Marketing Signwork

ABOVE PHOTO: Check how much better the sign above looks at night! It takes effort to come back for the best image, but it’s well worth it. Photo by Gabe Griffin, Clear Sign & Design.

ONLY 17% OF RESPONDENTS to our 2025 Big Survey felt they did as much marketing “as they should,” while 47% selected “not enough, should do more.” In a different question, 13% claimed to “do no formal marketing” at all! A clear and gaping disparity exists between shops that market themselves sufficiently and those that don’t.

One reason marketing might get shorted is that 65% of respondents stated that they, the owner or top manager, oversee their marketing. Among the many responsibilities they shoulder, marketing likely ranks a low priority.

Despite all the hot shots out there saying, “Work comes to us; we don’t need marketing,” surely some of you are eager to win more jobs. Following are several tips on how to improve your marketing, and in turn, your sales and profits.

Digital

Previous Big Survey research suggests most owners want their websites updated more often. You can accomplish this in a number of ways: do it yourself, assign the task to another employee or hire outside help. Get it done.

One surprising detail previous Big Surveys uncovered was that 1 in 4 respondents stated that social media had zero impact on their lead generation and sales conversions. However, a combined 39% reported that social media accounted for more than 10% of their trackable job referrals. Regular posts featuring projects and your team increases your exposure and may lead to incremental sales.

SEO, Google ads and digital advertising comprise the marketing avenue 1 in 10 sign companies rely on most with a further 16% committing to try it for the first time last year. One cannot overstate the importance of SEO optimization for Google searches. If your company is not on the first page of searches for “sign companies in my area,” get to work on your SEO.

Our online columnist Paula Fargo has been writing monthly on the subject of sign company marketing. For more ideas, see signsofthetimes.com/fargo.

Great pics of unique signs like this really spiff up your website. Photo by Gabe Griffin, Clear Sign & Design.

Photography

We at Signs of the Times see the best and worst when it comes to pictures of signs, especially as submissions to our annual contest. Savvy-marketing shops take the time to compose their images, bother to get night shots of electric signs, etc. Meanwhile, the less-adroit rely on “proof of installation” shots with ladders, buckets and tools in frame. If your monument sign is completed before the landscaping to accompany it, return to the site in a few weeks when the landscaped plants have bedded in to get your photo.

For complete details on how to photograph signs and signwork of all kinds and in all settings, see signsofthetimes.com/012607.

Your Facility

Depending on the type of signwork you do and the size and layout of your office-shop, a number of marketing opportunities present themselves. First and foremost, make sure your own signs, building and total visitor experience impart the brand you wish to present. It’s amazing what some sign companies can do for other businesses, yet not for themselves. Inside where you meet with clients, place samples where customers can see them up close. Professional-level photos of your most impressive projects hanging on the wall also help.

For more on how one sign pro has used samples on display in his shop to sell hundreds of more signs like them, see  signsofthetimes.com/012608.

At Installs/Post-Sale

Outfit your team and their vehicles with coordinated gear. As your installers are the face of your company, train them to interact with on-site customers in a professional manner. Allow them to answer questions within their purview and have them forward any others back to the shop.

Have a representative of your installation team knock on the doors to the left and right of the business they’re working with. Calling attention to who completed the fantastic signage going up next door makes an introduction and plants a seed for possible future business.

Upon completion of a job, leave something more than just a business card behind. Instructions on how to care for the sign can be handled in clever ways. For vehicle wraps, rearview mirror hangers work well. For restaurants and bars, sample coasters are a nice touch. Stickers featuring the client’s logo and a reminder of where they came from go over well.

From our vantage point, marketing is the task that sign companies either don’t do enough of, don’t do well enough, or don’t do at all. Make it a goal this year not to be one of those shops.