Signage – not a business of life and death – UNTIL IT IS!

Ripped Banner

Banner sign

Signage – not a business of life and death – UNTIL IT IS!

The image above is of a banner sign that has weathered to the point where it is disintegrating leaving the ‘bar’ exposed.

One advantage of being in the signage business is that unlike doctors, we don’t have to be on call 24 hours a day as we are NOT in the business of LIFE AND DEATH.

Generally, signs are not so important that a missed deadline will result in people dying or something similarly negative. Signs go up, they are part of a marketing campaign, they live, and people move on.

This is GENMERALLY the case, but not necessarily the case when one is building (or working with) PYLONS, BILLBOARDS or AT HEIGHT work.

Why can PYLONS, BILLBOARDS or AT HEIGHT work be life threatening.

Lets start with Pylons and Billboards. Both HIGH, HEAVY steel structures. Lets imagine a 14 meter tall pylon. 14 meters equates to just under five stories. Now imagine if that had to fall down. It would cause some SERIOUS damage, either to property or life. It is for this reason PYLONS and BILLBOARDS can be considered matters of life and death.

AT HEIGHT work refers to signs that are HIGH. Imagine a sign that is 10 stories up, or one that is 30 stories up, or even a sign that is 2 stories up. What COULD happen if a sign – or a piece of one – at that height falls.

Signs need to be insured and maintained, and certain signs need to be replaced at regular intervals. Some are six monthly, some five to seven yearly.

The one constant is that when a sign deteriorates, it will do so slowly and then like an avalanche, once it gains sufficient momentum, it will happen VERY FAST.

It is when signs deteriorate that suddenly, signage becomes a matter of life and death.

If you have signs that are aging and in need of removal, maintenance and / or repair, SignForce can assist.

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

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

 

Brand Awareness & Signage

Brand Awareness and Signage

Ferrari sign

Ferrari Johannesburg signs by SignForce

 

It is never for the sign manufacturer or any other contractor to question the will or desire of a client – unless you cannot see the logic in what the client wants to do, or you possibly know and understand more than the client does about your specific service and specialty.

SignForce has many years – combine experience is in excess of 50 years – of marketing and signage. We understand the difference between why and how different signs work, and how to get your investment in signs to get you the desired visibility you are paying for.

Yews, we are not always right, and as we tell clients and prospects, we are not the one’s who have to live with the sign decisions, but we can DIRECT our clients and prospects in the correct direction so they make the best decisions for themselves.

This is especially pertinent when, for example, one looks the current KFC marketing campaign (disclaimer: KFC is not a client of SignForce). Personally we can only wonder WHY KFC have chosen to ‘re-brand’ or is it only ‘recolor’ selected stores. When I personally saw the first “GOLD” store I figures that that branch was no longer a member of the KFC family. The signage and building are all a sickly gold. Why would ANY marketing person spend an untold fortune on creating a recognizable brand – red and white – and then paint the outlet gold? I do understand that it is KFC’s 50th anniversary, but I cannot understand the logic behind the current campaign.

If anyone has insight into this campaign and Is prepared to teach please contact arnold@signforce.co.za or call +27 (0)11 440 7525

If you want a company that will go to great lengths so protect YOUR CORPORATE IDENTITY SignForce is your team.

Contact SignForce on info@signforce.co.za or visit our website for more information at http://www.signforce.co.za

Why SignForce!

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

Who Will See My Sign

Who will see your sign – and does it matter?

Every business needs a sign! Ask every business owner, or sign manufacturer, and they will ALL tell you that EVERY business needs a sign, because, as the old – make that ancient – maybe even biblical(?) saying goes – “A Business Without A Sign Is A Sign of No Business”.

But, is this saying still true today in the modern work online, work from home, during and post covid world?

Possibly, in this modern world, the question should not be Who will see my sign, but rather WHAT is the modern definition of a sign?

Traditionally ALL signs were physical visual communications that one could touch, put up and take down. Today, while this is still a LARGE part of signage, it is not necessarily ALL there is to signage, as, while we still believe that signs are essential for every business – of course we are biased, we survive off selling SIGNS – the reality is a ‘traditional’ sign may not be valid for a business which is wholly online. But because a traditional sign is not relevant, does not mean NO sign is relevant (We will get back to this later).

WHO see’s the sign will depend a lot on the placement of the sign, the location of the sign, the type of sign, what – if anything – makes the sign STAND OUT and the state of mind of the potential viewer. That is a LOT of factors, many of which the sign owner has ZERO control over.

It is for this reason that the owner of the sign, together with the sign manufacturer, should look at ALL the factors THEY CAN CONTROL.

Before we look at factors we can control, lets look at the one factor we can never have control over – the state of mind of the potential viewer!

Theory is a wonderful thing., It sometimes even accurately predicts some of the things – incidents, events – that happen IN REAL LIFE. I mention this because there is an interesting – I believe excellent – theory by one Jay Abraham – which states that the viewer will most likely NEVER see your sign, article or whatever UNTIL THEY NEED YOUR PRODUCT.

If Mr Abraham is correct, then it is definitely not worth worrying about those people you cannot attract, as they are simply not interested in what you have to offer. And, once again, if Mr Abraham is correct, then best you focus you attention and energy on the people who DO want what you have to offer.

So how do you catch the attention of those people that MAY want what you have to offer? How do you get potential prospects to SEE your sign?

The viewer will most likely only SEE your sign when it is in their line of sight. It should be obvious that if your sign is out of sight, chances are it will not get seen.

Sadly, because your sign IS in line of sight does not necessarily mean it will be SEEN. The chances are better that it will be seen, but there is no guarantee that it will be seen. Sadly, there is never a guarantee.

So if your sign is in line of sight, and the viewer has an interest in what you have to offer, what would make the viewer SEE your sign?

For starters, the greater the contrast ON the sign – for example Black text on a YELLOW backing is more likely to be seen than a BLACK background with DARK GRAY text. The same applies to the surrounding where the sign is located. If you are the only sign for miles, chances are very high your sign will be seen. On the other hand, if you are the only non-illuminated sign among the flashing neon signs on Fremont Street in Vegas, it is almost as if you should not waste your money and time to place a sign as the flashing neon will totally overshadow your non-illuminated sign. There are many additional factors that we will look at in another blog.

For the sign to be SEEN, it also needs to stand out in whatever way possible. The greater the STAND OUT factor of your sign, the more likely it is to be seen, and it’s message – and your brand – remembered. There is however a point where the message can get lost if the sign is too ‘outstanding’.

If you want signs that are an investment – in that they get SEEN, contact SignForce. Our years of experience in Marketing and Signage mean that we are qualified and will do our best to make sure your signs get SEEN.

Contact SignForce now on +27 (0)11 440 7525 or info@signforce.co.za or find out more about SignForce at http://www.signforce.co.za