When you look for ways to promote your business, “branding” is one of the buzzwords that you’ll start coming across almost immediately, and for good reason. Consistent, well-planned branding for your business is one of the most effective ways that you communicate with your customers. Good branding will be able to artfully and accurately tell a prospective customer what your business is, who you are, and what you can do for them. In a world where people can see dozens of advertisements in a single day and are so inundated with information that they learn to filter and tune out the unnecessary, your branding has to be able to set you apart from the crowd. Here are some of the hallmarks of good branding that you can use as a benchmark to assess your own business, and some ways to ensure that you use your branding to help make your signs as effective as possible.
Brand Position
Your brand position communicates to your customers the following things: the people that your products or services are aimed for, why your business is unique, and how you are going to deliver what you promise. For example, if you’re a food delivery service geared towards busy working parents that aims to make their lives easier by delivering simple meal kits full of organic food, this is your brand position, and communication tools like your signage help to communicate this.
Brand Promise
What is it that you are guaranteeing your customers when they purchase a product or service from you? Maybe you’re a cleaning company and you’re guaranteeing them a neat, tidy house. Maybe you’re a hair salon and you’re guaranteeing them a chic, flattering style. Whatever it is, this is your brand promise, and it’s what your customers will be expecting when they interact with you, so your branding needs to reflect the same idea.
Brand Personality
Are you a highly professional company with no frills and no nonsense? Are you a quirky and free-flowing company that encourages your customers to express themselves with your product? Think about the personality that you want your customers to perceive when they interact with your branding, and try to help your materials align with that idea.
When you have these ideas in mind as you’re working on your branding, it’s easy to create a consistent message that carries over through all of the materials that your customers will interact with. In terms of your signage specifically, there are a few additional points that can help you to create truly effective signs. Here are some of the best ones!
Keep It Simple
Color, images, typefaces and other visual elements of your signage are all powerful tools that you use to communicate with your customers, and if you overwhelm them with busy, complicated signage that gives them too much input, you’re never going to be able to get your message across. The best signs communicate as much as they can with as little as possible.
Making Sure It All Matches
In order to have consistent branding, your signs need to be just that– consistent! Make sure that your exterior signs and interior decals, for example, all tie into one another and coordinate visually.
Choose Your Placement Carefully
The old real estate adage about “location, location, location” applies to signage as well. You want to get your signs in highly visible areas where they’ll be seen by large volumes of people. This will help to draw in new customers and keep you fresh in the minds of existing customers!
Play the Long Game
Have you ever been hungry on a road trip and trying to figure out where you’re going to eat in this strange town that you’re unfamiliar with? If you have, then you’ve probably also experienced the surge of relief that happens when you spot the sign for your favorite fast food restaurant. The stress disappears, and you know you’re about to have a satisfying meal. This isn’t just the result of good branding: it’s the result of good branding mixed with consistent exposure that creates a sense of familiarity and recognition. This kind of response is exactly what you want to get from your customers, but it doesn’t happen overnight. This kind of reaction takes time to build up to, but following the tenets of strong branding and carefully crafting your signage will lay the foundation for you to get here in time!
If you’re planning a custom signage project near Orwigsburg, PA, contact Bartush Signs today! We can help you get on the path towards high quality signs that reflect your branding.
