SBA Thoughts on Signs from Signarama Kearny Mesa

The Small Business Administration (SBA) weighs in on many issues that are important to owners of small businesses, including signage. “Why do I need a sign for my business?” is one of the questions posed on its website—and here are the primary reasons listed:

• Signs are the most effective, yet least expensive, form of advertising for the small business.
• A sign is your introduction and handshake with those passing by, identifying your business to existing and potential customers.
• Signs are always on the job for you, advertising 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
• People often judge a business by how it looks on its sign.
• Many merchants increase their business measurably just by adding a good sign.

Conversely, many have gone out of business because they simply weren’t identified well, so not enough potential customers knew of their existence. As one sign industry professional put it, “A business without a sign is a sign of no business.” 

•  We live in a mobile society. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18% of households relocate each year. As your customers move, you need to replace them by attracting new customers.

If you don’t have signage, or perhaps what you have needs an update, there’s no time like the present to sit down with us and review your specific needs. Signarama Kearny Mesa can counsel you on what kind of signs will work best for your type of business and your location, how many you should have, how big they should be, and how they should be designed.

It’s a new year—so why not celebrate with a new sign!

www.sdsar.com

SBA Thoughts on Signs from Signarama Kearny Mesa

4 Social Media Tips to Start 2014 Off Right

By Olivia Cole | Business 2 Community – Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:24 PM EST  

2014 is right around the corner, and you’re probably making all kinds of New Year’s resolutions for your marketing  strategy to start the New Year off right. As always, we want to help. Because we’re helpful. So here are a couple tips from  the social media angle that are a great way to launch a new year of social media success.   

Interact on Google+
You know, you know. Google+ is the hot spot for amazing SEO. At this point, it’s been blasted from the rooftops. But are  you actually using it? Honestly? If you’re posting daily, great. But you can do more, and you should be doing more, in  2014. Use it to engage with people: customers, influencers, industry professionals, celebrities. (Okay, maybe not  celebrities. Unless it’s a marketing celebrity. Because those are cool.) These days, everyone is on Twitter. So many people  are on Twitter, in fact, that engagement can be overwhelming. And while you should still be engaging on Twitter,  overwhelming or not, you should take some of that energy and put it into Google+ engagement too. It’s a little quieter  and is a great place to spark meaningful dialogue.   

Pay Attention to Facebook Interest Lists
Facebook still isn’t the number one place to generate leads, but it remains a great place to develop fans, and it will be  even better for you when you utilize Facebook Interest Lists. If you want to create content that appeals to the people you  want as customers, you must ask yourself, “What pages do my fans actually like?” Facebook Graph Search is a handy  tool for this. You can search using strings like:

1. Pages liked by people who like [your page] 
2. Pages liked by women who like [your page] 
3. Pages liked by men who like [your page] 
4. Fans of [your page] and [another page] 
5. Restaurants in [your city] visited by people who like [your page] 
6. Pages like by people who live in [your city] and like [your page]

These can give you some great data about what your fans look at and what they enjoy reading so that you can give them  more of the same. Give the people what they want! Also, don’t neglect Page Insights on Facebook. Paying attention to  who is most likely to engage with your content will give you stronger content foundation as well.   

Get Serious About Guest Blogging 
Blogging is a big part of your social media strategy and next to “Blog more!” one of the most important things to  remember is reach. You want your blog to reach as many eyeballs as possible, and guest blogging is an excellent way to  make this happen. So not only should you be looking for guest blogging opportunities in 2014, you should  be actively looking for guest blogging opportunities in 2014. Here’s a great guide for using Google Advanced Search for  tracking down opportunities and you should read it.   

Start Making Videos Regularly
This isn’t about going viral, ladies and gents. This is about an additional dimension of content marketing that you should  approach with the same consistency as you do your blogs. Why? Because in 2013, video constituted 50% of mobile  wireless network traffic and is expected to rise to 66% by 2017. Because YouTube is now 28% of all Google searches.  Because an Internet user watches 186 videos on average each month. Because visitors continue navigating your website  for an average extra two minutes after watching video content. You get the picture. So put in the time and effort. Make  some video.  We hope this helps, even a little bit, as you approach your social media in 2014.

www.sdsar.com

4 Social Media Tips to Start 2014 Off Right

Season's Greetings from Signarama Kearny Mesa

www.sdsar.com

Season's Greetings from Signarama Kearny Mesa

Take Advantage of the Holidays With Themed Signage

Holidays take place all year long, but we all know that when retailers refer to “the holidays,” they’re talking about right now—the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas—when many of them make a high percentage of their sales. How can you cut through the holiday clutter and make sure customers come your way? Here are a few tips:

• Make your storefront more festive with signs that celebrate the season, providing a subtle reminder that gifts need to be purchased.
• Don’t forget about showcasing special sales; you’d be surprised at how many customers will be drawn to you—even if they’ve never shopped there before—when they learn about your great holiday deals.
• Consider a “countdown” sign that reminds people at the dwindling amount of time they have to prepare for the big day, purchasing gifts as well as getting ready to host family celebrations.
• Make sure you post signage that informs customers of your holiday hours. Many extend their hours at this time of year…but your customers need to know that, as well as when you might be closed around the holidays.
  
• How about posting a sign that outlines your exchange/return policy? People may feel more comfortable buying gifts if they know they can be easily exchanged or returned.
• Decide whether you want to use “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas” on signage, and be ready to defend your decision. It’s not really a matter of right or wrong, but Christmas is not a holiday celebrated universally.

We have lots of experience creating holiday signs for customers, and we’d be happy to assist you as well. Time’s a wasting!

www.sdsar.com

Take Advantage of the Holidays With Themed Signage

Signage and Business Success

Are you still wondering if your signage really affects your business? Believe me, it does—but here are some statistics that help build the case for building signage:

• The U.S. Small Business Administration attributes as much as 50% of a company’s business to its signage. 
• A University of San Diego study found that the number of onsite signs may affect revenue by as much as 4.75% for each additional sign. 
• That same USD study found that each additional sign increased the number of transactions by 3.94%.

If you’re still not convinced, or perhaps you don’t have a brick and mortar building, you can still use signs to your benefit, on your vehicle(s). According to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America:

• Mobile advertising can be the most effective and efficient form of outdoor advertising, reaching consumers at the lowest cost per thousand impressions. 
• Media targeting vehicle drivers and passengers reaches more than 95% of Americans. 
• One vehicle wrap can generate between 30,000 and 70,000 impressions daily.

Thus, as you work toward finalizing your marketing budget for 2014, we suggest you don’t overlook the category of signage. We’ll be happy to work with you to determine how you can update or modify your current signs or create new signs that will bring new customers to your door or website.

www.sdsar.com

Signage and Business Success

Business Owner’s Holiday Preparation Checklist

  
by HEATHER SANTO

 It is almost that time of year again! Business owners are wishing that had more hours in the day to work on their latest information products or deciding what huge sale they are going to have. Have you guessed it yet? Get out your calendars because it’s fourth quarter and time to start thinking ahead to Christmas! I know that you may not be ready to even start thinking about this yet, but the farther ahead you are now, the easier it will be when it is close at hand.

 If you have been sitting on an Information product that you wanted to release and haven’t gotten around to it yet, now is the time so that you can have it completed by Black Friday. Christmas will be a great time to have it available because of all of the impulse buying and gift giving. Make sure that you are setting aside time to get it done and make it a first priority. Write down the things that you need to have done to free up some time so that you can get it done and then outsource those items. You will have your product done in no time!

 Now is a great time to start looking into getting a holiday Facebook header and/or Twitter cover created or creating it yourself. By placing your order now you are beating the crowd. If you don’t change up your header every once in a while not only will you get sick of looking at it, but your audience will too. If you get it now all you have to do is hit ‘change cover’. Easy.

The holidays are a great time to show special appreciation to your customers. It is very easy to have the great intention of sending out Christmas cards to your clients and even easier to never get it done. Start checking out getting some Gratitude Concierge work done. Your Virtual Assistant may even get the ca rds for you so all you need to do is send them a list of names and addresses. That is what I do as part of that service because I know it is crazy busy and a business owner ma y not want to go shopping for a great set of cards and worry about getting them all sent out.

 You are going to be very busy taking care of items at home as we ll as in your business and I know that this is the time of year th at you want to spend more time with your family, not less. What you don’t want to do, however, is neglect the audience on Social Media that you have worked so hard to build or the Facebook membership groups that you have created. If you think that may n eed a hand, get some help to manage your client care on social media and your emai ls. Don’t forget to introduce the Virtual Assistant to your clients/audience so that th ey know who they are and that they can be trusted to give them correct answers.

 If you start getting ahead and preparing now, you will be able to enjoy the holidays, your customers and your family. What part of the ho lidays do you think that you will need the most help with? 

www.sdsar.com

Business Owner’s Holiday Preparation Checklist

Signarama – Kearny Mesa: Focus on Color

Do the colors you use on signs affect their visibility? Can color help drive customers into your business and encourage them to purchase your products or services? You bet!

Regardless of your company colors, there are a few guidelines that will enhance your signs’ design:

• Think contrast—use a light color on a darker background or vice versa. 
• Make it simple—choose fonts that are legible and uncomplicated. 
• Ensure the message is the star—eliminate busy backgrounds or graphics that take away from what you’re trying to say. 

Many companies choose one or two colors to represent their business and play off them in all their marketing materials. Is it time to look at your colors? Do they send the message you intend? Are they antiquated?

There’s no reason you can’t rebrand via color and if you do so, keep the following suggestions in mind:

• Yellow evokes happy feelings (think McDonald’s) 
• Blue reflects business confidence (IBM) 
•  Green is associated with healthy products (Starbucks) 
• Purple can reflect royalty, mystery or wisdom (Hallmark) 
• Orange denotes joy or optimism (Dunkin’ Donuts) 
• Pink exudes femininity and love (Victoria’s Secret) 
• Brown is no-nonsense (UPS) 

Many stores and restaurants choose warm colors to encourage people to linger—those with layers of reds, oranges and yellows. Signature colors like hot pink or electric green will always get you noticed, as will yellow, a universal favorite. Strong reds and blues are popular, too, but remember that good old black on white is always a good choice that reflects professionalism and elegance.

Signarama – Kearny Mesa: Focus on Color