How to make your business sign stand out from the crowd

Business signage is essential if you have physical premises of any kind, whether you’re a high-end retailer with a luxury boutique in a busy town centre, or you’re a car garage operating on an industrial estate.

If your customers need to find you or see that you are present in their vicinity, signage is still the best way to attract their attention.

But it can be hard to stand out from the competition with so many innovative and interesting signs out there. This applies in equal measure to event and permanent signage. Many businesses co-locate and vie for visual attention with limited space. The same applies to exhibitions, events and with advertising space, where there is only so much room and just a limited amount of time to make that vital impact.

So how can you ensure that your business signage does stand out and give the right impression?

1. Know what your signage is for

A piece of permanent signage for a shop exterior will look different and have different messaging on it than a temporary piece of vinyl signage for an event or exhibition. Define your goals and don’t try to achieve too much with one piece. It’s great to have a suite of different pieces of signage, but plan them as a set so that you get maximum benefits and reusability.

For example, if you attend a lot of trade events then it may be worth investing in a large pop-up stand with a frame, carry case and changeable panels so that you can adjust your messaging and get great value from your investment. Different sign types include outdoor, informational, accessibility or persuasive (including point of sale for retailers.) Always set goals and objectives for each sign to ascertain their success.

2. Consider your budget

If you have money to invest in quality signage, then it can reap dividends over the longer-term. Aim to buy the best signage that you can for if it needs to occupy a permanent space or have a high-quality impact. Temporary signs for events or exhibitions can be disposable – or use digital signage so that you aren’t wasting materials or your budget. The better your signage, the more it will stand out.

3. Get your brand in place

If you don’t already have a brand or logo, now is the time to develop one. Work with a graphic designer with a background in branding and communicate your business purpose, objectives and values. Define your target audience and your typical customer. Input with any other information that you can provide, such as other brands that you like by way of example.

The designer will help to create a logo that stands out and which appeals to your audience. This can then be replicated across your signage to great effect. Remember that signs are visual in nature and a great logo will instantly provide that ‘wow’ factor.

4. Prepare your messaging

With so many signs to look at, customers need to be engaged with clear, simple and ready messaging. Use a headline, an explanatory sentence and any key bullet points underneath. Minimise words as far as possible and don’t clutter your sign with unnecessary extras. Use a readable font and avoid scripts. Make the call to action clear and succinct if the sign needs to stimulate a response.

5. Design for readability

Your signage must be read from a distance and by people who are passing; not all of whom will have great eyesight. So choose colours with a contrast, such as a black typeface on a pale background. This is known as light reflectancy and it helps to know what colours stand out against others.

Don’t clutter the signage with badly contrasting colours either, as it’s one thing for your sign to be unreadable from a distance but you don’t want it to be garish and ugly either. The choice of colour palette will depend on the image and personality of your business. Your designer can use colour theoryto create the right look and feel, which will resonate with your target market. For example, red denotes passion and energy, whilst yellow is intellectual and optimistic.

6. Test your sign

Before you send your signage graphics to print, test them with a small audience of customers. Get your printer to the site to measure up and check accessibility and H&S considerations (including lighting) for permanent signage. Check the detail to avoid any costly errors or reprints.

7.Evaluate

You’ll soon know if your sign is outperforming the competition with an upswing in footfall to your business or increased volumes in your intended call to action. Review, evaluate and look for ways in which to improve your signage in future, aiming to constantly better your efforts to stay ahead of the game.

Photo by Geraldine Lewa on Unsplash

Code Ninjas signs first UK franchisees – in record-breaking time

Four entrepreneurs from Greater London will launch the first ever Code Ninjas coding centre on British soil.

After attending a discovery day in May, the four friends instantly recognised the opportunity and wasted no time securing their position as the UK’s first franchisees. The grand opening of Code Ninjas Pinner and Harrow is planned for September 2019.

Word is getting out about the grand opening planned for September, and customer enquiries are already coming through thick and fast. David Graham, founder and CEO, expects it won’t be long before other prospects follow suit, keen to capitalise on the demand.

“We’ve never had a franchisee come on board as quickly – it actually made Code Ninjas history,” he explains. “We’ve had an unbelievable response since announcing the franchise is expanding into the UK – more than 40 serious prospects attended our first UK discovery day. Coding is big business; parents are crying out for a fun, friendly portal for their children to develop this skill. It was a case of right place, right time for our expansion and we’re very excited to have welcomed our first UK franchisees into the fold.”

The franchisees bringing Code Ninjas to the UK are Prasad Prabhakaran, Srinivasa Rao, Sridhar Bhat and Sharath Iyer (pictured above)– friends and associates from Pinner and Harrow. This new business endeavour combines their experience in technology, finance, telecoms, operations and education.

“As a team, our skills are complementary, and our objectives are the same – we want to build a profitable business that will make an impact in our community,” says former technology executive, Prasad. “Kids coding programmes are in such high-demand across the board. In Pinner and Harrow specifically, there is an abundance of business professionals who understand the importance of technology and the benefit of programmes, like Code Ninjas, for their own children.

“With such demand for kids coding sessions, we expect the franchise to grow quickly. Our long-term goal is to open additional centres in neighbouring communities in the coming years. We’re very proud that we’re the first to bring Code Ninjas to the UK and can’t wait to see what the future holds.”

Kids coding is big business, both in the US and the UK, as parents continue to put emphasis on STEM education for their own children. Graham, a father of two, understands the obvious need for Code Ninjas centres in the UK:

“In this day and age, it’s crucial that our children are able to not just use but understand and master the technology that plays a part of their everyday lives. What we offer is a fun, safe place where kids can come and just be kids, whilst learning a valuable skill. That’s why the programme has performed so well. We now have more than 150 Code Ninjas centres across the US and Canada, with almost 100 more openings planned before the end of the year.”

David and his team are confident that the UK will replicate, if not surpass the US in terms of growth speed and breadth of coverage. Studies show that nine out of ten parents want their children to learn how to code, and Code Ninjas aims to provide that service to every community in the UK that will support it. A team of experts at Code Ninjas head office in the US, as well as an in-country team in Britain, will support UK franchisees as they work to get centres open, operational and profitable.

“Our priority is to support the Prasad and his fellow franchisees with a seamless and successful launch of the very first UK Code Ninjas. Here’s to the first of many launches this side of the pond!”