Signs Can Still be Entertaining

The best way to let people know about your business is advertising it in a way that is entertaining and informative. As easy as these two goals are, more business miss the mark than hit it with. Advertising that is annoying and confusing that leaves the consumer pressing the mute button seems to be all over the place these days.

When it comes to signs you may feel you don't have to worry about being clever or annoying potential clientele. After all you're only trying to get a name out there -- maybe a product -- how clever do you need to be?

Do you remember the billboard signs of the 1950s that reminded the daily commuter on their long drive home through bumper to bumper traffic that if they lived here they would already be home? The billboard would be conveniently located in a brand new subdivision of cookie cutter homes off the highway. If it hadn't been for those signs almost mocking and taunting the commuter would they have returned to see how their lives could have been made easier by buying a home there?

Billboards are still popular with over 450,000 of them scattered throughout the United States. Digital advertising is starting to take a small share of that market as companies realize the advantage to being able to change up a stale message once in a while with new information or selling points. So far there are only 2,000 digital billboards across the United States and they tend to be more concentrated in high density areas where consumers are more likely to respond to high tech digital messages than stale one dimensional message boards.

What you have to say is just as important as how you say it and that is an important message to keep in mind when it comes to creating your business advertisement and signage. Billboards of enlarged oozing cold sores for example don't make consumers want to look at your billboard much less want to linger long enough to get the name of your product. Images that amuse awe or entertain on the other hand will not only keep the attention of the consumer but help them remember your name.

Think of billboard images of cars crashing through or giant hands reaching down to pick up the pedestrians below -- these are all images that draw the interest and hold the attention of the consumer who is hit by advertising all day long and has become oblivious to it. If you can catch the attention of the consumer you can get them to look at your name and hopefully you hit the target audience.

It doesn't do any good to advertise -- no matter how cleverly -- if you ignore demographics and your target audience. So if you are planning your ad campaign, keep the basics in mind and remember even a simple business sign can sell your product or be ignored and the reason why will fall back to business advertisement 101.