Avoid Grammar Miscues and Ambiguity

Many people have forgotten most of what they learned in English class—but that doesn’t mean you can be lazy with your sign copy. You never know who’s going to be viewing your signs; some people are likely to be troubled by grammar mistakes, which may make them think you’re not detail oriented.

It’s always a good idea to work with a professional writer on sign copy. If you choose to write it yourself, be sure to have a number of reviewers (ideally including a professional) take a look at it before you submit it to us. While our QC process should catch the most grievous errors, we don’t claim to be writers or grammar experts, and you will bear the responsibility for the copy you submit.

Grammar mistakes aren’t the only sign verbiage miscue you can make. Take a look at this sign, spotted at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida:

 

 

 

Does it mean the elevator isn’t working or does it point the way toward an elevator for people with special needs? It’s likely the latter—but it could be the former due to the ambiguous wording. All we can say is writer beware!

Avoid Grammar Miscues and Ambiguity

What Can We Do For You?

There’s no reason you need to be a sign expert—not when you can rely on us to use our knowledge

and experience to become your go-to sign resource. We take great pride in our ability to provide any sign-related service, from determining the type of signs you need to designing them, manufacturing them, installing them and maintaining them. With us “in your corner,” you can be certain your signage will communicate your message in an appropriate, professional way, and will adhere to all relevant sign regulations. That leaves you free to concentrate on your areas of expertise. In particular, here are a few services we offer:

Business Services. We can craft a signage program that reinforces your brand and helps you gain new clients. We also offer business-enhancing services such as toll-free numbers, which may increase ad response by 30 percent, and sign leasing, which can help you stretch your signage budget.

Design Services. Our highly skilled design team can certainly lay out your signs in a pleasing manner—but they can also design logos and provide full-service graphic design services. Whether you have existing images that need a bit of TLC or you need us to find artwork that reflects your company’s identity, our designers are “on the job.”

Digital Printing. Technology has changed the printing industry for the better, and we’re pleased to offer quick and affordable state-of-the-art advanced digital printing. Say goodbye to film and plates, and hello to high-quality full-color printing that can be used on everything from small decals to large format graphics. Our team is ready to support your team and all its signage needs. We look forward to establishing a relationship and earning the position of your trusted sign expert.

www.sdsar.com

What Can We Do For You?

Putting Rear Window Decals on Your Car

by PAULA DIACO on FEBRUARY 26, 2013

Applying a rear window decal on your car can be a great way to personalize your ride or promote your business. Having a unique rear window decal can make your car stand out and grab the attention of everyone who sees it. It can serve as both a window tint and a marketing message for your business, or customization for a tricked-out ride.

Anyone following your car on the highway, or if you’re stopped at a stoplight, will be subjected to your marketing message for several minutes. (Of course, this is also a good reason to be a safe and careful driver who’s not prone to “finger waving” while you’re driving.)

Applying a rear window decal is more common than applying a decal to a side window, because side window decals can eventually be worn off, the more the window is raised and lowered.

The rear window decal is see-through due to tiny holes throughout the entire graphic. When viewed from the outside, the holes appear textural, but the viewer’s brain will fill in the holes, bringing the message home to any onlooker. Meanwhile, on the inside, the holes and the translucent properties of the decal will still allow the driver to see out the rear window without any difficulty.

For a business owner, using a rear window decal can be a great alternative to using an entire vehicle wrap for a car or truck. Of course, having a vehicle wrap on the sides and front of the car will gain more attention, but when budgets or length of ownership are an issue, a rear window decal can be an effective way to let people know who you are and what you do. If you feel like wrapping the entire car or truck later, the rear window decal is a great stepping stone toward that goal.

One thing we always want to warn our customers about when choosing and applying a rear window decal, is to keep weather conditions in mind. When it rains, the raindrops may cover the holes in the decal which can affect your visibility, so be sure to use the wipers occasionally. Another weather-related issue is snow and ice, especially up here in Vermont. When you have snow and/or ice on your car, use the rear defroster to melt the snow off the decal, do not use a snow/ice scraper! You run the risk of scraping and ruining your decal.

For more information on our vehicle wraps and , visit our website. You can also find the SIGNARAMA store nearest you using our online store locator.

Originally posted in Sign-A-Rama Blog.


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Putting Rear Window Decals on Your Car

Survey Confirms Importance of Signs

Since we’re in the business of making signs, of course we believe in their value as a tool to draw customers to businesses as well as provide important information like directions, rules, product data, and more. A recent survey conducted by a National Sign Co. shows we’re not alone.

The “What’s Your Sign” survey focused on whether signs are an effective way to attract customers to stores or events. They employed a professional survey firm to reach out to 1,000 of its customers to gain valuable insight on this topic, and we were delighted to see the results, some of which we’ve provided below.

Generating Interest

When asked what actions they’d taken because a sign caught their interest, survey respondents said they:

• Remembered the business at a later time (79%)
• Entered the business (76%)
• Told someone else about the business (75%)
• Purchased a product or service (68%)
• Told someone else about the sign (53%)
• Looked up the business online (51%)

In particular, the survey showed that women and younger consumers are especially perceptive about signage. It also showed that bad signage or not having signage can deter people from entering stores; from 52% to 70% of survey respondents said offensive, misspelled, dirty or poorly made signs would stop them going inside.

More Is Better

An overwhelming number of survey respondents (83%) said small businesses should have between one and three signs around their storefronts to entice customers. The mean number was 2.8.

An Indicator of Quality

More than three out of five survey respondents (68%) believe signage reflects the quality of a store’s products or services. More than one-quarter (26%) think it’s a strong quality indicator.

Simple and Clean

Easily readable signs was the biggest factor survey respondents said would make them more likely to try a small business’ product or service (90%). Other important factors are:

• Graphically attractive signs (77%)
• Bright and colorful signs (72%)
• Funny signs (68%)
• Modern signs (60%)
• Sophisticated signs (51%)

 If you’re seeking a way to get more customers into your business, we’ll be happy to take a look at your current signage and recommend additions/revisions with that goal in mind.

www.sdsar.com

Survey Confirms Importance of Signs

April 2013 Newsletter from Sign-A-Rama Kearny Mesa

 

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April 2013 Newsletter from Sign-A-Rama Kearny Mesa

The Importance of Quality Control

When you shop around for sign vendors, what are you looking for? Experience, cost-effectiveness, and customer service are three big “hot buttons,” but you shouldn’t overlook the very important component of quality control. Since your signs are going to be a reflection of your organization, you want to make sure they’re error-free, and that only happens when they’re carefully proofed…and then proofed again.

The human brain is so complex that it can trick us sometimes into seeing things that really aren’t

there. When you know a specific word is supposed to be in a specific place, you may “see” it there, even it’s missing or it contains a typo. That’s why it’s so important to ensure you have a team of people reviewing each and every word on your signs—both within your own staff and at your sign vendor; even if a mistake gets by one person, it should be picked up by someone else before any damage is done.

Speaking of which, a great example of the lack of quality control has been floating around the Internet this week, courtesy of a new Giant food store in Washington D.C. For several hours, the large purple letters affixed to the outside of the building read “the quailty food people.” Of all the words to misspell, “quality” is definitely high on the list for resultant hilarity.

The faux pas—which was corrected after a reporter contacted Giant—was attributed to an installation error. Bet the sign vendor who was responsible has a little egg on its face!

We have quality control processes in place to ensure that your signs will be installed as per your detailed specifications—and that includes having all the words correctly spelled.

The Importance of Quality Control

Sign Ordinance 101

Have you read San Diego’s exhaustive sign ordinance? Probably not. Do you think it would be good use of your time to peruse that lengthy document (all 60+ pages of it)? Probably not, again. However, if you’re going to be using exterior signage of any kind, you need to make sure you stay on the “straight and narrow”—and we can help.

 We’re familiar with all the signage rules you must obey in San Diego (and surrounding cities, too). We’ll make sure you don’t do anything that’s going to incur the wrath of a city inspector and cause you a great deal of grief.

 In case you’re interested in knowing what “compelling reading” is contained in the San Diego sign ordinance, here’s a sample of what you’re missing:

 Violations of Sign Regulations

(a) It is unlawful to do the following:

         (1)     Place, post, paint or secure any sign, pennant, flag, banner, balloon, or similar attention-seeking device on public property or within the public right-of-way unless otherwise provided in the Municipal Code or specific state statute;

         (2)     Place any lettering, card, poster, or notice of any kind on any curb, sidewalk, street, pole, post, utility box, hydrant, bridge, tree, building, or other surface that is located on public property or in the public right-of-way unless otherwise provided in the Municipal Code or specific state statute;

         (3)     Display any sign without the required Sign Permit Sticker; or

         (4)     Erect any sign on any premises contrary to the provisions of this division.

(b) Violations of any provisions of this division shall be subject to the enforcement provisions of Chapter 12, Article 1. Violations of this division shall be treated as strict liability offenses regardless of intent.

 Not exactly bestseller material, right? It is important, however, that you work with a sign vendor who has taken the time to learn the rules—so you don’t have to!

Sign Ordinance 101