There are Signs New York is Recovering from the Recession

Let’s face it; the West Coast may have been where the housing bubble burst, but the world looks to New York City when it comes to financial futures. The Big Apple is the hub of the economic universe, the home of Wall Street, the alpha and omega of trade and commerce. As a custom sign company servicing New York businesses, we have our finger on the pulse of this city in a way not many others do. When industries are in a holding or cut-back pattern due to fears over an extended recession, they don’t order signs. When it looks like things are improving, the desire for change is stronger, so orders start pouring in. Using that one statistic as a barometer, we can tell you that there are signs New York is recovering from the recession.

Specialty Signs has been in business for over forty years and we have seen it all. The gas lines of the seventies were followed by Reaganomics and bull markets in the eighties. The nineties were highlighted by some of the lowest unemployment rates in history, but policies and deregulation set the table for disaster in the new millennium. Since 2000, New York has seen tragedy and triumph, good times and bad, and our company has remained consistent throughout. Orders have come in slowly during tough economies and more rapidly when money is moving freely. Judging by what we’re seeing right now, there are some good times ahead.

A strong economy begins with the belief system of the consumer. As business owners, it’s our responsibility to spread a positive message that times are changing for the better. At a juncture like the one we’re at right now, it’s possible to look at things in a negative light or focus on the positive. Some financial analysts are warning that we could be facing a double-dip recession. That’s a self-fulfilling prophecy if enough people believe it. Fear will prevent consumers from spending and the market will crash again, if we allow that to happen. By getting money to move again, we’re looking at much better times. Our indicators from the number of new signs NYC businesses are buying from us tell us we’re moving forward, not slipping back.

Here at Specialty Signs, we’re not finance people or investors. We’re a group of people that design and manufacture the custom signs New York business owners want and need. We’re also a company that’s weathered storms for over four decades now and we know when the rain has stopped and the sun is coming out again. These past few years have been tough for New Yorkers, but we’ve survived and there are better times ahead. They’re not in the distant future at the tail end of another tough economic crisis; they’re upon us and happening today. It’s time to live and enjoy life again with a positive outlook for the future. It’s also time to get rid of that ratty old sign you’ve had out front for far too long. Call us and we’ll design a new one for you.

What is the ROI for your Signage NYC?

Do your signs offer a return on investment that you can actually measure? Of course they do; they’re advertising and promotional items aren’t they? Signs are an expense that business owners agree pays for itself, but have you ever looked at them as a profit-making venture? The return you get for the amount of money you lay out for a sign is one of the highest cost-to-profit ratios you have, so why don’t you ever look at it when you’re figuring out the books at the end of the quarter? The customers that came through your door in that three month period may have found you via newspaper ad or coupons or they may have just seen your sign. Did you think to ask them? What is the ROI for your signage NYC?

Every company has an advertising budget. The way that you spend that budget is determined by the response that you get from each advertising medium. If you run a coupon in the local paper or as part of a direct mail campaign, you track the results. If you run an ad in a local magazine, you put a code into the ad and ask consumers to mention it so you know the response comes from the ad. These are all standard ways of tracking return on investment, the determining factor in how much you’ll spend in the next week, month, quarter, or year on advertising. Did you think to include your sign in those calculations? You spent a certain amount of money on it and it brings customers through your front door for the first time. Are you tracking how many?

Here’s a simple exercise. The only numbers that matter in an ROI conversion formula are the cost of the advertising (investment) and the amount of the sale from the customer (return). That sale happens at the register, so put a checklist at the register that your sales clerk can use to keep track of where your customers are coming from. Have the clerk ask each customer how they heard about you. The checklist can contain fields for coupon ad, magazine ad, word of mouth, and most importantly “signs”. Walk-ins and drive-bys are customers who saw your sign on the street, a direct return on your investment. How many of those do you get? The signs New York pedestrians and motorists see every day are the most effective advertising there is.

Are we telling you to stop all your other advertising and invest in signs only? Of course not; that would be a terrible idea. What we are saying is that you may be spending more than you should on other mediums and ignoring your most glaring need – a new sign for the front of your building or office. The custom signs New York responds to are those that are sharp, clear, and new – something different from the drab and dreary cityscape they’re used to seeing every day. Mount one of those on your storefront or in your window and you’ll see an increase in the number of potential customers walking through your door. They’ll be coming because of the sign – just ask them and you’ll see. The return more than justifies the investment.

Let us customize your Signs New York

A large percentage of the signs New York businesses are displaying are not getting the results that they could be. There are missing elements, unclear messages, and faded paint all over town that ruins the desired effect. Are you missing a letter in your company name? Is there a logo incorporated into the design? When the sign was first made, did you have a digital printer manufacture it or was it created using an offset process? You might have noticed by now that there are companies all around you that seem to have clearer and more attractive signage on their store fronts. How do you get something like that?

The answer, of course, is to have your signs made by Specialty Signs. Our design team is one of the best in the business and we offer the digital printing NYC businesses need to compete in an environment where signs are everywhere. Standing out in the crowd is one thing; being seen in an ocean of neon and video is another. Going with a traditional sign in that environment is a good idea because it sets you apart from the electronics that New Yorkers have become anesthetized to, but that traditional sign needs to be sharp, clear, and get your message across in one glance. That combination isn’t easy to come up with, but we can do it for you.

The design of your sign begins with a concept. You may have your own ideas or you might want us to develop something for you. Some of our clients hire marketing and branding firms to help them come up with a concept and then ask us to create an image that reflects their ideas. We’re extremely good at it, having done it for a number of years now. The custom signs New York City businesses display will be overwhelmed and ignored if they’re not done just right. We do the job that others who have gone out of business were unable to do. That’s why we’ve been around since 1971 and they are looking for another line of work right now.

What kind of custom sign are you looking for? Modern technology has given us the capabilities to create signs in plastic, metal, vinyl, and wood. With digital printing, we can design anything that your mind can imagine, and then modify and enhance it. If you don’t have an idea of your own, our design team can come up with a concept for you. Maybe one of the traditional designs that work for so many others will be right for you, or maybe a completely original custom design and branding campaign is what is required. We’re up for the task either way. Give us a call today and find out what Specialty Signs can do for you. By the looks of the sign you have out front right now, you could really use our help.

Shoppers respond to signs NYC, not Sales Pitches

Are you a New York City business owner? Are you constantly looking for ways to promote your business and not getting the results you think you should? Here’s the reason why – shoppers respond to signs NYC, not sales pitches. Attraction works far better than promotion in the Big Apple because New Yorkers are solicited more often than any other residents in the United States. We are constantly called by telemarketers, pitched by commercials, and harangued by street vendors. Any consumer who goes through that every day will not respond to a sales pitch, but they might pay attention to a sign they can read by choice.

Modern consumers are a different breed than the shoppers of old. We live in the time of social media, when people are used to chatting with each other in an impersonal and non-threatening forum where we won’t be solicited – at least not openly. Any individual that tries to post a sales message online in a social setting is not likely to have a large follower base. Those who do it subtly, like including a business link in their profile, will generate business because they’re doing it indirectly. That’s how signs work. They can tell the world what can be found by going to a certain physical location or website, but they don’t actually pitch the consumer.

A typical physical retail location will have a sign out front telling shoppers the name of the company and what is sold there, including perhaps a brand logo that consumers will recognize. Inside the store, you’ll find sales signs and department signs, some of which will announce discounts or savings, but none of which will push you with an obnoxious sales pitch. Those that do are the signs New York shoppers are likely to ignore. We’ve become immune to the sales pitch, more likely to walk out than to actually buy something if a sales rep tries the hard sell approach. The exit will surely be accompanied by an expletive or two, but that will be the extent of the conversation. The end result for the business will be no sale.

To be successful in today’s business world, you need to understand what your customers and potential customers are responding to. Here at Specialty Signs, our design team has years of experience creating the signs that get results – the custom signs New York business owners ask us to make for them. We know, because we pay attention, that those signs work best when they attract but don’t openly promote. It’s a fine line, but our team knows how to tell the difference. Do you? Contact us today to learn more if you’re looking for signage that will improve your sales numbers without actually doing any selling for you. On the other hand, if you want promotional signs that pitch, maybe for the tourists that come to town, we can make those for you also. Call us today to learn more.

How to Incorporate Your Branding into Signs NYC Consumers See

One of the best ways to effectively market your business is to create a brand that everyone will associate with you. In an earlier post we referenced McDonald’s, the undisputed king of brand advertising. There are others that you would immediately recognize, car companies, beer labels, and record companies come to mind. The latter may be more into digital music and CD manufacturing now, but everyone in that industry remembers the old RCA Victor label, perhaps the most recognizable brand of its time. Does your company have something like that to offer? Here at Specialty Signs, we can help you incorporate your branding into signs NYC consumers see and respond to. Even if you’re a new business, it’s never too early to begin brand marketing.

To start the process, you’ll need a good logo designer. You’re in luck. There’s no reason to search any further because we have the design team in house that can help you create a brand which will tell the world exactly what you do. Some of our clients employ marketing firms to work out the concepts first. If you can’t afford that, we’re more than happy to sit with you and come up with something that matches your vision of what your company is and can be in the future. Our people have years of experience expressing themselves through quality artwork, so you’ll find our input useful and intuitive. The end result will be a brand you’ll be proud to display on signs, stationary, and your front door.

By taking advantage of our all-in-one design and printing services you can save money and conserve time for other more pressing issues you should be dealing with. Our specialty is sign design and manufacturing. Yours is whatever you do for a living. Stick to what you do best and allow us to handle the artwork for you. Once your brand has been created, it will be enhanced through digital imaging and then printed as a sample you can peruse at your leisure. If you’re satisfied, we’ll take it from there. Within a few days we can have all the branded signage NYC needs to get to know you and begin developing a trusted relationship with you.

Here at Specialty Signs we pride ourselves on always offering top quality signs for an affordable price. We also believe that helpful and polite customer service is something every customer deserves, not a privilege but a right. For those who are developing a branding campaign and need signs New York will respond to, this customer service is a key to the entire process. If we aren’t on the same page as you, the end result won’t be what you want. When it comes to communication and cooperation, our people are the best there is. Call us and you’ll find out for yourself. You could be the next McDonald’s success story – if you develop a good branding campaign right now. We here at Specialty Signs can help you do that.

Specialty Signs offers Digital Printing NYC can Afford

Digital printing has been around for years now, so why do so many print shops in New York still charge for it like it’s a unique service? As a company in the industry we are appalled that our competitors continue to gouge the unknowing with high prices and in many cases poor quality workmanship. Neither is necessary with the technology that is available today. The processes are simpler, costs are lower, and prices should reflect both of those. You’re in the one place where that is the case. Specialty Signs offers digital printing NYC business owners can afford.

Digital printing has changed the quality of what printers can produce on stationary, publications, and signs. In years past, the finished product could only be as good as the original that was furnished to the graphic design team. Today, that original can be enhanced and modified through digital technology, making it sharper and more vivid for the reproduction process. The old way – offset printing – just can’t compete. It is for this reason that printers feel justified in charging higher prices for a process that is actually more cost efficient for them.

If you have been victimized by the “modern technology” excuse for price-gouging, you may feel it’s not worthwhile to use digital printing. Think again. Here at Specialty Signs we charge fair prices for digital imagery that is far superior to anything an offset printer can do. When our customers need the signs New York City consumers will look twice at, they know they can get them right here. Our finished products are some of the finest in the sign making industry, and much of that is due to our state-of-the-art digital printing process. You can find it elsewhere, but not for the prices we charge. Our fees are in many cases lower than the offset printers.

What is it you want to say with your sign and where will it be displayed? Do you have room for a large sign or banner or are you limited on space? The smaller the area, the more important it is to have clear, sharp graphics that stand out, even from a long distance away. With signs that are printed digitally, you can actually read the words from across the street, something you might not be able to do with standard printed or painted signs. They tend to get a little blurry as the distance gets longer. It gets even worse if you’re in an area where there are large surfaces covered in neon and video screens. Those items tend to drown out conventional signs.

How much did you pay for the last sign NYC pedestrians or motorists actually responded to? Do you even know if you got a response from it at all? Most businesses don’t ask every customer how they learned about them, but they should. Track your response rate on all of the advertising and promotions you do, especially your signs. You may find that they’re the real reason people walk through your door. That might make you decide to save all the other money you spend on coupons and newspaper ads and invest in more signage. Call us for more details.

The Vinyl Banners New York Businesses Use the Most

What could you possibly use a vinyl banner for? With all of the new technology available, wouldn’t it be a better idea to go with one of those virtual signs or flashy electronic billboards? You can if you want to, but you’ll have a hard time transporting that sign if you decide to take the show on the road. Trade show banners are number one on the list for vinyl banners New York businesses use the most. A simple eight, ten, or twelve foot banner displayed above your booth or table is still the best way to attract attention. Those attending these events spend enough time being solicited by pop-up ads on their computers. They don’t need to see them in person at a trade show when they’re doing some serious shopping.

The success of any sign is measured by the response rate. Tracking the responses from a vinyl banner is as simple as looking at the line forming underneath it. Take your company picnic for instance. Hang a banner above the barbeque telling everyone that’s where the food is and you’ll see them come over in droves. Imagine doing that for a sales event. Many companies do, making outdoor promotions the number two most commonly used venue for vinyl banners. Their durability and resistance to the elements makes them not only the perfect choice for today’s event, but also for events in the future. A banner rolls up into a compact package and can be stored away easily until it’s needed again. Try that with your electronic sign.

Automobile dealers buy vinyl banners because they are reusable. That “Presidents’ Day Sale” banner you see every year – do you think that’s new? Of course not – they clean it up and hang the same one year after year until it’s too faded or stained to use again. Even then, a good industrial cleaning solution will usually make it look like brand new. Those who don’t want to invest in the expensive signs NYC auto dealers are buying from other sign companies can save by buying vinyl banners from Specialty Signs that they can reuse over and over again. We’ll even customize it with your logo and company phone number if you like.

Another very common use of vinyl banners is the “Coming Soon” banner that goes up when a new location is leased or a construction project is going on. Once again, the resistance to the elements that a vinyl banner offers, combined with its affordability, makes it the perfect choice for situations like these. Banners for a new location or construction project are hung outside, meaning that they will be exposed to sun, rain, wind, even snow. No other sign holds up better to these elements than a vinyl banner. It’s also one of the more noticeable types of advertising you can do, one that pedestrians and commuters alike will pay attention to.

If you’ve done internet marketing, you know that success will come if you have enough page views. With sign advertising, you’re looking at the same concept, but it’s harder to measure. The results can’t really be calculated until the sale is over or the new location opens, but you can’t deny the return on investment numbers for even one customer making a purchase. Vinyl banners more than any other signs New York businesses owners purchase from us, turn a profit. Try one and see for yourself.

The Custom Signs New York Needs Today have to be Different

In a city the size of New York, your senses are assaulted constantly by neon, video, and flash. There’s no way around it, even out on Long Island or in the neighborhoods of Brooklyn. Everywhere you go there are signs of all makes and models, shouting out messages and promotions to you that you eventually get anesthetized to. That new billboard with the moving images might have been cool the first time you saw it, but after sitting in traffic in front of it every day for a week you no longer notice what it has to say. To get your attention, a company needs to be creative. That’s why the custom signs New York needs today have to be different.

Go back in time ten years. Do you remember which signs were displayed in your neighborhood? Was there something new that caught the eye of all your neighbors one week and was forgotten the next? That’s how New York City works. Our lives move so fast here that new gets old fast and we forget all about it. When a new custom sign goes into the window or onto a billboard, it catches the eye because it’s something different. After a few short days or weeks it blends into the landscape and becomes just another splash of color in the living mural that is New York City.

So, if that’s what you’re up against, how do you create custom signs that pedestrians and drivers are going to respond to? Here at Specialty Signs, we do it by combining the simple and straightforward with the slightly different. Novelty signs are great, and we do make them, but in most cases you’re better off going with a traditional design and a custom logo. Today’s successful marketing plans are those that incorporate branding. The signs NYC consumers respond to are those they see every day, even if they don’t realize they see them. Those images burn themselves into the mind’s eye and drive shoppers to destinations without them being aware of why they’re going there.

Imagine for a moment that you’re a traveler and a stranger in New York City who has suddenly been dropped into Times Square. The visual assault on the senses is overwhelming. None of it makes sense, because you’re not a New Yorker, so all the neon in the world isn’t going to get you to walk through the front door of any retail outlets – except for the place with those golden arches. The simplicity of the branding of McDonald’s is a wonderful example of what we’re talking about here. It’s not virtual or flashy; it’s recognizable and unique. That’s what your custom sign has to be.

The McDonald’s logo was created decades ago, so how does that illustrate the point about custom signs needing to be different today? If you go back twenty years, that sign stood out, but the billboards around it were more static and less animated. As electronics infiltrated the sign industry, virtual images and flash took over, drowning out their surroundings. These captured hundreds of new customers when they were new, because they were different. Now, they’re all blending together and no one who visits Times Square regularly is paying attention to them. It’s the simple designs, believe or not, that are attracting the most attention.

The signs New York consumers respond to today are those that they see every day, but those signs need to have images on them that can stay with the viewer long after they’ve passed them by. Video billboards are like television programs you won’t remember when they’re over. Custom signs with logos and clear messaging are what will sell for you. Contact us to learn more.