In Kansas City, every business—regardless of its scale or industry—requires effective signage as a part of a robust marketing strategy. Signage is an essential tool to navigate your potential customers to your location, elevate brand awareness, showcase new products or services, and enrich customer experience. By leveraging various types of custom signage, your business messages can make a striking impact.
Customized business signage primarily serves five key purposes.
- Captivate attention: Generate a powerful first impression and entice customers with eye-catching visuals.
- Educate: Swiftly communicate what your business offers and share vital information.
- Guide: Help individuals locate your business and find easily what they need.
- Elevate: Augment the aesthetics of your internal and external spaces to craft an unforgettable experience.
- Promote: Motivate customers to purchase your products or services.
Effective custom signage can serve one or many of these purposes and complement a well-orchestrated marketing plan. If you aspire for your business to achieve its objectives, consider these nine bespoke signs that can support your success.
Custom Pavement Signs Say Right This Way
As the name suggests, custom pavement signs are displayed on sidewalks and may include yard signs, A-frames, or sandwich boards. They strategically position your marketing messages in the direct line of sight of pedestrians, ensuring visibility and maximizing foot traffic.
Innovative pavement signs can attract people's attention and entice them to enter your business. They're ideal for promoting daily specials or time-limited offers, or for branding with a clever joke, quote, or picture. If your business provides a menu of services, like a restaurant or salon, incorporate a QR code on the sign for easy scanning and viewing of your offerings.
Have a Banner Day
Boldly convey your message with custom banners. They offer great versatility, displaying any message and hung nearly anywhere, indoors and outdoors. Interior banners can be hung from ceilings or counters, while exterior banners are most visible on storefront marquees or fences. Their large size ensures attention-grabbing visibility, informing passersby about any events or special offers you're hosting.
Roll-up, or retractable, banners offer the convenience of mobility, allowing you to carry your message wherever you go. A branded banner can raise awareness and generate leads at events like trade fairs, job expos, and farmers' markets. Informative banners are frequently used inside offices or storefronts to educate customers about your services.
Custom Window Graphics for the Win
Window graphics allow you to transform everyday windows into branded marketing platforms. Eye-catching graphics can make your Kansas City business stand out and captivate the attention of those passing by. Use window graphics to advertise short-term offers or events, or install long-term graphics to underscore your brand message and services.
Window graphics are highly versatile, with an array of styles available, including transparent or opaque window clings, one-way vision window clings, frosted window treatments, lettering, shades, or imaged glass. By using different styles and sizes, your windows can achieve a truly distinctive look.
The Writing’s on the Wall Graphics
Similar to window graphics, wall graphics can dramatically revamp an otherwise mundane space into a visually engaging environment. Wall graphics offer a cost-effective method of reinforcing your brand internally. Create designs featuring your logo and tagline, brand messages, mission statements, or abstract designs. Full-wall graphics are also possible, such as custom wallpapers or murals.
Wall graphics leave a significant impression on anyone visiting your space. In an office, they can reinforce brand messaging to employees, uplift morale, and strengthen your team's connection with your business's values. For businesses with regular shoppers or clients, wall graphics help create an immersive brand experience, enhancing credibility and establishing your brand.
Floor Graphics Under Foot
Floor graphics, usable both indoors and outdoors, serve various purposes. They're highly useful for wayfinding, guiding customers through different areas of your business so they can easily find what they're seeking. They can also advertise promotions or add a touch of fun to your store's personality with entertaining images or branding.
As they're designed to be walked on, custom floor graphics are manufactured from durable materials and can stick to numerous surfaces, including concrete, brick, carpet, wood, and vinyl.
Directional Signage Points the Way
Eye-level directional signage is beneficial for helping customers find their way. Whether in a store or an office complex, visitors should be able to locate your business promptly without feeling lost or confused. Clear directional signage enhances the customer experience.
Various types of directional signage can meet different business needs. Arrows and department signs are useful in stores. Directories, maps, and location-specific informational signs are helpful in office complexes with multiple businesses. Identification signs clearly mark specific buildings, rooms, offices, and departments in large office settings. Safety signs may be required to indicate emergency exits, restricted areas, and general safety information.
Custom Point-of-Purchase Signs Work
Point-of-purchase (POP) signs are essential in traditional storefronts. As customers wait to check out, POP displays catch their attention, urging them to add something extra to their shopping. Often, POP signs will spotlight new products or highlight special offers to stimulate more sales during the purchase process.
Depending on your type of business, different types of POP signage could be effective. These might include freestanding or shelf displays with products; counter signage; display stands; or posters, banners, or counter graphics promoting special offers.
Vehicle Wraps Take Your Message on the Road
Signage can extend beyond your physical location. Vehicle wraps enable you to take your brand advertising on the road, reaching people while you're on the move. Vehicle wraps can be viewed by hundreds or thousands of people daily, yielding a high return on investment. They're particularly valuable for service-based businesses like plumbers, HVAC companies, and lawn care services, as you can advertise while traveling to jobs.
Vehicle wraps come in different styles, including full wraps, partial wraps, and basic logos and lettering. It's essential to design vehicle wraps so the information is easy to recall since people will only see it for a short period. It's recommended to include your company name, website URL, and phone number, so people can search for you or contact you when they reach their destination.
Trade Show Displays Spread the Word
Trade shows provide excellent opportunities to spread the word about your business, but you need an eye-catching booth to distinguish yourself from the crowd and attract attendees. Professionally designed trade show display signage captures attention from afar, informs prospective customers about your business, and leaves a lasting impression that enhances brand recognition.
A mix of striking and informative signage is beneficial in trade show displays. Combining bold pop-up displays, backdrops, and retractable banners with branded tablecloths and table displays can engage visitors from a distance and close up.
Seven Tips for Designing Custom Signs
Regardless of the type of signage your business uses, it should look professional and convey a clear message. Signage can significantly influence the customer experience, so invest time in meticulously designing it.
Follow these quick tips to create well-designed, engaging signs that meet your business goals.
- Ensure readability: Effective signage can be read in a few seconds. Use legible fonts and maintain consistency with your typefaces and sizing. Avoid contrasting colors or colors that are challenging to read, such as red on blue or yellow on white. Also, ensure the text is sufficiently large. Generally, for every 10 feet of visibility, you need 1 inch of height. So, if your sign needs to be visible from 50 feet away, the font should be at least 5 inches tall.
- Include your logo: Your logo is a critical element of your brand identity. Incorporating it on your signs helps establish your brand, improve brand recall, and ensure consistency across all your marketing materials.
- Keep it simple: Simplicity is key in effective signage. A cluttered or complex sign can deter readers. Try to use only necessary text and use images or symbols where possible to make the sign more engaging.
- Use high-quality images: If your sign includes images or graphics, ensure they are of high quality. Pixelated or blurred images can look unprofessional and make the sign harder to read.
- Consider location: Where you place your sign significantly impacts its effectiveness. It should be in a place where it's easy to see and read. For example, a store's front window or the sidewalk in front of your business are great locations for promotional signage.
- Consistency: Maintain brand consistency across all your signage. Use the same fonts, colors, and style as your logo and other branding materials. Consistency helps your brand become easily recognized and remembered.
- Proofread: It may seem obvious, but always proofread your signs before they go to print. Spelling or grammar errors can negatively affect your brand image and confuse the message you're trying to convey.
A well-thought-out signage strategy and professionally designed custom signs can significantly impact your business. Whether it's bringing in new customers, guiding people around your store, promoting sales, or simply creating an engaging environment, effective signage plays a crucial role in the success of your business in Kansas City. Contact our signage experts to help you guide and execute your marketing signage plans.