How to Effectively Advertise Using Signs

In simple terms, signs help people find you.  They catch the attention of the general population while outside or on the road.  Then, they attract your target market.  To effectively advertise using signs, you must convey what you’re offering, quickly.  Then display a concise call-to-action.  The most important concept to remember when you advertise using signs – the message must ALWAYS be about them, not you.

Signage is especially effective with people who’re new to the community or who’re just passing through.  So if your business is new to the community, your signs will have an impact on everyone, in the beginning.  Knowing this, if you advertise using signs which are effective, and place them in effective locations, they’ll attract your target market, so long as you’re fulfilling a need within that community.

Fulfill a need – first and foremost

Perform your market research.  Don’t waste your time and money advertising something that people don’t want.  That’ll hurt the efforts of other businesses which ARE fulfilling needs in the community by adding clutter to the environment.

Know your target market!

The most important question to ask yourself is:  What problem does your business solve for people?  The answer to this must be clear!  You need to solve a problem that really exists.  Solve a problem that people know they have.  If they don’t feel pain from the problem, are you confident that you can reveal it to them and cause a desire for your solution?

Advertise using signs effectively

If your brand isn’t known, eliminate or minimize your company name and logo.  These elements shouldn’t be prominent.  When space is taken up by elements which have no effect on those who see your ad, that space is wasted.  So resist the temptation when you advertise using signs.

Restrict the content on your signs to those elements which will bring you customers.  Then, build your brand through satisfying those customers.

Example

As an example, if you have a landscaping business, put the word “LANDSCAPING” in large print.  Then, display your call-to-action.  Place your phone number, web site, or both, in large print.  These are the two most important elements – what you do and how to find you.

When I ran a piano-teaching business, my signs stated “Piano Lessons.”  When I handed out flyers, I verbally stated “piano lessons?”  The reaction was instant.  Either they had interest or they didn’t.  They didn’t need to spend time thinking about what I was advertising.  They knew the moment they read or heard those two words.

Attention grabber

The message on your sign must catch the attention of those who see it, quickly.  While driving, people will only briefly take their eyes off the road to mentally process your sign.  So if they need a landscaper, and they see the word “landscaping” printed on your sign, they’ll read it.

Keep your message concise.  Put it in large print.  Use good contrast – dark letters on a light background.  That way, your message will stick in their minds within a second.  If your company name and logo are prominent, your message will confuse those who see your sign – you’ll never know if they needed landscaping done or not.

Keep it simple

People contemplate messages easier when they’re stripped of extraneous words and graphics.  Displaying extra elements actually takes away the meaning because they become a distraction.  They overtax the cognitive resources of those who see your signs.

This may actually cause irritation, which will imprint a bad memory related to what they see on your sign.  That’s a bad thing.  Bad memories stick much easier than good ones do.  So displaying your unknown brand will actually hurt your brand.

To conclude

Our emotions drive us to display things that we love.  We love our businesses.  We love our logos.  And we love our fancy business names and taglines.  The problem is, people who see our signs don’t share this love.  Those who understand this, and have the discipline to resist the temptation, bring in customers fast when they advertise using signs.  So share the love with your customers after they arrive – not when they’re outside or on the road.

Thank you for reading:
How to Advertise Using Signs

Written By: Greg Hixon of RE-MEX-IMAGE and Hixonic Web Specialists

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