Image Enhancement Through Displays

Image Enhancement Through Displays

How can your business stand out among its competition and draw more customers to purchase your product or service? One way is to look better with everyone else by displaying professionally designed and produced banner stands, POP displays, and flags. Let’s take a look at each of these attention-getting vehicles:

Retractable banner stands. These cost-effective promotional solutions are available both single- and double-sided. They feature molded end plates and a three-piece bungee-corded pole, are the quickest to set up and take down, the simplest to store.

POP displays. Lightweight and durable, portable pop displays are simple and quick to assemble. Models are available in sizes of 8, 10 and 20 feet, as well as for tabletops. They come in a variety of shapes, including straight, curved and serpentine.

Flags. A great attention getter, flags provide numerous display options. While they’re commonly used outside buildings for identification purposes or in conjunction with promotions, they can be used just about anywhere, permanently mounted on walls, displayed on floor stands or hung from ceilings.

All these products work well at trade shows, or in any other situation where your intent is to get people’s attention. The experts at Signarama—Kearny Mesa are ready to help you create banner stands, POP displays and flags that truly set your business apart. 

Image Enhancement Through Displays

8 Interesting Facebook Stats to Help You Increase Engagement [Infographic]

Written by Steve Rayson | @steverayson

All the evidence suggests that Facebook’s News Feed is now one of the most powerful content channels in the world. Don't believe us? Let’s look at some recent studies.

Shareaholic research shows social media now drives more traffic to its publishers' websites than search, and that Facebook dwarfs all other networks. According to Shareaholic's latest report, Facebook now drives 25% of all traffic to its publishers' websites.
Also, according to Forrester, Facebook owns 13% of all time spent on mobile devices. Plus, the average U.S. Facebook user (there are 222 million of them) spends 14 hours a month in his or her mobile Facebook News Feed.

The ability to create engaging posts in Facebook has therefore become a key part of any content amplification strategy. But what can you do to create better post engagement?

Mari Smith and BuzzSumo have put together the following helpful infographic on eight Facebook engagement statistics that every content marketer needs to know.

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8 Interesting Facebook Stats to Help You Increase Engagement [Infographic]

Sign Regulations: Follow Them or Face the Consequences

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Sign Regulations: Follow Them or Face the Consequences

All municipalities have regulation about signage, both signs that are permanent and temporary. We can provide guidance with respect to any permitting process you might need to follow and ensure your signs don’t inadvertently break any local rules, but it’s not a bad idea for you to understand your city’s regulations.

For instance, the city of San Diego regulates all signage that’s visible from the public right-of-way, even signs that are intended to be temporary. According to information recently sent to residents throughout the city:

1) Temporary window or building signs:

• May be painted on the interior of a window, or constructed of cloth or paper and attached to the interior of a window or interior building wall
• May not be attached or affixed in any manner to the exterior surface of any window or building
• Shall be permitted for no more than 60 consecutive calendar days

2) All permanent signs must have a permit sticker affixed to them to indicate review and approval.

City inspectors aren’t the only people who may scrutinize your signage, as those who received the mailing that contained the information above were also asked to be on the lookout for violations in their neighborhoods and file complaints if deemed appropriate. It’s certainly best to adhere to the rules about signage to eliminate any chance of being considered a violator and possibly being fined for your transgression.

Have a question about whether an existing sign is legal or need guidance about where to place new signs—even those that are temporary? Give Signarama—Kearny Mesa a call; we’ll be happy to help.

Sign Regulations: Follow Them or Face the Consequences

When the Weather Outside is Frightful…

When the Weather Outside is Frightful…

 

OK, the weather in San Diego is usually not going to be described as frightful, but we do have occasional rain (sometimes with wind thrown in), not to mention bright sunshine and heat. What does
this mean if your signs will “live” outside? You need to carefully choose the materials you use.

Here are a few options:

• MDO, exterior plywood panels that have a resin-impregnated fiber overlay fused to them. Typical applications: sign panels, highway and traffic signs, and billboards.
• Aluminum, which is available in a wide variety of colors and sizes, and often features one color side and one white side. Typical applications: No parking signs and real estate signage.
• Alumalite, a strong aluminum composite panel with a high-density core that won’t swell, corrode, rot or delaminate due to prolonged water exposure. Typical applications: post and panel signs, hanging signs, and wall-mounted signs.
• Acrylic, often referred to as Plexiglas, which has outstanding physical, mechanical, optical, chemical-resistant and thermal properties. Typical applications: point-of-purchase displays and lightboxes.
• Magnetics, which are completely waterproof and flexible, and available in a wide variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. Typical applications: menu boards and vehicle signs.
• Banners, which are made from a nylon-reinforced vinyl material and usually designed with graphics on just one side. Typical applications: event signage, grand opening announcements and trade shows.

Of course, each of these options has both advantages and disadvantages. Once you tell us your specific needs and your budget, we’ll counsel you on which material will work best for your signs. At Signarama—Kearny Mesa, we’re always happy to be of service, rain or shine!

When the Weather Outside is Frightful…

Small business marketing 101: Easy ways to grow your business

Small business marketing 101: Easy ways to grow your business
By Bob Gorman http://goo.gl/lj7ntg


If you are not happy with the results of your marketing efforts for your small business, you are not alone. The unfortunate truth is that many small business owners often feel lost when it comes to marketing. There may be a general idea of funding one marketing project and seeing what the results are before you move forward with other efforts. If you like the results, you may repeat the project. If not, you may move on to another marketing project. While this approach may provide some results, the fact is that the best results come from developing a strategic, well-thought out marketing plan. This plan essentially will be well-researched and will focus your marketing dollars in different, planned areas.

Defining Your Budget
Before you can determine if you want to fund a radio campaign, a Yellow Pages ad or some other marketing option, you need to define your budget. The fact is that you have a limited amount of funds available for your company’s marketing, so you want to channel these funds into the most cost-effective solutions. Defining your budget up-front before you create your plan will help you to determine how to best allocate your funds for a certain period of time.

Incorporate Social Media
If you are not already incorporating social media into your marketing efforts, you are missing out on a highly cost-effective way to reach out to your existing consumers and to branch out your presence in the marketplace. Most social media marketing is free of charge to you. For example, it is free to create a business presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other sites. Once you have created an account, you can use your business presence to announce promotions, build your brand’s image, promote contests, announce new products, and more. This can be done free of charge, and you only need to develop a following on these social media sites and make an effort to use them regularly to enjoy great results.

Think About Corporate Gifts
If you are like many other small business owners, you may immediately think about marketing solutions like investing in signage and radio or television spots. However, you may also benefit from investing in more personalized marketing solutions. For example, corporate gifts like customized magnets, pens, water bottles, golf towels and other items can be highly beneficial. Corporate gifts are one of the most sought after promotional items. The best corporate gifts will be personalized with your company’s logo, a tag line if you have  one and even contact information or your website address. These may be gifts that your target audience regularly uses, so they keep your company at the forefront of your audience’s attention.

Engage Your Audience
As a final point, when you are creating your small business marketing plan, think about how you can engage your audience. Marketing is generally viewed as a one-way method of communication, but the most successful campaigns often include some participation from the audience. For example, you can think about how you can create contests or use coupons to more actively engage your audience. Through interaction, you can create a buzz and keep your customers thinking about your company, and this can yield great results. One idea would be to offer a discount to any customers who re-tweet your promotional message on Twitter.

The fact is that marketing can cost an arm and a leg, and you may be overwhelmingly frustrated by how much money you spend on campaigns and efforts that yield little return. As you can see, you can develop a marketing plan that is cost-effective for you and that will incorporate many free or affordable solutions. Keep in mind that a great marketing plan may need to be revised and updated as new information about return on investment becomes available. However, sitting down today to develop an initial plan that includes some of these great ideas will help you to put your best foot forward as you reach out to your audience

By Bob Gorman http://goo.gl/lj7ntg 

Small business marketing 101: Easy ways to grow your business

Focus on Fonts and Capitalization

Focus on Fonts and Capitalization

One of the most important decisions you have to make when creating signs is which font to use. After all, if people can’t easily read your sign, you’ve messed up.

The process of choosing a font can be mind-boggling…but here are a few tips:

Serif or sans serif?

A serif font has “notches” at the end of each word (like this one—Times New Roman)—while a sans serif font does not (like Arial). The general rule of thumb is that serif fonts should be used for copy, while sans serif fonts are best for headings.

Many signs consist of headings, so using a sans serif font is a good choice. For instance:

VOTE TODAY UNTIL 8 PM

That font is Arial. It’s clean and easily readable, a stark contrast to the following:

VOTE TODAY UNTIL 8 PM

That font is Times. Since it’s a serif font, it’s “busier” than Atial or other sans serif fonts, and as a result lacks the same impact.

All caps or sentence case?

Equally important as making a good font choice is choosing between using all caps or sentence case (when just the first word is capitalized). Consider the following:

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to sign capitalization, but the more copy a sign contains, the less likely you should capitalize all the letters. Again, it’s about readability. For instance, our example above has three words plus a time, so it’s fine to capitalize everything, but see what happens when you start adding copy:

VOTE TODAY UNTIL 8 PM

EXERCISE YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
PLEASE HAVE A PHOTO ID READY

All those capital letters are a bit jarring. This reads better:

VOTE TODAY UNTIL 8 PM

Exercise your constitutional right
Make your voice heard
Please have a photo ID ready

You can also choose to keep the sans serif font for the heading and use a serif font for the copy:

VOTE TODAY UNTIL 8 PM

Exercise your constitutional right
Make your voice heard
Please have a photo ID ready

What’s the takeaway here? Don’t overlook the importance of fonts and capitalization when designing signs. Those of us who make signs for a living can certainly assist you with making good decisions, since you don’t want your compelling copy to lose impact due to using a less-than-ideal font or making a poor capitalization choice.

www.sdsar.com

Focus on Fonts and Capitalization

Dog Days of Summer: Sign Faux Pas | Signarama San Deigo (Kearny Mesa), CA

Dog Days of Summer: Sign Faux Pas


Although it never gets too cold in San Diego, we can’t wait until these unusually hot temperatures are a memory. With back to school just around the corner and folks getting worn out from the heat, it seems like a good time to have a few laughs at others’ expense. Take a look at these sign miscues:

Doesn’t seem like a special deal to me!

Yikes! No one noticed this very public typo during production—but I’m sure many people notice it now every day.

I’m confused. What about you?

Toad, eh? Will “all others” be painted green and given warts?

This sure seems unnecessary.

What do all these signs have in common, other than containing typos or being unclear? They were not produced at Signarama—Kearny Mesa! We work with our clients to ensure their signs are clear and error-free. Let us know if we can help you.

www.sdsar.com

Dog Days of Summer: Sign Faux Pas | Signarama San Deigo (Kearny Mesa), CA