Tag Archives: effective signs

Signs Make Your Businees Successful

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Signs Make Your Business Successful

OK, apologies up front for the click baiting, as we all know (WE referring to intelligent business folk) this statement is not entirely true, as there are MANY factors that make a business successful.

In general, from what this writer has observed, success in business is more often than not a result of doing the slog work, doing the same correct (that is imperative) behavior over and over and over and over and over – you get the point – beyond the point of boredom, beyond the point of repetition, to the point where one can literally do the task in one’s sleep. This is sometimes referred to as achieving efficiency at the task, and it is said this takes 10,000 HOURS of the same task.

Another part of the success of a business is MARKETING and SELLING. Without sales there is no money for product development, no money to train and pay staff (someone may want to point this out to the current anc leaders who have reportedly managed to bankrupt their 109 year old organization) and no money to grow your business.

Now marketing and sales a re multi faceted and not entirely the focus of this blog, but I would like to focus on #SIGNAGE – the one part of that marketing puzzle that SignForce sells. We do advise on signage in order to ensure your spending on signage is an investment, but we tend to do this for free (not great for our business turnover in the short term, but we never claimed to be great sales people). If anyone wants to take me for a drink I can explain the difference between TECHNICAL SELLERS (SignForce’s sales staff) and GREAT SELLERS (who tend to sell on emotion).

Signs SELL! So does collaboration 🙂

I have known this for many years and have seen many examples from our own billboard on the M1 highway to what happened with STAX (many years ago) when they upgraded their signage at a loss making store that was being prepped for closure, but I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when one of our clients informed the writer that he spotted SignForce when he passed out pylon.

The point of this ramble is that if you want your business to succeed, especially if you are a business that has physical products or a physical premises, you should certainly consider SIGNAGE as an integral – and initial – step in promoting your business.

SignForce LOVES assisting new and small businesses. This does not mean we are going to give you your signs for free, but we will do what we can to make your business visible in a manner that can help your business grow – both to pay us AND to help you grow.

For more information on how SignForce can assist your business contact us now on info@signforce.co.za or call +27(0)11 440 7525

Find out more about #SignForce at http://www.signforce.co.za

SignForce’s invisible sign – well almost

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SignForce’s Magic, Invisible (almost) Promotional Sign

SignForce 'invisible' sign

Partially Invisible Sign

Partially Invisible Sign

The header may be a little misleading, as it isn’t the entire sign that is invisible, only the one section, the section that allows the comma to the top right to seem as though it is suspended in mid air.

X – the 24th letter in the English alphabet.

On it’s own an X says nothing, but it can also say much.

The symbol X (also known as a cross from your association with an X in school) has many connotations, from the X in the alphabet to the cross at school to the depicted X which is the associated marketing symbol for The Mix Waterfall (https://themixwaterfall.co.za)

For the SignForce team this X that is displayed facing north on the west of the roof of the Mall Of Africa shopping center in Midrand, Gauteng is a great showcase of our experience, talent, technical skill and ability to put into practice the ‘magic‘ we so often tell our clients and prospects we are capable of creating.

What is the first thing you see when you look at the X in the picture?

From what we are told the first thing most viewers see when they see the X in the photo is the visual illusion of the ‘suspended’ comma on the top right of the red X sign.

Visual open space or unattached elements on a logo or graphic is simple to create and reproduce when looking at a piece of paper. The ‘open space’ helps enhance the graphic and add impact to the visual.

For signage – something that is physical, something that can be touched, this is not always easy to create.

Have you ever heard of a SKY HOOK?, something that helps one suspended something, anything, from the sky?

This may be simple when one looks at a helium balloon or something similar, however the game seems to change when the ‘suspended’ element consists of painted steel which is over 1,000 millimeters wide. How does one ‘hang’ a piece of steel from the sky?

The photo above is testament to the illusion SignForce successfully created for our client, and we know SignForce can do the same for your business and your promotional campaigns.

If you or anyone you know are a looking for signs that may require special effects, SignForce is available to assist.

Contact SignForce on +27(0)11 440 7525 or info@signforce.co.za

Find out more about SignForce by visiting http://www.signforce.co.za

What VLAUE does your SIGN and your Signage provider ADD to your BUSINESS?

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Mambo's Chicken Individual Cut Out Sign

Internally Illuminated 3D cut out sign

What VALUE does your sign add to your business?

If your sign is a MAJOR tool in getting feet into your store (it is!) and thus placing you in the position to SELL to your prospects, what is your sign truly WORTH?

I ask this, not rhetorically, but because all too often we see businesses running on the lines of Best Value – choosing the cheapest supplier – which is great when comparing EXACTLY THE SAME PRODUCTS – but is extremely difficult and can be costly when one is comparing one SERVISE business (signage is a service business) to another.

Yes, when you, the sign buyer, are presented with an artist impression and a quote, you believe that what you are seeing from one service provider is the same as what you are seeing from the competitive service provider. Unfortunately this is SELDOM true. This is because of the nature of signage (meant in every positive way), the range of materials available, the nature (you can call it morals) of the signage company and the reality that even if all else was equal, because signage is as much – if not more – of an art than a science, and most signs are made by hand, every sign will most likely be made differently.

All this aside, even if all the sign company’s you assessed were using the same material, charging the same amount and doing the same job, what would or should YOUR chosen sign company be able to offer YOUR BUSINESS that goes beyond the sign you are looking for.

At SignForce (http://www.signforce.co.za) we have decades of experience in MARKETING and SIGNAGE.

At SignForce we believe in supporting OUR CUSTOMERS, which is one of the reasons SignForce regularly posts pictures and comments of signs we have completed. This may not seem like anything special, we assume ALL sign businesses ‘self promote’ and the self promotion entails ‘SHOWCASING’ THEIR WORK. This is true, but how many sign businesses get more than 80,000 views of a single client’s sign.

If one considers that traditional media base their fees on the number of views one’s insert (advert, post) will receive, how does one measure the added value SignForce is offering our client’s?

If you are looking for signs that WORK, that get feet into your premises, that look good and are value for money, together with the added value of being promoted on the SignForce website, contact SignForce now on +27 (0)11 440 7525 or email info@signforce.co.za

You can find out more about SignForce by visiting http://www.signforce.co.za

Why SignForce!

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SignForce Pylon

Any Size pylon or billboard to suite YOUR needs

Why SignForce!

This ambiguous phrase could be a question just as well as an answer – as such, we will both ask and answer the question.

What makes SignForce unique?’

Obviously the people. No two people are alike, so the people make SignForce unique. However, that same argument is applicable to EVERY business. Not only businesses that design, manufacture and install signs.

SignForce’s USP – Unique Selling Proposition – is the experience we at SignForce strive to (and mostly achieve) create for our clients, as well as the fact that SignForce is a SOLUTIONS based SIGANGE business, meaning we seek solutions – whatever they may be – to your visual communication concerns, issues and questions.

SignForce has a fairly unique skill set in that we CAN and DO offer MARKETING advice, and we are fortunate hat said advice, while being largely logical, is also based on and backed by formal qualifications in the marketing and financial fields. It is for this reason that we firmly believe that ANY money spent on signs should be an INVESTMENT. If your sign does not bring in feet or catch people’s attention or achieve whatever it’s desired purpose is, then in our opinion, the expenditure on your sign is a failure.

Yes, we may offer some top left field  idea’s – but these tend to work. Talking to people much more experienced in international marketing than ourselves, it seems the more uncomfortable you feel when you see the proposed idea, the higher the probability that the sign will be noticed – and achieve it’s objective.

Part of SignForce striving to create a positive EXPERIENCE when dealing with us is to provide FAIRLY priced, intelligently made, value for money signs.

Part of creating value for money means that we need to stay ahead of our competitors when it comes to being informed about new materials on the market, and figuring out if and how the new products – or sometimes old products – can be repurposed to give our clients the best possible value.

Call SignForce today to see how we can help you get your name and message out there – our all time favorite activity, as when our client’s expand, it helps SignForce expand. We are definitely long term thinkers, in it for the long game.

Call SignForce today on +27 (0)11 440 7525 or email us on info@signforce.co.za

Find out more about SignForce by visiting http://www.signforce.co.za

I need a sign and I have a DRILL

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Drills and Signs

Using a Drill for a Sign

I have a drill!

But that doesn’t mean I need to, or should, use it!

Life is short. Life can be serious! Business or work is ‘serious”.

But life doesn’t always have to be serious, or at least some things can be amusing.

Life can be made funny when we try to be everything to everyone, or when we try ude the drill – because we have one!

I am all for training, and learning through trial and error, so please, go ahead and play with your drill.

That said, there are times when it is beneficial to allow what we term ‘professionals’ to do the work. What makes one a ‘professional’? Generally hours and hours and days and days leading to years and years of practice. It has been said that in order for one to be truly proficient in your work you need to put in 10,000 hours.

10,000 hours equates to just under 417 days. Broken down into eight hour days that 10,000 hours is 1,250 ‘work’ days- that equates to 62.5 months, or just over FIVE years! Five years of doing the same thing, day in and day out. It is for this reason we can watch a ‘professional’ ‘play’ with a grinder – a tool that must always be respected – as if it is nothing. It is normal for him as he works with it DAILY. And after 20 plus tears, it is second nature.

While employing the professional to do certain work may cost a bit more than doing it oneself, it certainly can make life easier, even if it is less entertaining for the onlooker.

The advantage of allowing professionals – people who do the same tasks over and over and over on a daily basis – to do the work is that, because they do the same work repetitively, they learn what is generally referred to as the ‘tricks of the trade’.

Being a ‘do it yourselfer’ is admirable and great – and I believe is important, possibly because I am one myself – and it can even save one money when done correctly, but the university of life is not free, or even cheap, so expect to make some costly mistakes along the way. These ‘mistakes’ are the best way to learn, but they are often costly.

If you would like to manufacture a sign or install a sign save yourself time and possibly even money by calling #SignForce – the professionals.

For advice on signs or to order signs contact SignForce now on +27 (0)11 440 7525 or info@signforce.co.za

You can find out more about SignForce by visiting http://signforce.co.za

 

Anyone Can Make a Sign!

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Illuminated Signs

Internally Illuminated Sign

Like us, I am sure many of our competitors have heard client’s make the comment that ANYONE CAN MAKE A SIGN. In fact SignForce have seen it more than once where what we would view as prospective clients call us in t get technical details so they can make their own signs.

While, at some level, it is true that almost anyone – literally anyone – can make a sign – yes, even the drawing your two year old draws using wax crayons can be considered a sign – in order to make a TECHNICAL signs that WORK – with work being defined as a sign that achieves it’s objective or objectives – may take a little more practice, experience and expertise.

As with all spectator sports, it always looks very easy to get it 100% right 100% of the time. That is the beauty of being a spectator. When, for example,  one faces the likes of Ivan Lendl on a tennis court – yes been there at Flushing Meadows – I can assure you the reality is WAY MORE SCARY!

Because things are not always as they seem in real life – and we certainly don’t know what we don’t know – if you are looking for a sign that makes your business STAND OUT, that will WORK and that is COMPETITIVELY PRICED, SignForce is the team to talk to.

With MANY years experience in SIGNAGE and general MARKETING, SignForce can offer you unique input on what sign should work best for your business and your environment, a skill and benefit to you that differentiates SignForce from many of our competitors.

Contact SignForce not on +27 (0)11 440 7525 or info@signforce.co.za.

You can also get more information on SignForce by visiting http://www.signforce.co.za

Solid Metal Signs

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Brass signs

Brass signs

In a world of JUNK, built in obsolescence, instant gratification, cheap materials, no concern for longevity (until it needs to be replaced which is invariably too soon, especially for cheap materials), it is always comforting to know that solid, NATURAL METAL signs – as in BRASS, ALUMINIUM, COPPER and STEEL (including STAINLESS STEEL) are still available.

Whether you are in the market for a plaque or cut out material, natural, long life, SOLID metal signs create a lasting impression  of CLASS, REFINEMENT and TIMELESSNESS.

As with all signage contrast is VERY IMPORTANT which is why the featured BRASS sign on the BLACK background works so well.

A similar effect can be created with copper.

If you are in the market for a sign that will weather with class, contact SignForce now on +27 (0)11 440 7525 or info@signforce.co.za

 

Let me tell you a “not so secret”, secret about #signs

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Rushing a sign – a good way to make a mess of everything!

Experience is a marvelous teacher, and in #SignForrce’s business of CUSTOM #SIGNS, the one groundhog lesson that keeps repeating itself seems to be that if – or should I say, WHEN – a #sign job is rushed, regardless of how simple the job may be – or seem – or how fast people believe it can be done, the likelihood of errors occurring on the job seem to climb exponentially.

This tends to happen for a combination of reasons, or more accurately an accumulation of a combination of missed steps or rushed procedures that, when followed, assure the work is top quality, correct and on time, but when ignored or missed, almost guarantee some level of error.

In order to make sure that even the simplest #sign job is (1) correct, (2) accurate and (3) delivered on time, processes need to be followed.

The processes include getting the artwork for the job signed off, getting the various processes completed and ensuring that the team have access to the premises when it is time to deliver or install the sign.

As an example I am going to use a Chromadek #sign. In signage terms Chromadek is one of the cheapest, simplest metal signs, which, in simple terms, means it should be the fastest and easiest to produce.

So what has to happen to manufacture a small Chromadek sign?

For starters, if the #Chromadek #sign is smaller than a standard sheet, then the Chromadek needs to be trimmed. That could be the second process. The first being deciding if Chromadek is the CORRECT – read that as BEST – material to achieve the desired outcome of the #sign. (In the fast changing world we live in, this question is becoming more and more important).

Most #signs require some or other decoration, making it important to DO and get artwork APPROVED. It can turn out that getting artwork approved can be one of the most important steps, especially when the client provides the artwork, as it may be of poor quality, but also, if the artwork is ‘layered’, it is possible that the artwork may come out differently on SignForces’s computer and printer than what the designer – and client – intended. More than once we have been asked WHY the person PRINTING or APPLYING or INSTALLING the #sign never “picked up” on an error on a #sign. The ‘simple’ reason is that the person working on the sign has trusted that the client has APPROVED the artwork, and as importantly, they are focusing on their task at hand, not on someone else’s job or task.

Once the Chromadek has been cut and the vinyl has been printed and or cut, the vinyl needs to be applied (attached) to the Chromadek so the sign can be inspected and delivered (or collected).

Depending on the size of the sign and the availability of staff and equipment, with enough hands and EVERYTHING being perfect, that entire process can take between one and two hours. However, the real world is not perfect, and no business exists when staff are simply WAITING for work to do. This is ONE of the reasons #SignForce generally request between 7 and 10 WORKING DAYS to complete a sign.

SignForce has built our over 20 year reputation on MEETING DEADLINES, even if the #signs come at a small premium, because rush jobs are prone to errors and redo’s and mistakes and unintended labour costs.

If you are looking for a quality sign, especially with a TIGHT DEADLINE, SignForce should be your first call on 011 440 7524 or info@signforce.co.za, and if you are in a rush, please tell us so we can quote accordingly and fast.

ANIMAL READS SIGNS!!!

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Yes! YOU ARE AN ANIMAL!

This is not meant as a question. It is meant as an all inclusive, factual STATEMENT!

If you are reading this you are either a brilliantly trained ANIMAL – possibly one of those with two heads and resides in a lab where some other loving ANIMAL has taught you to read, or, and more likely, you are one of the privileged, two legged ANIMALS, who has spent enough time being taught, so you know how to read (signs?), and most likely to write and talk as well.

As an ANIMAL, especially one that is a HUMAN ANIMAL, with some understanding and possibly even some logic – even if your logic is only understood by you – you will tend to believe that you BEHAVE LOGICALLY.

This is a LIE! We have been taught (also known as programmed or indoctrinated) into believing that it is IMPORTANT that you act in a logical manner, so we strive to do so. However, research (See Emotional Intelligence by Danial Goleman and published works by many others) has shown CONCLUSIVELY that we HUMAN ANIMALS almost ALWAYS act on EMOTION, and then temper our emotion with logic.

Are you asking yourself why is this IMPORTANT TO ME?

It is important because how you act at any specific point in time, how you SEE any specific situation at a specific point in time, how you REACT at any specific point in time and the DECISIONS YOU MAKE at any specific point in time – will all have CONSEQUENCES in the future, and will all be based on HOW YOU FEEL!!! AT THAT SPECIFIC POINT IN TIME that you made the decision or reacted !!!

This is especially true if you act immediately, and are NOT AWARE of how you feel – your emotional state – at that specific point in time, so you react to something trivial in an inappropriate manner, or make a decision – or a comment – you later regret, because it was not what you wanted to do or say, and the consequences are too horrible to contemplate.

In my view this is the reason that people get together to discuss decisions, concepts and ideas, before rashly running head first into the first option that is presented. More minds will mean looking at the situation from more angles, with more EMOTIONAL input, until the emotional factor is mostly removed*. *This is said with too MANY proviso’s to mention here. (You are welcome to contact me at arnold@signforce.co.za if you want a list)

If you are looking into making ANY decisions, even one’s as simple as looking to invest in a sign – try look within yourself to see how you are feeling BEFORE you make the decision. This does not, by any means, suggest you should ignore your emotions, it is simply one method to get closer to making decisions that are based on some logic – mixed with a lot of emotion – to ensure that the investment you make is the investment you want when you feel differently a few days, weeks, months or years down the line.

If you are feeling like an animal, and would like some signs to improve your income or simply to brighten your life, or for advice on signs, contact us at SignForce and we will do our best to assist you.

Call +27 (0)11 440 7525

email info@signforce.co.za

WEB: http://www.signforce.co.za