Should You Make Your Own Business Signs Unlike large retail establishments that have dedicated business promotion budgets, small retail businesses do not. While business promotion is equally, if not more important to them, they have to carefully balance the priorities behind each dollar spent and the return expected from that expenditure. For that reason the Do-It-Yourself trap does seem tempting. DIY is great for homes and for business related activities that do not require specialized knowledge or skills. No one person or small group can possess all the skills and abilities to excel at every business specialization. When the store or small business owner try to do things beyond their scope, the results are not just bad but they could possibly have a negative impact on the other things that have been done well. Sign making is one such area.’
Signs Are Not Just Words and Images Every business and store owner knows the importance of signs in bringing people into the establishment and promoting sales. The mistake they make is in thinking that a few words or pictures are all that make up a sign. It is this over simplification of what makes for an effective sign that leads to the loss of not just potential business from new customers but also leads to the loss of existing business. Making your own signs appears to be easy. A board on which to write, paint or draw, a pole on which to mount the sign and a place to put it up are all that seems to be needed to put up a sign and bring in customers and increase sales. Go online and there are a number of websites that tell you how simple it is:
Find out the local regulations on signs and abide by them
Get your friends together and design the signs you need
Buy the wood, paint and nails you need
Make the sign
Unfortunately, it is not that simple. There are many types of signs and each has a definite purpose. For example, a sign in a store window can be about a specific feature or price since the window itself tells the viewer what the store is all about. On the other hand, to attract the interest of a car driver, a sign must convey only as much as can be absorbed in a quick glance. It should also be presented in a manner that stays in the driver’s memory after the drive is over. To create an effective sign, you need to know:
The type of signage that works well for a specific product
The right size
The material that the sign should be made of and the extra features required to draw attention to it
The design and fonts that will make it effective
The location which will attract the maximum attention
And much more.
On the other hand, a badly made or wrong type of sign will:
Confuse the viewer
Get noticed for being badly made or other negative aspects
Cause the business to be associated with the message of the sign and detract from its image
The defects in the sign will be associated with the quality of products, feature or business the sign is promoting.
Making your own signs will not save you money. It will only cost you, both in terms of the time you wasted in making it and the loss of business that it will cause. An effective sign from a professional sign making company may not be as cheap as a DIY one, but the marginal increase in cost will be made up by the business that the sign generates.
Sign My Signs 3507 Ryder Street, Santa Clara, CA, 95051 408-899-2889 http://bit.ly/2OKi0B0