Page 43 - 101 Ways to Market Your Business

101 WAYS TO MARKET YOUR BUSINESS

1 Promote your business from the outside in

Be proud to promote your business by putting a sign on
the wall. I used to deal with a large graphic design company
that had an upstairs office on one of the busiest inter-
sections in town. They had a huge wall in full view from
anywhere on the intersection and they never got around to
painting a sign on this wall. Eventually they moved out
because business was bad. If they had spent a few hundred
dollars on a simple sign business would have got a whole
lot better a whole lot faster.

Outdoor signage works seven days a week, 24 hours a
day, whether you are open or closed. Use it to its full
advantage. Be aware of local government regulations govern-
ing signage restrictions such as size. Work with these
regulations but make your signs as big as you legally can.
Don’t clutter them, just a few words outlining what you
do and when you are open. Make the colours stand out
and check any artwork thoroughly for spelling or grammat-
ical mistakes.

I once had a SCUBA Diving School. One day I put a
dummy on the roof dressed in old diving equipment and
it looked real. The amount of coverage and exposure that
this dummy gave my business was quite extraordinary—to
the point that one night it was stolen. The local radio,
television and newspaper all took the story on and a great
hunt began to find the dummy. I later estimated that this
dummy and the loss of it gave my business approximately
$20 000 worth of free advertising.

Before you decide on sign-writing, drive around and
look at other businesses to see what styles you like and
what catches your eye. Visit your competitors’ offices, shops
or factories to determine how you could make your business
signage more appealing to potential customers.

Remember to make your sign-writing match your corpo-
rate image and company colours, otherwise things can start

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