Let’s look at the best way to ensure that your business signs are working as hard as they possibly can to help your business succeed and swim against the tide. Successful business signs are a combination of many different attributes, it’s got to be the right

combination of:

• Messages – text, logos, fonts, colors, images and design

• Marketing position – placement is also important – have you got the right sign, at the right size, in the right place?

• Demographics – are your business signs targeting the right demographic?

• Will your sign make people stop and take notice – even if they are busily getting on with their lives?

Good business signs are easily seen and easily understood. A cluttered sign in a fabulous position will not be able to get the message clearly across to your potential customers. As a general rule business signs have just three seconds in which to make an impact on passersby – and three seconds is not a lot of time for the brain to compute masses of information including colors, texts and logos. The more words there are on the sign, and particularly the more unfamiliar type words there are on your business signs, the longer they will take to read – it really is common sense.

You must be sure that your sign can not only be seen but also read as people walk or drive by. Placement of roadside business signs has been extensively studied. The data has determined how  large a sign needs to be in order to safely be seen by passing motorists at varying distances, traveling at various speeds.

For example, in order to see and read a business sign while travelling at 30 miles per hour on a double lane highway, the sign will need to be visible from at least 400 feet away. As the speed increases so must the size of the business signs. In order to read a sign when travelling between 45 and 50 miles per hour, the sign must be visible from at least 680 feet away on a dual lane highway.

Single lanes without the need for a lane change can warrant substantially smaller business signs. Not only must your sign be visible from the correct distance, but the lettering on the sign must also be large enough to read at a great distance. Experts in business signs recommend a minimum of 1 inch of lettering for every 25 feet of distance the reader will be from the sign. This means a sign

which is 400 feet away must have lettering at a minimum of 16 inches tall in order to be legible from the correct distance. You will also need a substantial amount of white empty space on your business sign for it to really stand out – around 40 percent is reported to be optimum.

The height of your business signs is also incredibly important when you need to attract the attention of passing motorists. The top of the sign must be at least 12 feet high for the driver of a vehicle travelling at 25 miles per hour in two lanes of traffic. As with size, the height needs to increase to coincide with the speed of the passing traffic. For example, a car travelling in excess of 50 miles per

hour will need business signs to be at least 50 feet high in order for them to be clearly visible and legible.

One method in which you can ensure that your business signs can be read as easily as possible is by illuminating them. This helps them to stand out in the first place and also allows for the lettering and the message of the sign to be clearly legible at all hours of the night and day. If your sign is not illuminated, yet trying to compete with other brightly lit signs, then it will not be able to make any kind of impression at all.

Business signs are an extremely operative and cost effective marketing strategy if you get them right. Ask a professional to make sure that all requirements are met to have your business signs doing the best job they possibly can.