Should You Promote Your Laundry with Signage?
Should You Promote Your Laundry with Signage?
We don’t often talk about traditional marketing methods on our blog — and it’s not because we don’t like them! We firmly believe in digital marketing, and want to share our passion and experience with you.
That said, There are literally hundreds of marketing and promotional tactics for your business. While it can certainly seem exciting to skip over “traditional” marketing and invest purely in digital, local businesses especially can benefit from signage.
So in this post, we’re going to explore the reasons why considering your physical signing in the marketing mix for your laundry business can benefit your overall brand — and then look at some basic pointers for considering your signage. Let’s dig in:
Reason #1: Brand Awareness
A sign’s job is to familiarize your target audience with your brand and your business. Your signs will typically contain your logo, location, and contact information. The repeated exposure to your signs will help your audience create an association or relationship with your business before they even visit. The main goal of marketing is to cultivate a relationship between your customers and your business – so signs are an excellent avenue for this.
Additionally, this type of brand awareness building can transfer to other channels. If you decide to launch print advertising, or even paid digital campaigns, your potential customers will make the connection with the signs they have already seen, which will help you build your brand even further.
Reason #2: Distinguishing Your Business
What makes your business stand out from the competition? Be sure to include a note about this in all of your marketing efforts. Using signs can also help differentiate our business, especially if your competitors are not leveraging this tactic. You may also be able to hit prospective customers in places where your competitors are not, which can help you gain more market share.
Reason #3: Affordability
Signs are one of the most cost-effective marketing methods. Signs can help you stretch your advertising budget much further than digital campaigns alone. Although it is difficult to calculate the return-on-investment (ROI) from a sign, the initial investment is fairly minimal, so that has decreased importance when compared to other, more expensive, marketing channels.
If you are already overspending on advertising and marketing for your business, investing in signs may help you save money. By utilizing some of the budget you are spending in other areas, you may be able to attract the same number of customers using less cash.
How Do I Know A Sign Will Work?
Once you’ve decided to utilize signs as part of your marketing mix, you might be wondering how to design a stellar sign that will bring in new customers for your business. If you plan for signs to be a major part of your marketing efforts, it is probably worth hiring a professional designer to help your business. If you are simply trying to choose the best design, or are on a truly limited budget and cannot afford a designer, this list will help you design or evaluate signs for your business.
High Level Contrast
One of the most important elements of a good sign is high contrast between the text and the background. You’ll also want to consider where the sign is going so that it has sufficient contrast against its location. A sign that does not contrast in tone and color can be difficult to read, and may be more easily ignored by your target audience.
Attention-Grabbing Color
You also want your sign to catch people’s attention. This is why offering bright colors can help you demand attention from those who see it. Black and white tend to offer the greatest amount of contrast, but can look a little stark in some locations. Take a look at some design and color options before deciding on something.
When choosing colors for your sign, your brand colors will also play an important role. In order for your sign to have those brand awareness building properties, you’ll need it to align with your overall brand.
Fonts and Text
One of the most common mistakes people make when designing signs is trying to add too much text. They attempt to break up the text by using different fonts, but this can actually decrease your sign’s legibility and aesthetic value. A good rule of thumb is generally no more than 2 or 3 different fonts on your sign.
As you consider fonts, you need to make sure they are easy to read, especially from a distance. If a potential customer cannot quickly skim your sign and figure out what it says, they may lose interest.
While it is a good idea to include details on your sign, such as where you are located, it is also imperative that you do not use too much text. Your sign is only so big, and the more text you have, the smaller it has to be. This can make it harder to read.
Conclusion
Signs can be a valuable part of your laundry marketing efforts. They are a low-cost investment that can help distinguish your business and build your laundry brand. Signage is even more effective when used in conjunction with other channels, such as digital marketing efforts, so it may be worth restructuring your marketing budget to make space for a good mix between traditional and digital advertising.