Creative Ideas to Drive New Sign Business

How to go about giving more responsibility to my senior employees? We are a small business and I basically handle all sales, quoting, getting jobs done, etc.

“Ready to Delegate?” was the title of a summer Business of Signs column by Maggie Harlow (see ST, July 2025). In the past, Maggie had found herself in a situation like this, convinced no one could do those tasks as well as she could, yet she was tired, stretched and not performing the things only an owner or manager could. She suggests taking a hard look at yourself first, and making sure you’re not the one refusing to let go. Then when you are, she offers nine tips and items of encouragement to help you develop the necessary skills to grow your business and yourself. After that, check out her “Top Five Ways to Replace Yourself” (see ST, January 2026) for more advice on building your delegation muscle.

As digital signage adoption accelerates, how can traditional ink and analog sign companies position themselves to complement — not compete with — digital solutions, while protecting margins and reinforcing their value in a more screen-driven signage landscape?

While the digital sign market is expected to exceed $40 billion by 2030, according to a recent report from Virtue Market Reach, that doesn’t mean its growth necessarily comes entirely or even mostly from non-digital signage. While it’s true some print applications are digitally replaceable, many ink and analogy options continue to present better alternatives — due to cost, production time, length of application, etc. — or essentially ‘only choices’ — vehicle wraps, floor-wall-window graphics, etc. Keep exploring analog’s changing markets and methods of production to maximize margins, and you should be fairly well positioned.

We asked the ST Brain Squad: What are some creative ways to bring in new business that you are seeing within the industry, besides outside sales and online marketing?

• Good old-fashioned word of mouth. Do the job correctly and they will tell others.
• Join the Chamber of Commerce and networking groups.
• Ask AI for lists of companies in a certain field near your location.
• Use TikTok and other social media platforms for marketing.
• Targeted postcard marketing has gotten some traction.
• Night patrol of the illuminated signs in your area.
• Community and school involvement or other volunteering efforts.
• Host lunch-and-learn opportunities with area GCs, architects and design firms.
• The less you try to sell, the more they are inclined to purchase.