SIGNS ARE EFFECTIVE

Your sign is an integral part of your advertising program along with the other forms of commercial communication such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and billboards. There are four basic criteria used to judge the effectiveness of these advertising media: (1) coverage of the trade area, (2) repetition of a message, (3) readership of a message, and (4) cost per thousand exposures of a message. Two other criteria important for the small business owner are (5) availability and (6) ease of use. Let's see how signs measure up to the above criteria.

1. Signs are oriented to your trade area. Signs do not waste your resources by requiring you to pay for wasted advertising coverage. The people who see your sign are the people who live in your trade area.

2. Signs are always on the job repeating your message to potential customers. Your on-premise sign communicates to potential customers twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, week after week, month after month, year after year. Every time people pass your business establishment they see your sign. The mere repetition of the message will help them remember your business.

3. Nearly everyone reads signs. Signs are practical to use for nearly everyone is used to looking at signs and using signs, even small children. Studies have shown that people do read and remember what is on signs. When special items are displayed, sales increase for these particular items within the store.

4. Signs are inexpensive. When compared to the cost of advertising in some other media, the on-premise sign is very inexpensive. Table 1 indicates the cost-per-thousand-exposures for various media in a given type of community. Unless your trade area encompasses an entire city or region where you must rely upon broad based media coverage, there is no better advertising dollar value than your on-premise sign.

5. Signs are available to each and every shop owner. There is no need to schedule the use of your sign. Your sign is available to you whenever you need it and to be used however you please.

6. Signs are easy to use. No special skills or resources are needed to operate a sign once it has been installed. If it is an illuminated sign, all you need to do is flip the switch and that may not be necessary with timing equipment. Once the initial expenditures are made no special resources or professional services are needed. You need only operate and maintain your sign.

Sign-A-Rama - Kearny Mesa in San Diego

SIGNS ARE EFFECTIVE

VEHICLE GRAPHICS AND CAR WRAP ADVERTISING DELIVER BIG RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Successful promotions and marketing campaigns can be difficult to achieve, especially when competitors are using the same online and offline channels as your company. Now that traditional television advertising and even internet advertising have been accepted as powerful and persuasive advertising platforms, outdoors advertisers are seeing an acceptance of car wrap advertising. Why? Vehicle Wraps are a high impact, cost effective form of advertising that work for all types and sizes of businesses. A vehicle wrap builds brand recognition, raises a company's profile and reinforces brand identity.

Business owners are rapidly discovering that car wraps and vehicle graphics are the most economical way to reach customers quickly, especially for event promotions such as trade shows. Compared to traditional forms of advertising- outdoor signs, television, print and radio, vehicle advertising can reach more consumers at lower Cost Per Thousand (CPM) impressions than any other form of outdoor advertising.

While advertising budgets for traditional media have been cut back, companies are still investing in vehicle advertising because they realize all that driving by employees is a golden opportunity to build their brand. No other form of advertising offers a lower cost per impression than a vehicle wrap.

According to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America:

• More than 95% of Americans are reached by media targeting vehicle drivers and passengers.
• One vehicle wrap can generate between 30,000 - 70,000 impressions daily.
• Fleet vehicle advertising boosts name recognition 15 times greater than any other form of advertising.
• 30% of mobile outdoor viewers indicate they would base a buying decision on the ad they see.

A comparison between vehicle wraps Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) with traditional adverting leaves no doubt about the advantages of going mobile:

• A 30-second prime-time spot in the top 100 television markets cost $17.78 per CPM.
• A 60-second drive-time ad in the top 100 radio markets cost $8.61 per CPM.
• A one-third b/w page ad in the top 100 newspaper markets cost $22.95 per CPM.
• A four-color one-page ad in 23 top magazine publications cost $9.35 per CPM.
• The average for all forms of billboard ads cost $2.18 per CPM.
• Vehicle wraps cost $.77 per CPM.

While a growing number of companies are spending more of their ad dollars on online advertising and less on traditional media, it appears that vehicle advertising or moving billboards are here to stay.

Sign-A-Rama - Kearny Mesa in San Diego

VEHICLE GRAPHICS AND CAR WRAP ADVERTISING DELIVER BIG RETURN ON INVESTMENT

ESCAPING THE VOICE MAIL MAZE

"I'm sorry, I'm out of my office. Would you please leave your name and number and I'll return your call as soon as I can."
How many of us are still waiting for our reply? Technology has made our selling lives both easier and more challenging. Voice mail is a challenge that forces us to redefine our telephone strategies.

Create Interest. If a customer doesn't need your product or service immediately, the probability of getting a reply is slim to none. To increase your odds of success, treat each phone call as a sales call.
You have about 10 seconds. Prepare what you are going to say. Your message should spark interest. Present a benefit that sounds so interesting it's worth a return call. This requires some research on your part -- to find out what's of interest to this customer.

Change Procedure. Leave a message saying, "I've been trying to set up an appointment with you. I know how busy you are. If June 6 at 10 a.m. won't work for you, please call me at (your phone number)."
When you arrive on June 6 at 10 a.m. and the receptionist says, "Do you have an appointment?" you can say "Yes." Try to do this with sales calls that are geographically close to confirmed appointments. You still run the risk of a prospect who won't see you, but at least you aren't making a special trip to his location.

Get Through the First Time. Since most prospects return calls to people they know, always get referrals. Selling is not only about who you know, it's about getting to know the people who know the people you want to know.
Ask your customer to call the prospect for you to say you will be in contact. That introduction increases the probability that your prospect will return or take your call.
When you call a referral, always tell the receptionist "John Doe asked me to call Mr. Prospect." If the assistant screens calls, she will mention the person who referred you to the prospect.

Get help. Sometimes there is a screener before you get to voice mail. Enlist the help of the screener and you might actually speak to your prospect. Explain, "I've been playing phone tag with John Doe. Can you see if he will speak with me for a few minutes about the benefit to him or his company?"

Change times. Think about calling when your prospect has to answer his phone. Most screeners are out before 8 a.m. at lunchtime, and after 5 p.m. Calling at these times gives you higher probability that the prospect will actually pick up his phone.

Keep trying. Persistence does pay off. You should not leave 10 messages a day, however trying at different times with different strategies should eventually work.

Source: Maura Schreier-Fleming is president of Best@Selling, a sales training and consulting organization in Dallas, Texas. She speaks at conferences about sales and business improvement and works with business and sales professionals on real-world skills and strategies. She is the author of the book Real-World Selling for Out of-this-World Results.

Sign-A-Rama - Kearny Mesa in San Diego

ESCAPING THE VOICE MAIL MAZE