Determine your budget
Knowing how much you have to work with will help you identify costs and determine whether or not your project can be done for what you have left over.
Business expenses include necessary startup gear such as purchasing equipment and advertising.
Let’s say you have $5,000 to spend on business expenses; check out an outdoor billboard company in order to get more information about prices.
You could also call other companies that advertise at concerts, sporting events or special festivals to receive comparable pricing.
Any additional spending beyond business expenses would need to be written into contract for projects.
Understand your target market
When you’re looking to promote your products through outdoor signage, you need to understand why people would want to buy them.
Also, you want to know how important it is to you as an entrepreneur whether or not you make this investment.
Depending on what type of business you are trying to create, there are several different factors you should consider when deciding if indoor signage is right for you.
You can start with thinking about your target market in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, education, location, income, and other variables depending on your marketing goal.
Do your research
Without doubt, one of the most significant benefits to outdoor signage is that it’s accessible almost everywhere there’s space for people to see or read it.
However, like any other type of marketing, this kind of advertising comes with some obligations and drawbacks. For example, if you invest in an expensive billboard, then you will need to put extensive money into creating a memorable logo and design which makes the message clear enough to attract customers, as well as keeping the advertisement interesting and eye-catching so that people pay attention to it.
Furthermore, no matter what value your product adds to the life of others, you still have to think about why they should care about your product category, as well as what problem your product can solve for them. It’s also important to know who your target audience are, and how you can make the experience more enjoyable by tapping into their emotions.
Outdoor messaging is very useful for reminding people of events, sharing updates, communicating threats, promoting bargains, attracting visitors, etc., giving you many ways to get your messages across.
Create a concept plan
Concept planning is an essential step in your outdoor signage project. It helps you determine what you want to achieve with your signage, how much it will cost, and who will be responsible for making it happen.
A concept plan should include clearly defined objectives with deadlines, investment requirements, budgetary accounts, and performance metrics. You’ll need all these components to log this effort as a business expense.
Your concept plan may differ from one that works for you is if you hire other people to create advertising content or have them help with engineering or production. But, generally, you can write a plan myself.
Write your script
Writing is an important component of outdoor signage. While you may be writing your logo or marketing message, it should contain both clarity and consistency.
If there is no clear meaning, users will give up and quit reading. It can even cause them to ignore your branding!
Your brand story needs to be told in many ways; books, blogs, newspapers, magazines, etc. are just some of the ways that you can share your story with people.
It’s also helpful when trying to promote conversation. People want to know what you have been up to, now more than ever.
By telling your story through written words rather than talking directly, your signature style becomes much stronger. When customers/clients hear your voice, they start to associate your business with voiceless scripts.
That makes your name harder to spell and think about, which we all know is not what you want to achieve with your signage.
Writing helps your signage stand out, but it also gives you another outlet for content creation. Many companies only provide logos and other graphic design services, but text-based signage requires expert knowledge in typography and different styles.
You need someone who understands how readability factors like line length and frequency affect viewers significantly. If you have an advertising company create your signs, they would probably use too-large typefaces that make readers go back because it’s hard to read.
Design your signs
Signs are a way of advertising your business directly to passers-by.
They get someone’s attention because they want to know what you have to sell. They can be artistic and appealing to look at, and they can also be cost-effective if you use free materials.
Put up posters, place advertisements or flyers, paint messages on walls, and write slogans on sidewalks. But do so with purpose and style, and follow any rules or regulations that may apply to these methods.
If you need to obtain permissions for certain strategies, now is the time to do so. Permission requests will break up the flow of your signage.
Sign painters and letter press operators must report color consistency to the federal government, as well as their local governments when working in areas outside the United States.
An electronic sign pack is another option, but this type of signage requires a professional to create the graphics you end product will feature.
Test your signs
Are people walking by your outdoor signage, making mistakes or saying one thing when you really mean something else?
If so, then that’s proof that your message isn’t resonating with your target audience. You want individuals who are approaching your brand awareness level to say “yes” instead of going down the wrong path.
Finding out what isn’t working is very important because it can help you fix those issues and strengthen your messaging. Once you identify gaps in communication, work to close them.
It could be that your messages aren’t clear enough, there’s too much information, or the wording is incorrect. Changing up how you present data helps make the message easier to remember.
You also need to test which elements of your design appeal more to customers (and potential employees). What gets more interaction from viewers? Which graphics draw them in? Is the color of your logo recognizable? Does the text speak to their hearts? These questions will guide you toward developing an identity for your company.
Market your signs
Signs that are out in the open have an impact beyond just their direct environment. Because they’re not in plain sight, people need to be aware they’re there and wait for them to catch someone’s eye or listen while waiting in lines or driving.
This creates opportunities to share information and promote what you have going on. When was the last time you heard about a new restaurant from a passer-by? Or saw a news clip while sitting in line at the grocery store?
It happens more often than we realize. So why not use this to your advantage and make it part of your marketing strategy?
Give customers a chance to learn more about your business by having outdoor signage. Not only will they feel more comfortable buying once they do, you also may motivate them to return and/or tell their friends how great your place is.
Take advantage of apps
Technology is driving more people than ever before to experience outdoor attractions in new ways.
App-based entertainment takes effect for all sorts of experiences from shopping to skiing.
More and more locations are building out virtual reality platforms so that visitors can make money even when they aren’t at their computer. Downloading apps like these can be pricey, but there are some free options too.
Users can enjoy recreation outdoors without having to spend much money or wait until next visit to hit the links. Virtual tours allow users to explore places through audio and video guides as if walking inside were real.
These tend to be very popular and many offer chances to win tickets or merchandise by completing missions. Examples include mission prizes that tell players about fun things they could do outside (like going fishing or taking a swim) or asking others for help finding hidden items.
