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An Apple a Day: Building Your Brand

There are few marketing tactics as important as branding. After all, what do we most associate with McDonalds? Those golden arches have become a staple of American culture. It is their signature. Its image creates a feeling for passersby. And depending on your personal experiences with the chain, the mention of those arches likely stirred up a response in you as well. The same can be said for many other businesses as well when it comes to their brand. Nike is almost always associated with the "swoosh". Apple is associated with... well... the apple. And whenever you think about Polo, it is hard to get the picture of that guy playing polo on the horse out of your head.

As a form of marketing, branding creates an emotional response in your potential customers by simply introducing them to a visual, smell, or sound. The simplest and most common way to brand is by creating a logo and subsequently a sign to go along with it. But what happens when you are first dipping your feet into this pool of an effective company awareness strategy? Below you will find a couple of common pitfalls to avoid in creating your company's public facing identity.

  1. Always Check Your Spelling



    This may seem like a no-brainer, but you will find simple grammatical issues are fairly common place. You might be surprised how something as simple as this could be the difference between a customer deciding to visit your location/try your product and moving to a competitor. The attention to detail here will let your customer know you are professional and will put just as much attention into delivering the service they expect. So for goodness sake, spell check!


  2. Less is More



    When it comes to signage, it is often tempting to bombard the viewer with a lot of information about how great you are and how fantastic your product is. The problem is, most often you will only have 7 seconds to make an impression. If your sign has too much information, the customer may lose interest or may simply not want to take the time to read it. Go for a clean and stylish look that conveys your message without words. Also, try to find a simple and elegant color scheme that helps to brand your business instead of pushing them down the street.


  3. Avoid Crude Humor/Innuendo

    Unless this is a specific tactic to go after a target in the marketplace, this should not be done. You will almost always alienate a larger portion of your potential audience by this. Besides, comedy is hard. Even some "professionals" can't do it well. I know you tell a mean one-liner at the company Christmas party, but let's keep that between friends. Stick to a branding image and maybe a slogan or company motto. This will give your brand better stickiness.



  4. Leave the Design to Professionals

    If you have never worked on a car in your life, would you try to install your own replacement transmission? If you have never even thought of being a surgeon, would you try to do your Aunt's triple bypass? Most likely, the answer is no (if yes, please consult a psychiatrist immediately). If you wouldn't trust yourself with something this risky, why would you trust the potential future of your business to someone who isn't a professional? This is what they have trained to do. While you were studying astro-physics on your way to becoming a rocket scientist, they were in their bedroom drawing and tracing images of the Thundercats over and over until they had the exact curvature of the Sword of Omens. Oh, and most have gone to school for it as well.





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