As the owner of a small business, you’re certainly already aware how effective marketing can be. Of course, one of the most effective and efficient forms of marketing is signage. Even if your business is a little bit bigger than a small business, signage can move mountains for your client list in an exceedingly cost effective manner.
We here at adendo understand the effectiveness of signage, which is why we’ve cooked up this nifty effective signage guide full of tips to maximize this low cost marketing effectiveness.
So whether you are interested in large format signage for your small business, or are searching for traffic sign or large banner-shaped solutions, these tips will go along way towards bringing more eyes (and therefore more clients) to your company’s doorstep. Indeed, there are many assets of signage to consider when commissioning and crafting effective signage design which properly represents the products and values your small business espouses. It is also vital your small business’s signage is highly visible and stands out too!
So without further ado, here are some useful signage design tips, which will no doubt have you and your team whipping up effective business signage for your company in no time!
Visibility
This tip may seem like common sense and completely obvious, but you’d be surprised how difficult this first, most vital step is in the effective signage design process!
Visibility for your small business’s signage can be split into two main foci: elements presented on the sign itself and the actual location of that sign. First, let’s consider the latter – the physical location of where you’d like your sign to be.
Obviously, in order to attract the highest amount of new potential clients and customers, you’re going to want to put your sign somewhere within a high traffic area. Next, it is imperative you consider where within that high traffic area would be the most effective place for attracting the eye. Possibly a high up vantage point – where everyone for miles can see it! This is part of the reason why billboards can be such an attractive signage option.
Now that you’ve chosen the best possible location to place the signage advertising your small business’s goods and services, you must now turn your attention to what will actually go onto your sign itself!
Readability
The next most vital consideration when either commissioning or crafting effective signage for your business is to ensure the elements on the sign are highly readable – particularly in a location where cars will be zipping past at high speeds. You want to make sure the drivers of those cars will see your sign, be able to read your sign, and gather the appropriate message and/or call to action – all within the space of a few fleeting seconds.
Let’s consider signage elements one by one then, shall we?
Text: Placement, Legibility, Spacing, Color
Ideally, you want your sign to convey a simple to digest message using graphics and as few words as possible. The human brain can only take so much new information while traveling past quickly.
Therefore, your text needs to be as legible as possible. Consider placement, centering, and notice-ability. If you are new to graphic design, you may be tempted to even use a whole squadron of fonts to boast about the merits of your business. While this is an understandable inclination, this will probably scatter the eye of the viewer and create a very busy look within your signage’s composition. It is best, then, to keep it simple. At maximum, you’ll want to use only three different fonts at most – though graphic design experts would argue to keep it down to two. Now your potential audience’s eye isn’t distracted – and can focus on the actual point of the sign – your small business’s message and/or call to action.
Part and parcel with these sorts of graphic design considerations is another design consideration: that of color. If your font’s color blends into the background (say a white font over a yellow background – just as an example) – nobody will be able to read it! Nobody will even know what your sign is trying to say nor will they be directed effectively to your company! So, while considering color – best practices include using bold, clearly defined colors against each other. This way, you’ll really be able to capture people’s attention!
Graphics
As we’ve just discussed here when it comes to graphics, you’ll be making similar design decisions you were when it came to the text on your signage. Indeed, it is vital to consider color, legibility, placement, and spacing here too.
As they say, “a picture says a thousand words,” to which we here at adendo would agree, although we’d add the caveat: “as long as its clear and legible!” What we mean by clarity and legibility in this context is that the graphic elements on your business’s signage should stay relatively simple – with easy to read defining features and shapes.
The potential customers you are attempting to snag, driving quickly by as they will be, will need to be able to both read your sign’s text, and take in the message and purpose of the graphical elements in an instance. If any of these elements are muddled, unclear, or messy – well that’s a one way ticket to getting your potential customers’ and clients’ wires all the way crossed!
Keep your signage simple, keep it legible – and new customers and clients will be banging down your doors in no time! Marketing never was so simple!
Conclusion
We hope these effective signage tips will have you well on your way to expanding your small business’s customer and/or client list! Sticking to the guidelines listed above will help to make your signs visible and highly noticeable!
If you should need further help, however, adendo advisors are always here to help guide you into designing high quality, effective signage able to speak clearly to current and potential clients and customers. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us!