Signage-The
Most Important Element of Branding
Making the Difference between Customers
Visiting or Just Passing By
In a way it’s like clothing.
Signage is equivalent to clothing. If clothing brands
the individual, then signage brands the organization.
Buildings: naked arrangements of architectural
elements. But what’s in the building?
Enter branding.
What makes up the heart of the organization; or on a
larger scale, the chain, or the campus? The branding of the building answers all
the questions. Good signage reflects the
overall branding.
Certainly there are many facets of a brand, but it is
important for owners, directors and marketing managers to realize the role of
signage as the first introduction. In
real-life, brick-and-mortar business platforms, packaging, customer service,
management style, community involvement, and similar aspects of a brand all
work together to refine the introductory impression left by the company’s signage.
Whether the branded building functions as a retail
business, healthcare complex, institution of higher learning, or corporate
headquarters, effective signage is critical to the public’s perception of its characteristics
and it helps motivate decisions to visit or pass.
I have heard many times that brand is the most
valuable fixed asset of a corporation. In
the retail environment, branding is super important. The more emphasis a company devotes to the
development and maintenance of its brand, the more it stands out from the
competitors in the marketplace; all on the same busy street. It all starts at the main entrance sign and
building-mounted branding. Then, as customers
progress through the site and the building, even the effectiveness or
ineffectiveness of the organization’s wayfinding signs leaves a warm fuzzy, or
cold ugly feeling about the brand. It
all starts with the signs.
Well-designed signs that attract attention can readily
turn traffic into new customers, and lead existing customers to make on-going
decisions to stop in. Calculate the huge
numbers of potential customers passing by the store each day, each month, each
year, and then compare that level of brand awareness to the awareness gained
from other media. In Charlottesville, Virginia,
vehicles representing 95% of the city’s population travel portions of Route 250
daily. Other sections of the highway
generate less attention. Main
thoroughfares through Harrisonburg, Winchester, and Waynesboro to the west have
48-65% vehicle to population ratios. The larger the city, the less the ratio
due to segmentation. The larger cities of Northern Virginia to
Richmond to Hampton Roads have 12-31% ratios in certain areas. Roanoke has an average ratio of 18% on Route
11.
Therefore, if you operate a business on an average major
highway in Roanoke, with a population of 96,714, chances are you will have a
daily traffic count of 17,000 vehicles, or 25,550 individuals passing your
signage every day, using an average of 1.5 passengers per car. Compare the value of a good signage system at
your site with any other marketing medium.
The simple conclusion: Signage is the most important element of branding.
Like your clothing, choose it well and treat it with
honor and respect!
For more information about signage to promote your brand, contact Mark Hackley, Account Executive at Holiday Signs
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