Idea on attracting businesses to Rockford...

This township in Ohio has updated their signage codes to allow more flexibility in hopes of attracting more businesses. Some of these items are stricter than what we currently have, but many are extremely forgiving compared with our codes. While I agree extremely large, gaudy signs are unacceptable and tarnish a community's image, allowing businesses to advertise their spaces effectively is extremely important to their continued success. If you'd like more information on the current sign regulations for Rockford and other communities give me a call!

~Amy Donahue
signage consultant

After enduring criticism that its sign regulations are not friendly to businesses, Liberty Township has amended its zoning code to relax the rules.

Following months of review by the township's zoning commission and several public hearings, township trustees OK'd amendments to the signage code for the first time in more than a decade during their meeting Monday, May 17.

The new code makes replacing signs easier and allows for more wiggle room in size and design. Notable changes include:

* Rather than go through a public hearing to receive approval for a replacement sign that does not match the original, applicants can get a permit from the zoning inspector for a sign approved by township trustees.

* Restrictions to the number of colors, types and sizes of fonts have been removed.

* In addition to the proprietor and business name, such signs may now include the address and a graphic or image to illustrate the nature of the business. These signs are allowed to be on the building wall, rather than restricted to a show window or door.

* Temporary sidewalk signs are allowed in front of businesses with no permit required.

* The allowed size for freestanding signs and wall signs for business identification have been increased.

* Signs with business names, address numbers and directional arrows designed to assist the public in locating a business are allowed without a permit, though some restrictions apply.

A last-minute amendment was added to the list during the meeting to allow neighborhoods to post signs that ban solicitors and advertise block-watch programs.

The changes serve to simplify the signage requirements, which business owners have complained are needlessly complicated; however, trustees have said the rules are not the sole reason for businesses that have asked to be annexed into Powell.

"Business owners that use signage requirements as an excuse to leave the township are making just that -- an excuse," Trustee Bob Mann said at a previous meeting.

Trustee Chairman Curt Sybert said at the same meeting that the amended code allows for better signage for businesses.

"One of our businesses installed a drive-through pharmacy and our old code wouldn't allow them to advertise that, so no one knew it was there. Our new code would allow that," he said.

The changes will take effect in 30 days.

By LAURA ENGLEHART for Columbus Local News. Published: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 4:40 PM EDT

Retail Floor Graphics

I've been raving about this 'new' medium over the past year and it looks like more and more clients' are seeing the value in this great way to advertise!
~Amy Donahue
Signage Consultant

Imagine strolling down a clear mountain stream, wondering how you’re going to spend this summer day. You follow the creek until you reach a stack of fishing rods, tackle boxes and bait. Perfect—only you’re not really in a fly fisherman’s paradise. You’re in your local sporting goods store, and that stream was really just a printed floor graphic that led you to your next purchase.

Between point-of-purchase displays, in-store banners and event promotions, sign and print shops fulfill much of the retail industry’s marketing needs, and floor graphics are complementary to these applications with their creative uses and strong branding capabilities.

WHY FLOOR GRAPHICS?

Floor graphics are particularly valuable because more branding messages can be created in an area where space is limited, says Michael Eyman, vice president of Permovable Technologies. Today’s planogram, a diagram of retail product placement, is often jumbled with too many consumables, making for a confusing shopping experience with little product identification.

“We’re running out of space to get people’s messages across,” Eyman says. “But floor space allows the retailer as well as the brand owner to get their message out at the point of sale.”

DESIGNING FLOOR GRAPHICS

When designing floor graphics, Kucera recommends simple, clear and highly visible images. Remember, a cluttered message can get lost in the shuffle. Bolded, concise copy; 3-D elements; and photos are all effective ways to make the graphic pop, Milazzo adds.

“The floor is no place for text-heavy graphics,” Kucera says. “You really need to have something snappy that’s going to draw the eye in and get your message across.”

Using more creative applications also helps a message stand out while reinforcing the brand identity, which is the ultimate goal of floor graphics, Milazzo says. Take, for instance, a Heineken floor graphic in a grocery store. Instead of a square piece of vinyl filled with copy, create a Heineken bottle-shaped graphic in front of the beer cooler. Or maybe try a round pizza graphic for Red Baron in the frozen food section. These images are more interesting to the eye and leave a stronger product connection. With a powerful graphic, your retail client can increase sales, and you become a more valuable business partner and marketing solution.

Excerpted from article by Amanda McGrory. Sign & Digital Graphics. 05/01/2010

Wrap Design Strategies

Nothing hurts me more than a poorly designed vehicle wrap - and my clients! If you're looking for a well designed wrap look no further... I enjoy building relationships with my clients and understanding what they like and need to promote their business!
~Amy Donahue
Signage Consultant

Every good wrap estimate has a line item on it for design. What is your customer buying for this price? The answer, in most cases, is prospects.

Isn’t this what they are hiring us for, anyway? They want more prospects; they want their phone to ring, or more traffic to their Web site.

They are looking for more people to talk to about their products or services. This is truly what you should be selling your customer through your design services. It takes a special talent to not only deliver a vehicle that looks good, but one that is able to convey a precise message at 45 to 75 mph. Once a designer can prove their skills in this area, that line item can increase in value and the client will be happy to pay for it.

Vehicle wrap designers are professionals, and just like any other professional career with the proper experience, will get treated as such. When you see your doctor or lawyer, do they sit you in a room while they ask you how you think they should handle your medical procedure or lawsuit? Then why should your customer come to you and tell you what their design should look like on their vehicle wrap? You should be guiding them on what works, what doesn’t work, where to place the call to action and how the elements of the wrap should be placed.

A professional wrap designer understands that this will not only give their client a better final product, but will allow them more creative freedom throughout the project. I do not want to give the impression that the customer should have no input on their wrap, because that is far from true. The customer has to drive this vehicle every day, so designing a vehicle that they are proud to jump into is important, but asking them what they want their vehicle to look like and following that direction is a mistake you do not want to keep making.

Understanding your customer is the first step in a good wrap design. Using a form like a creative brief that the client fills out at the beginning of the project is a good start. This creative brief should ask questions about the customer and their business so that you get a better understanding on who they are and what their expectations are. This brief should ask questions about the customer's target market, results they expect, colors they like and details on the items they cannot live without being on the wrap. This form should be filled out before the customer’s initial interview. This allows the designer to get to know the customer and can brainstorm ideas before the customer is interviewed.

When you collect this creative brief, you should also collect any logos, images, etc., that they feel must be on the wrap. Next, a meeting with the customer is important. This meeting is an extension of the creative brief and should allow the designer to get an intimate knowledge of who they are designing for and the target market this message is speaking to. Between the creative brief and client interview, a good designer should have a few ideas for concepts and should be ready to start designing a vehicle wrap that will produce results.

Knowing your vehicle is next, a good place to start is going to the manufacturer’s Web site and having a look at the vehicle that will be your blank canvas. Getting a good look at the curves and obstacles will help with placement of your message and make the design process run a lot smoother. The best way to get to know your canvas is to have the client bring you their vehicle for measurements. Not only will this allow you to double check the measurements of the template you will be using, but it will allow you to see what trim package the vehicle has. There is nothing worse than finding out last minute that the client’s vehicle had an upgraded trim package from the factory that forces you to adjust positioning of text in the eleventh hour.

A common mistake I see in vehicle wraps is a busy design. This most likely is the designer allowing the client to run the design and wanting to put each and every service they perform on the side of the vehicle. Keep it simple, keep it exciting but do not overload the design. Text should be kept to the bare minimum, and should be placed on a relatively solid background and not over an image. This allows the message to be easily read. You should always come up with the information layout before the graphic layout to insure readability. Simplifying the text to the bare minimums or necessities will allow for a clear view of it all. Drilling down the text to the minimums should be simple at this point because you should have covered this in your initial client interview.

Choosing fonts that are readable from a distance is important. You only have a few seconds to capture the attention of the prospect, so finding a readable font is as important as any other aspect of your wrap. Limit your font selection to no more than three. Having a bunch of different font styles will muddy the message and make the wrap look too busy. Spending some time on font color will also insure readability. This may seem obvious, but white text reads best on dark backgrounds, many customers request dark colors on dark backgrounds and they should be directed away from this.

When choosing images, care should be taken so that the images add value to the message without drawing from it. An image can be so over the top that it gets looked at, but the message never gets read. What should happen is the imagery draws attention to the vehicle, and therefore the message gets read. The imagery should complement the text in such a way that when this happens, the consumer is drawn to the call to action. Simple is better when it comes to images. Also, empty space is as important as the areas with text and objects on them.

Do not rely on your client to supply you images. The images supplied by your client likely will not be usable. There are a lot of Web sites that specialize in supplying images for print applications; you will be able to purchase the images for a small fee in various sizes. Choose the size that will allow you the best print output quality. The background of your wrap should be an interesting looking texture or pattern, but again, one that enhances and does not interfere with the message. The background is always best if kept subtle. Come up with ways to use depth of field. Build a foreground and background with logos and information layered in the midground. This is much more pleasant to look at and will help capture the attention of the consumer. In the end, a well designed vehicle wrap is one that delivers results. Taking control of your designs is a big risk because if what you designed does not deliver, the customer will be disappointed. The payoff is when you get good enough to know that what you are creating will increase your clients business and deliver the results they expect. This payoff will come in the form of repeat business and referrals like you have never seen before.

By Jim McClure (Sign & Digital Graphics, November, 2009)

Let's Talk Channel Letters

What benefits make channel letters so appealing as a means of on-premise signage? Check out this article on the value of this pivotal sign product as advertising as well as things I take into account when working with clients on these projects!

~Amy Donahue
Signage Consultant

SIGNS ARE ADVERTISING
As advertising, signs have a tangible valueⁱ. They also have definable costs. When a business plans a marketing strategy, the quantity and type of advertising is examined, a budget is prepared, cost of advertising per impression is calculated to determine the value of the advertising.
Many detailed studies have been conducted to determine the relationship between the number of impressions and the motivation to buy a product. Because it takes a number of repeat impressions to result in motivation, most advertisers will seek to maintain a consistency of message in all advertising media.

Another issue of advertising is the success in converting motivation into action. If a consumer is sitting at home and sees an advertisement, the resulting action may be to try to remember to buy the item the next time the consumer is visiting that store. Another consumer, traveling on the interstate highway sees a billboard for a gas station. The resulting action is to look at the fuel gaugeⁱ. If the gauge shows a need for fuel, the motorist will probably pull off at the appropriate exit and purchase fuel.

The television ad may be a high-tech computer generated extravaganza; a simple 16-sheet billboard located near the appropriate exit canⁱ be more effective in producing the desired result of a purchase.

Extending this analysis, an on-premise sign can be the most effective form of advertising a business, in that when it is viewed, the consumer is virtually on the doorstep. Very little motivation is required for the consumer to stop, provided the advertised message or the establishment’s name is visible and readable at sufficient distance that the consumer may negotiate himself or his vehicle to the premise without incurring an accident.

BENEFITS
Even with the proximity of the on-premise sign to the front door of the business, it is vital that the copy on the sign be effective. It must be sized so as to be readable at a sufficient distance to permitⁱ the consumer to respond. In many code jurisdictions, the allowable size of a freestanding or wall mounted sign may be so restrictive that the resulting copy size is insufficient to meet the requirements of noticeability and readabilityⁱ. By using individual channelⁱ letters to identify the premises, a larger copy size can be achieved within the permitted size allowances. In this manner the effectiveness of the on-premise sign can be multiplied many times over.

To explain this fact more specifically, most sign codes limit the size of permittable signs based on the number of square feet of graphic area. For a standard box sign, the calculation of graphic area includes not only meaningful copy on the sign faceⁱ, but also the background areas as well.

For channel type letters, the copy is fabricated as individual letters and/or logo signs. When these are mounted on a building, the building’s façade becomes the background for the sign. This form of background is usually not included in the calculation of square footage, only the actual area of the graphic faces. In this manner, a business that might get its name displayed in 12'' copy on a 4' x 8' box sign, might get its name displayed with channel letters several feet tall under the same sign code.

Obviously, the channel letters would be more noticeable and more readable than the same copy displayed in the smaller size on the standard sign face. This enhancement adds value to the business location far above the cost of the channel letters.

The sign industry has been slow to incorporate valuation techniques used throughout the business community to accurately value on premise signage.

Most businesses must advertise to attract their customers. Advertising seeks to motivate a select group of individuals to conduct transactions with the advertiser. For a large percentage of businesses, customers must visit the business premises at some time to conduct or fulfill the business transaction. For these customers, the advertising must motivate the customer to leave whatever location in which they are currently, and to travel to the business premise. Upon arrival within the vicinity of the business, these potential customers must be able to easily and safely identify the business location. With an on-premise sign, the hardest part of the motivation has been accomplished; the customer is in the vicinity of the advertiser’s business premises.

Channel letters, presented in a larger copy size than regular sign graphics will make the process of notice occur more quickly, permitting the potential customer to plan and then negotiate to the business site more easily and with less hazard to himself or others around him or her.

START WITH THE SITE SURVEY!

The initial survey is the single most important step of your design and marketing effort. Without the information garnered by the survey, the most impressive signage can be rendered ineffective by existing conditions not otherwise recognized. When conducting the survey, the following conditions should be documented:

Approach — The distance measured along a line of travel from the point where the signage display first becomes visible to the point where copy is no longer readable (having passed perpendicular to the line of sight). Consider the approach to the business. What speed is permitted on the street(s)? What obstructions are along the approach? How clear is the line of sight?

Exposure Time — Exposure time is the amount of time an observer has to view the contentⁱ of the sign. Exposure time is a function of the approach, noticeability of the sign, legibility of the sign, and rate of travel along the approach path.

Noticeability — This term is actually a combination of detection and conspicuity.

Conspicuity — The quality of an object (sign) or a light source to appear prominent or to stand out in its surroundings. The depth associated with the individual channel letters contributes greatly to this quality.

Detection — The quality or state of being perceivable by the eye. In many outdoor applications, visibility is defined in terms of the distance at which an object can be just perceived (I.e. detected) by the eye. Since channel letters can be spaced without an associated cost in square footage allocation, a spread patternⁱ can often be used to increase the distance at which the letters can be discerned and read.

Article Author: Tim Cummings. Sign Business. 02/01/2003

Walgreens makeover... or takeover?

Walgreens utilizes signs to remarket themselves. Look out CVS!
~Amy Donahue
Signage Consultant

Bigger signs, expanded beauty aisles among changes coming to next test market

Walgreen Co. is about to get a new look as the drugstore chain expands a test to make the stores more open, more colorful and easier to shop.

The Deerfield-based company is adding more food and wine, expanding its beauty aisles and preparing this summer to bolster electronics. The retailer is also lowering the heights of shelves and installing bigger and more colorful signs to help shoppers navigate the aisles.

The new format, called customer-centric retailing, is slated to roll out to 2,500 to 3,000 stores by this fall from 700 now, said Walgreens CEO and President Gregory Wasson in an earnings conference call Tuesday.

The company's first test was concentrated in Houston and Dallas. Wasson declined to reveal where the next test market will be.

"As we've said before, this is an ongoing process with many checkpoints along the way to allow us the opportunity to tweak and refine as needed," said Wasson. "As we move into the next phase, we'll continue to build sales, take work out of stores, lower inventory and, most importantly, improve our customers' overall shopping experience."

As part of the makeover, Walgreens eliminated about 3,500 products from stores to focus on fewer, better-selling items. The move culled $500 million of inventory and lowered labor costs as restocking was reduced.

Almost 40 percent of Walgreens sales come from the front end of the store, the industry term for everything that doesn't come from the pharmacy.

Sales at the 31 pilot stores are up 2 percent, outperforming a control group of stores and suggesting that the makeover will spur revenue growth, Wasson said. Market share in Houston and Dallas remained unchanged to up slightly as the stores changed over, a result the company said was encouraging. Stores were converted for about $40,000 to $50,000 each.

While only 30 percent to 40 percent of Walgreens stores will make the change to the new format this year, all of the 7,180 drugstores nationwide will dedicate more space to skin care and vitamins. And 5,000 stores are on track to carry beer and wine by the end of the year.

"We believe initiatives to improve both shopping experience and inventory management remain on track," said Standard & Poor's equity analyst Joseph Agnese in a Tuesday report, rating Walgreens shares a "buy."

Details of the store makeovers came as Walgreens reported net income for its second fiscal quarter, which ended Feb. 28, rose 4.6 percent, to $669 million, or 68 cents a share, from $640 million, or 65 cents, a year ago. The latest quarter included restructuring charges of 2 cents a share.

Sales rose 3.1 percent, to $17 billion.

Sales at stores open at least one year, a key retail metric, fell 0.2 percent from the year-ago quarter. Front-end same-store sales fell 1.6 percent, dragged down by the weak demand for discretionary goods and by lower demand for cough, cold and flu products, the company said.

Pharmacy sales rose 3.2 percent as the company sold more 90-day prescriptions in stores, an offering previously available only by mail. Pharmacy same-store sales rose 0.6 percent.

Walgreens closed at $35.91 a share, up 1.6 percent, in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

By Sandra M. Jones, Chicago Tribune reporter. March 24, 2010

Signs: The Bottom Line

A classic article from the International Sign Association on signs as advertising and the importance of changing signs to increase notability as well as increase foot traffic into your business.
~Amy Donahue
Signage Consultant


Signs as Advertising
A few years ago, a sign manufacturer performed a study of its clients to find out whether their signs were bringing in customers. The businesses surveyed were a year or less old and the surveys were conducted within 30 to 45 days after the installation of a new sign. Thousands of shoppers were asked, "How did you learn about us?"

The results, shown in Table 1, clearly demonstrate that the signs attracted half of the start-up businesses’ new customers – more than any other form of advertising the businesses used and even more than their word-of-mouth referrals.

Table 1: How did you learn about us?
Number of Customer Responses
On-Premise Sign	Word of Mouth	Newspaper	Yellow Pages	TV	Radio
1,234	820	212	139	32	38
Percentage by Category
50%	33%	9%	6%	1%	1%

Naturally, as your business becomes more established, more of your sales will come from repeat customers and fewer will be directly due to your sign. But that does not mean the sign has become unimportant. On the contrary, you must constantly remind your regular

customers that you are there. Even more importantly, studies show that on any given day, as many as 35% of the people passing your business have never seen it before and could become first-time customers because of your sign.

Increasing Profits

The University of San Diego conducted a study to determine the economic value of on-premise signage. Table 2 shows the average increase in sales revenue that resulted from signage improvements. [1]

TABLE 2 - Average Increase in Sales Revenue
Signage Change	Fast Food	Pier One Imports
Add one monument sign	9.3%
Add large pole sign (144 sq. ft.)	15.6%	8.6%
Add chain identity to plaza identity sign		7.7%
Addition of two new directional signs		8.9%
Replaced storefront wall sign with larger sign		7.7%

Let's assume you own a typical family clothing store and add a new, better-designed sign to the business. Here's how it could impact your bottom line:

Your annual sales	$1,757,486
Cost of goods sold	61.8%
Gross Profit Margin	38.2%
Operating expenses (includes other expenses of 1.5%)	36%
Income taxes (estimated at 35%)	0.8%
Income after taxes	1.4%
After tax profit ($1,757,486 x 1.4% or)	$24,604

A 7% increase in sales created by the addition of a needed sign, without increasing operating expenses, would cause the following change in profit:

New sales at 7% ($1,757,486 x .07)	$123,024
Gross Profit from new sales ($123,024 x 38.2% Margin Contribution)	$46,995
Net Profit (Assumes 35% taxes)	$30,547
Total Profit (Original Profit $24,604 plus New Profit $30,547)	$55,151

With a small, 7% bump in sales your profit could jump from $24,604 to $55,151. That's an increase of over 124%! Increasing profits is one way that signs improve your bottom line. Another way is by decreasing expenses.

Cutting Costs

A number of surveys have been conducted before and after installing signage to determine effectiveness. One of these, from late 1996, involved a Los Angeles auto dealership. Three previous auto dealers had failed at the location. The new owner, Aztec Motors, spent much time, energy and money improving the building and lot.

Once renovations were complete, the new owner invested $7,400 in replacement signage that entailed one wall and one double-faced pole sign.

A survey found the new signage, not the renovations or other advertising, was responsible for a minimum of ten new walk-in customers per week, resulting in at least six additional sales per week.

It took less than a month for the new signs to pay for themselves, and the owner was able to reduce his advertising budget from $16,000 to $4,000 per month an annual savings of $144,000.

As part of your advertising you're probably considering one or more of the following: TV, radio, newspapers, Internet, direct mail, etc. The most basic way to evaluate the cost effectiveness of these or any marketing method is the cost per 1,000 exposures. Here's how business signs measure up to other media.

The price and life expectancy of signage varies widely depending upon the type, but let's assume you invested in signage costing $16,500 that should last seven years. If your business is located on a street with 60,000 people passing each day, the cost per 1,000 exposures would be only 11 cents.

The same $16,500 spent on outdoor advertising (i.e., any sign that is not appurtenant to the use of the property, a product sold, or the sale or lease of the property on which it is displayed) for 1,000 exposures would cost $0.83. A similar expenditure in newspaper advertising would cost you $1.57, while television advertising for 1,000 exposures would cost $6.60.

If you'll remember from Table 1, only 1% of first-time customers come in because of your television ad. But 50% come in because of your sign. If you're spending only 11 cents per 1,000 exposures to get that 50%, that's a good use of your money.

[1] Figures from The Economic Value of On-Premise Signage, a study conducted by the University of San Diego School of Business Administration.

Industry Resources. www.signs.org.

Proving the Value of Signs... since 1913

Great article on the value of signs and what they can do for your business.
~Amy Donahue
Signage Consultant

Proving the Value of Signs
By Wade Swormstedt

I recently came across an article in which a sign salesperson responded to a customer’s very pointed question: “How do you know that an electric sign will bring people into my store?” The salesperson’s extended answer bears repeating, so I’ll paraphrase and quote from it. If I quote verbatim, I’ll put it in italics.

First, the salesman, Mr. Smith, asked the owner of the clothing store, Mr. Jones, how many people came into his store each day. Jones figured 100. Next, Smith asked Jones how many people he thought walked past his store (located on a busy downtown street) each day, between 6 a.m. and midnight. Jones figured maybe 1,000.

Smith doubted the figure was that low, but he accepted it, and then calculated that might mean 6,000 per week. Smith even conceded that many of these people probably walked past more than once, so he reduced the number to 3,000.

Next, Smith took some statistics from the latest government census and said the average household income in that community was $50,000. Smith then asked Jones for an estimate as to what percentage of that money would be spent on the type of clothes his store offered. He figured 5%, which would mean $2,500 a year, or roughly $50 a week.

So, 3,000 people a week times $50 per week would mean $150,000 a week would be spent annually by townspeople for the style of clothes Jones sells.

How much of this business are you getting? Smith asked.

Smith reiterated the figures Jones had provided: 100 people a day equals 600 per week, times $50 would mean Jones’ weekly gross would average $30,000. That subsequently means Jones’ $30,000 is approximately 20% of the $150,000 people are spending on his type of clothing.

Why are you not getting more of it? Won’t your store accommodate more customers? Can’t your clerks wait on at least twice as many more? Smith queried. The trouble seems to be that your store doesn’t offer the strongest possible invitation to the crowds to come in and do business with you. People pass by before they have made up their minds whether they want to buy from you or not. You need to tell them who you are, where you are, and what you have to offer.

You need to make the invitation so pressing, to make the suggestion so strong, that they will be impelled to come. What better way is there of carrying your message to these prospective customers than by an electric sign? Projecting over the sidewalk, its suggestive force is working when your customer is still a block away – before he reaches your entrance he has decided that he wants to buy; he comes in and the sale is made. Day and night, the sign is telling its story and extending your invitation to hundreds of buyers.

To be conservative in his estimate, Smith said perhaps the $150,000 figure was high. He was willing to cut it in half to $75,000.

This is surely much less than the actual amount of business you might get each week. But even at that, as your sales today average $30,000, there is left just $45,000 worth going after. Again, taking a safe course in our estimate, we’ll say by the use of progressive advertising, quality goods and splendid store service, you can pull in one-third of this $45,000. $15,000 worth of new business created every week!

What does it cost to get it? Practically nothing. Your rent is the same; taxes and insurance have not increased, and your clerk can sell 50% more goods without over-working. Except for one item, there is clean-cut profit on all the additional sales.

Smith calculated a 25% profit on the added sales, which would bring in $3,750 more per week and $195,000 for the year.

And to get this business and this additional income, you need only an electric sign, which we agree to furnish installed, complete, ready to turn the switch, for $7,000. Doesn’t a net profit of $188,000 justify that?

“How soon can you have it up?” asked Mr. Jones.

Truth is, this article appeared in the December 15, 1913 issue of ST (for a brief time, the magazine was published twice a month). So I multiplied the numbers by 10. And yes, today’s selling environment is much different. In 1913, there was no radio, TV or Internet. Window displays and on-premise signs dominated. And, traffic was decidedly more pedestrian, and the few automobiles moved much more slowly.

However, perhaps the value of the on-premise sign is even more important now because of the recession. Online shopping aside, all the advertising in the world is worthless if people can’t find the retail store. And yes, much more documentation exists today to prove the value of the on-premise sign, but none of it contradicts Smith’s rhetoric. The value of the on-premise sign remains timeless.

Posted on http://signweb.com/content/proving-value-signs Mon Aug 24, 2009 4:28pm EDT By Wade Swormstedt