Getting Down To Biz

In 1986, when Teresa M. Young founded her own, digital-graphics shop near San Diego, she faced the obstacle of owning one of the first such businesses in California.

Previously, she’d served as a sales manager for a nationwide, vitamin franchise, and a business coach for the Michael Gerber Corp., before she transferred her experience to the sign industry. Differing attitudes from two signshop owners toward her “newfangled” business yielded divergent outcomes.

“The owner of a neon signshop came into my shop and loudly criticized the use of computers to make signs,” Young recalled. “I finally asked him to leave. On the other hand, an old hippie who handcarved and painted signs came in and offered to partner with me to use our shop’s complementary capabilities. He became a good friend to our shop for several years, whereas the neon guy eventually went out of business.”

A trailblazer, she used trial and error to build her business. Young set up shop in a retail center, and focused on direct-mail and customer service. She recalled, “We soon learned that mass mailings to consumers, such as Val-Pak, were throwing good money to waste. However, we found mass mailings to 1,000 businesses yielded good results.”

A quarter-century later, the acumen of Young and her team has built Sign Biz to an assemblage of approximately 200 independent signshops across seven countries by offering marketing and logistical support while allowing owners to maintain complete independence. With a few exceptions, all members debuted under the Sign Biz umbrella.

At the company’s last annual convention, Sign Biz demonstrated how to implement QR codes, which allow smartphone downloads, search-engine optimization (SEO) to help customizers better locate a shop via an Internet search, and social media to broadcast successful projects. She said, “This is the new playing field. You don’t have to be GE or Apple to dominate in this marketing arena.”

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However, Young emphasized that a successful signshop can’t abandon business fundamentals: “You have to implement every possible approach to achieve successful marketing for your shop. In addition to Facebook or Constant Contact [e-mail marketing software], owners still need to join appropriate professional organizations, wrap their shop vehicle, and participate in their local and regional sign associations and industry tradeshows. Each avenue brings its own return, and they all support each other.”

She noted that the average Sign Biz shop generates approximately $600,000 in annual revenues, with $15,000 to $20,000 earmarked for marketing efforts. Young said small-business owners often don’t track the money and time invested in promotion.

“You have to make a commitment to a marketing strategy. It’s all too common to try a strategy halfheartedly for a month or two, and then abandon it,” she said. “On the flip side, you can’t remain entrenched in a promotional activity that’s not successful just because it’s familiar.”

She continued, “Most cost-effective promotions integrate a comprehensive, coordinated and tested plan that spans an entire year, longer if possible. To create an effective promotional message, you have to repeat it many times across different media.”

Of course, websites that serve both Sign Biz and the individual shops provide a valuable tool. The company’s corporate website provides information about each shop’s capabilities and if “green” products are available from that location. The company sets up landing pages that link to each shop owner’s individual sites.

Young said websites must have fresh, relevant content (updated at least weekly to help SEO), simple navigational tools, a gallery of sample projects, a file-sending system that accommodates large files and images, and an easy-to-use system for ordering products and services. The ordering component should incorporate a client portal for viewing proofs and placing reorders, and allow the customer to submit contact information, production timelines for large projects and educational materials for available, visual-communication products.

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Through her longtime involvement with the Intl. Sign Assn. (ISA) and the California Sign Assn. (CSA), Young uniquely promotes the collective industry. She chairs the ISA Sustainability Committee and is First VP in the CSA. Young views translating her experience to the shop owners as a critical function.

“Many city planners and other public officials don’t understand the importance of signage for business,” she said. “So, it’s important for shop owners to use all available educational tools and resources, whether through the ISA or other channels, to make the strongest case possible when applying for permits and variances. When you present yourself as working with them, and not against, those in charge of writing codes, officials are often much more agreeable.”

Company-wide philanthropic efforts proliferate. Don Smith, the owner of McKinney, TX-based Imagination Signworks, initiated an effort to help Patrick Ziegler, an Army solider who was wounded when U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire and killed 13 soldiers and civilians and wounded 32 more at Ford Hood, TX. Ziegler spent more than 10 months in the hospital recovering, and his wife, Jessica, put her collegiate studies on hold to help Patrick’s recovery.

The ABC show Extreme Makeover chose the Zieglers for a home renovation and enlisted the team of Ty Pennington, Leigh Anne Tuohy and Xzibit to execute the project. To aid with project supplies, Smith and Young raised $25,000 from shops throughout the entire network.

“Any positive change that will happen in the world must start with individuals,” she said.