If you’re looking for a sign, this is it 😉. Successful businesses know the importance of business signage. If done right, quality signage provides potential customers with subtle, yet direct, communication cues, optimizes brand awareness, generates attention and most importantly, is a fundamental contributor of conversions.
Presenting your customers with clear, concise, visually appealing signage is a vital part of your business puzzle that gets to the very heart of your enterprise as it visually relays the exact message you want the world to see.
Ready to jump in? Here’s how you’ll level up with effective business signage.
Cutting To The Core
Ever heard the term, less it more? That is completely true in the world of traditional advertising. When customers are bombarded with too much information (think signs that contain excessive text or graphics), it can actually have the adverse effect as they can experience what’s called cognitive overload. When this occurs, your customers’ working memory isn’t able to process the “overload” of information they’re receiving and so, the message will not be delivered. This approach can also taint the perception of your brand, and affect decision-making abilities. Needless to say, this is the last thing you want as a business owner. Ensuring you “cut the core” by offering clear, directional visual signage is a great way to eliminate that barrier between cognitive overload and thus, increase the chance for potential customers to engage in your services or business offering.
Conveys Character
Consider this: if your business is conservative and uses a whimsical font like papyrus, from the outside in, your office looks more like a phone repairs shop rather than a respectable place of business. As with brand character and identity, you want your signage to quickly and simply tell potential customers what your brand is all about, so your signage needs to give a great first impression to anyone and everyone who sees it.
Ensuring your signage fits your brand vision is even more vital. This applies to your interior signs too as it expands upon the overarching branded experience, giving you more opportunity to not only convert a sale or client, but to also present yourself as a leader in your industry.
So, how can you make sure your business signage reflects your brand’s character and identity? Step one is to collaborate with an experienced designer who understands your vision for how your brand will look and feel to consumers and the general market. Step two is adhering to your band guidelines consistently, and across all of your other platforms. Pay special attention to your logo creation (generic is a brand-killer), font size (larger is usually better), and the contrast between colors used on your business signage—more contrast is typically more appealing. The choices you make in branding are important, and keeping consistency throughout your space is key.
Audience Reach
In order to be effective, your signage must influence the customers you’re going after in look, in feel, and in key messaging. While businesses seek to break the mold in competitive markets, once a customer is in your place of business, the only “noise” you need to break through is your own. You’re in a position where you have the right client, at the right time, but what you need to be considering is are you communicating the right message? Clear signage is what makes the difference.
While a variety of traditional and digital marketing strategies impose upon the customer, business signage helps the customer along your specific customer journey. When implemented effectively, it provides the customer with what they need and allows them to be guided by the experience. It’s for this reason, that signs can and likely will nudge customers across the line. It’s an indirect, non pushy sales approach where your investment does the talking.
Cost-Effective Strategy
Let’s be honest, business signage not only gives your brand integrity, but it also benefits you monetarily in the long run. Signage can be extremely cost-effective when compared to, let’s say, pay-per-click (PPC) style advertising where you fork out marketing dollars for each advertisement that is placed via Google, social media, and other media outlets like television, radio, newspapers, and so on.
Signage, on the other hand, is a one-time, up-front cost that can lasts until you either re-brand or shut shop. A wise and lucrative investment indeed. With all things considered, with business signage you've got yourself a long-term fire strategy that will lead to a lower cost of customer acquisition and a better brand experience.
Keen to learn about how to create the optimal signage for your business? Contact Kai's Signs today and our team will help you make your signage investment pay dividends now and well into the future.