A Sign of (Bad) Business

I see so much waste of money with businesses, especially small businesses, that spend their hard earned dollars on signs that are of little value.

One thing that I see a lot of these days is magnetic signs on car doors.  How many words can one put on a magnetic sign that are big enough to read?  I see so many with a whole lot of writing on them that, for the most part, is a waste.   If people (with good eyesight) need to stand within 10 feet of your car to read your sign, you are not going to get a lot of leads from it.  

It is a hard call - how can you get your message to say the most important things and be seen clearly from a moving vehicle?

Can I suggest that if you are considering getting magnets for your car door that you look at the many examples on cars - there are many of them these days.

Do you expect that people who are driving past your car to stop and write down your business name and contact details?  Do you park your car in a prominent place so that people can easily read and take note of your name and contact details?

Would you put a website or a phone number on your door magnet?

In example One (below) the business has chosen to use their name and website.  With only 7 letters in their name, and a dot com URL, it fits well.  There are a few lines - I would probably suggest a capital letter for Selling and Letting, and also Sussex, however, it might be an easy name for folk driving past to remember if they were wanting to sell or let their home, or  buy I guess.  People can visit the website where I'd hope it was easy to find the contact details.  I note too that this magnet is on a van, so they had more space to use to put their name and simple details of the business.

Example One

Example Two possible works - again the name is memorable, though there is no indication of a website, though I would suspect that people would check to find a website.  The phone number is clear too - and I would imagine that people looking for someone to help with their reno's might stop and write down the number, or as I would do, take a photo of the door with my smart phone.

Example Two
Too many businesses  spend money on such signs and put too much information on them, such that the text is small and not readable.  There is no point.  

It is the same for particularly home based businesses, often restricted by local laws on the size of their sign, still try to put too much information on the sign - making it too hard to read.

Recently there were a series of "open homes" in our region.  One could read the "Open home" words but down in smaller print, not readable as one drove past, as the address.  It was impossible to read - one had to stop some distance from the sign, and walk back to read the words.  Only someone keen to find out where the "open home" was, would bother.  If the address was easily readable, they would have no doubt increased the numbers of visitors to see the house.

So you want a car magnet or a sign?  Spend time looking at a wide range of examples and seeing how easy it is to read from a reasonable distance?  Check and see if you can reduce the number of words and make your "message" clearer.

Take your time.  Also, it might be wise to speak with an expert on signs too - just buying cheaply off a website may not be the best use of your dollars.



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