We recently interviewed Darren Tow of FASTSIGNS of Orange to learn about some of his business signage tips. Signage is one of those things that you don’t want to rush into it without thinking things through. Well-executed signage can do wonders for your business.
What makes a great business or storefront sign?
Like all great business answers… it depends! The key is, does it communicate the message the business intends and generate the desired response from the audience? This is typically brand recognition, like when you see the Golden Arches you know it’s a McDonalds, or else it’s a business name or logo that tells you what they do, like if you see a picture of a type of food you know it’s a restaurant, if you see a coffee cup you know it’s a cafe.
The sign is there to shout out to the world that your business is there and what your business is! The other ingredient is if the sign is clearly visible to the intended audience. This can be impacted by the size of the sign, colors used, materials, and design – if it’s flat/2D or dimensional/3D, is it lit at night, etc. All of these factors are why we always do a site survey for local signs and graphics so we can fully understand what the client wants, and we can offer options for them to get those results with their signage.
What’s the most common mistake people make when it comes to business signage?
That in today’s digital world, brick-and-mortar businesses don’t need signage. While digital presence is a necessity of the world we live in today and you need to optimize your search engine results with Judicious Inc, many businesses still have and require physical locations. And if they have customers going to their place of business, they might assume that the customers either are going to find them off a Google Maps search or else are repeat customers who know where they are anyway.
However, that completely discounts business from walk-ins as well as reduces their brand presence in their area of operations. What is potentially worse is having signage that is in disrepair or even the wrong company name!
We have come across businesses with burnt-down signs from electrical fires, businesses that have changed names but still have the old name displayed on their property, and they continue to operate believing that they’ll do it “when business picks up” or when they “have to”. I might be biased but a business that can’t even represent its own name properly makes me wary and suspicious if I want to even step into their doors let alone give them *my* business!
What are some business signage tips?
The first is:
- Who do you want to see the sign?
- Can you picture the sign from your potential customer’s viewpoint?
- How far away will they be? Is it foot traffic or a highway or local roads?
This will impact the graphics, including colors and font size, as well as the type of signage we would recommend.
The second is:
- What is the key message you want to get across?
- Is it as straightforward as where to find you, or your business information, or a business promotion?
Sometimes less is more and you don’t need everything and the kitchen sink on the sign. You need just enough to get your message across and get the attention, and hopefully engagement, of your target audience. Our most interesting one was an EV company that is owned by the petroleum company BP, they needed a sign on *top* of their charging station containers that could be seen from space so Google Maps satellite images could capture their company name!
What about color contrast? What’s a no-no when it comes to contrast and visibility?
This is again typically a function of where the sign will be, aside from graphic design/aesthetic considerations. For example, for business door graphics, i.e. store hours, website etc., the lettering is nearly always white as that is the most visible color at all times for the majority of glass doors businesses use, and can be seen from a reasonable distance regardless of the “brand colors” of the business.
There isn’t strictly a “no-no” with colors these days as design trends are always going to sway business owners who want their signage and style to reflect their own personal tastes. For example, we have a client who is an architectural firm who wanted dimensional letters for their lobby logo to be painted in the same color as their walls. So while strictly speaking it makes the logo hard to see from a distance, there is for sure a cool aesthetic that a design-focused company might value more than simply saying “You found us”!
Do you have tips for vehicle signage?
It’s really 2 things – get the right kind of attention and contact information. For the former, you want something that calls out “look at me” in a good way, some vehicle graphics are a hodge podge of what looks like homemade stickers or hand-painted phone numbers or faded sun-damaged decals from years ago.
So you want something that reflects that you’re serious about your business and are professional. It can be as simple as a logo and business name, or something fun with graphics, like having pests and rodents on the truck of a pest control company as we did for SMART Pest Control! Then the other part is that you want an easy way for customers to reach you which will typically be a phone number or a website, and these days we will sometimes also put on a QR code for customers as well. Draw in the eyeballs, then give them something to quickly remember before you move away!
What is the most important thing a business or company can do when it has a booth at a trade show signage-wise?
For trade shows, it’s really to plan in advance. So that’s knowing the space that you have and the location venue. Is it outdoors or indoors, are there height restrictions, or electrical outlets for digital signage stations, is there a backwall to mount banners or do you need to have your own backdrop setup, how wide are the walkways to put vertical retractable banners or a flag to get attention?
Once those basic questions are answered, there are a plethora of different options from a standard setup with a backdrop and table setup with the company logo and branding, to more elaborate custom cocktail tables for 1 to 1 sales discussions, double-sided banner displays, digital signage stations etc. It all really depends on the space and the vision of the business on how they want to attract and engage their audience.
How fast are you?
It’s in our name! In all seriousness, for signs that are produced in-house, we can generally get them done within 2-3 days depending on our production queue. For rush orders, we have produced as soon as same day for exhibitors at the Anaheim Convention Center assuming we have the inventory of material on hand.
On the other side of the spectrum for channel letters, i.e. signs on buildings, we are limited by city permit processes and do our best to smoothly push through the approval though this can still typically take months before we can fabricate and then do the final install on the signs.
What do you provide that’s different from your competitors?
Our key differentiator is our service. We strive to provide as seamless an experience as possible to satisfy our customers with the branding impact that they want. This is delivered through our experienced in-house team with over 7 decades of combined experience in the sign industry, and the backing of our franchisor that has a full support team for technical operations that go far beyond other sign shop’s capabilities.
About Darren Tow
After 2 decades in the corporate world across finance, strategy, and investment research roles, Darren and his wife Lynn embarked on a new adventure to open a FASTSIGNS franchise center in Orange, CA. Their center opened in the middle of the pandemic and their business has been growing ever since! Their team at FASTSIGNS in Orange currently has over 6 decades of experience and serves everyone from local businesses in Orange, the Orange Public Library, and the City of Orange Police and Public works departments, to large well-known brands such as Ferrari of Newport Beach, and Amazon. For all your custom signage and graphic needs you can reach out to Darren and his team at [email protected] or (714) 922-3360.
FASTSIGNS of Orange
FASTSIGNS
1108 E Katella Ave # C1
Orange, CA 92867
(949) 446-1501
https://www.fastsigns.com/orange-ca/