for your store.
If you have space outdoors, consider a sign posted into the ground in front of your building. If that’s not possible, try to hang a sign over your business’s front entrance or in one of the windows facing the street. The key is to be as conspicuous to casual passers by as possible while remaining within the boundaries of any local ordinances.
The Importance of a Brightly Lit Sign
If your business operates at all after sunset, a brightly lit sign can help customers find their way to your establishment. Neon signs are definitely attention getting, but may be inappropriate for your business, or not allowed under the zoning ordinances for your company’s location. LED lit signs also provide bright illumination after dark. Another option is to position spotlights or floodlights onto your regular entranceway sign, and time the lights to come on only after dark. This solution has the advantage of avoiding potentially garish lighting during the day while providing needed illumination at night.
Maintenance of the Sign
It should go without saying that your company’s signage must be well maintained. Poor maintenance of your company’s signage creates the impression among your customers that your merchandise may very well be shoddy also. Repair burned out lights, apply a fresh coat of paint where it’s needed and make any needed corrections – for instance, if you change your hours of operation.
If you cannot afford to properly maintain your sign, you are better off removing it altogether, even if it means that your business no longer has any signage at all. That is how important proper maintenance of your company’s sign truly is.
Tom Grant is a small business marketer. He loves writing about unique marketing tips and corporate signs on small business blogs.