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Welcome to the Super Cheap Signs blog, a weekly column sharing sign-related marketing and business success stories. Every day we talk to dozens of people from all walks of life and in every type of business imaginable. During these discussions, we find out what's working for them and why. Through this blog, we share successes and learning experiences that could give you your next great idea, (or help you avoid your next bad idea).

Bookmark our blog or subscribe to our RSS feed and hopefully you can pull some useful information about marketing your own business.

Return to Super Cheap Signs Web Site

How to create a great outside sign

April 3rd, 2008

Before you design your sign, be sure to consider the intended display area for your signs. Many graphic artists make the mistake of creating designs that look fabulous on their screen but not so fabulous for a large display sign. Whereas text conveys the message in an electric file, graphic design conveys the message in a large printed product such as banners and cortex Bandit signs. This is why it is so important to have minimal written content.

With all the competition available in today’s world, it’s important to best utilize the sign colors and space to produce the best possible advantage. The right text will give the most import information needed, such as contact information. But it is the colors, the layout and the design which will grab new customers.

To maximize the impact of your signs, be sure to take into consideration where you want to place your signs. The placement of your signs plays a big role in how many new customers you gain.

Here are some quick tips prior to placing your Super Cheap Signs order

  1. View a couple of the areas or the location you will be placing your signs. Guess work can create a lot of wasted space. Outdoor signs are designed for pedestrians and motorists, the signs are expected to be more visible from farther distances than indoor signs. If most the new customers you want to attract will see them at night, you don’t want a black background with yellow letters.

  1. Vinyl banners are primarily used for its visual impact more than its word content. The visual display should be able say its message in seconds with a picture and minimal text. Use contrasting colors so the words and or pictures stand out. The colors you use in your banner should not match the color of the building or placement to which you will be using to hang the banner from.

  1. Consider who will be reading the sign and who you want to read the sign. If you own a coffee shop and the community is dog friendly, your banner can show a dog sitting at a table while its owner drinks coffee.

An education in transferring artwork from an electric file to corrugated plastics and vinyl banners.

March 20th, 2008

I’ve always believed that I can make anything if I set my mind to it. However, if you have no idea how something is made, you may think that making it should be a ‘piece of cake.’ But making a cake is not so simple and neither is printing yard signs and banners.

The commercial printing of yard signs and banners is actually rather fascinating. At a previous company I created a variety of different marketing materials. I helped with the size and shape of marketing materials and also proofed them for any possible errors. Nevertheless, I have never seen the actual process of a blank canvass go to a finished printed product.

Graphic designers are capable of creating beautiful commercial artwork. But transferring the artwork from an electronic file to corrugated plastic or a vinyl banner has more challenges than I realized. The worlds of creation and commercial printing can be as different as Venus and Pluto.

The first thing I did in my new position as Customer Service Representative was learn how signs are created from start to finish. I learned today that the method in which artwork is saved and sent to us makes a big difference. To help you save money, Super Cheap Signs requires all artwork saved as eps, ai and cdr. These are file types. If you would like to know more, SCS has a Help page called File Types. Even with the correct file type there is still more to it than just how you save a file. The design also has to be vectorized (also known as outlined).

Wise Geek defines vector graphics as “ The method using geometrical formulas is known as vector or vectorized graphics.” The reason vectorized graphics are good thing is because the image can be enlarged or reduced easily without losing any artwork quality.

If a file isn’t vectorized (outlined), our designers have to recreate the file or request from the customer that the artwork be resent as a vectorized file. Resending the file as vectorized is always the easiest choice. On the other hand, some artwork has been commercially purchased or saved from older programs that do not have the ability to be updated. When this happens, our designers will try to recreate the artwork in our studios.

If you want a better explanation of what a vectorized graphic looks like, check out the WebGrrl article “Convert any image to a vector image.”

New Kids On The Block

March 18th, 2008

Being the new kid in the office is always a bit awkward. Fortunately for me the group at Super Cheap Signs is a great bunch of Joes…and now a Jane with me as the new and only female addition. That alone should make some interesting story telling. Thankfully, I’m not the only new family member. Super Cheap Sign’s newest Sales Representative is Danny Harvill.

Danny is here to assist customers in determining which of our products will best fit their various needs. Super Cheap Signs realizes that every customer is different and so are their advertising needs. We want to make sure that each and every customer gets what they need and only what they need in a timely manner…and that they get it super cheap!

One thing I am particularly happy about is the relaxed atmosphere in the office and the thoughtful way in which people treat one another. Everyone is very friendly and open, so I haven’t had any problems asking questions and getting to know all of the Super Cheap Sign products and services. In fact, I have thoroughly enjoyed learning how signs are made.

As much as I would love to go on and on about how signs are made and how cool the process really is — I believe I’ll leave that for the near future. I feel very lucky to be part of the Super Cheap Signs family and look forward to talking to all the current and future Super Cheap Sign customers.

Quote of the day

March 7th, 2008

I have a new buddy who owns another sign shop.  Not just any sign shop, but a directly competing sign shop!  We were talking today and he said a great thing about customer service, “I don’t focus on trying to get new business, I focus on trying to get repeat business!” because he determines success by the level of customer service he provides, and the number of repeat orders is the measuring stick.

Placing Bandit Signs - Against the Law?

March 5th, 2008

Attached is an impassioned email from a loyal customer in the DC area. It’s about some of the laws that have been passed regarding the placement of so-called ‘Bandit Signs’, or Yard Signs, and their response. This customer game me permission to post the email, on the condition I leave out the author’s name. It’s a bit long, but for those of you interested in the topic its still a very good read.

You’ll also see there is a letter attached from a Real Estate Investor to the ACLU…

Happy Reading!

-Jon

Dear Jon:
I have been advised by my attorneys to simply change the phone number on the sign to an unpublished number. We rotate the phone numbers and we don’t list our company name in my home state, VA. I made it difficult for them to fine us ($100 a sign in VA, $500 a sign in MD). I changed our business over to an LLC from a sole proprietorship. Now, the registered agent for the company resides in 100 miles from the jurisdiction where we put the signs.

Electrical Upgrade

February 27th, 2008

By the way, we’ll be closed for a few hours on Thursday morning. Austin Energy is upgrading our electrical, and we’ll be without power until Noon CST on Thursday February 28. BEFORE: Think this electrical box can power a 7500 square foot manufacturing facility??  NOPE!

When we first moved into our really cool new 7500 square foot building, we felt like big shots. Then I turned the fan on in the bathroom (fart fan) and POOF! Blew a circuit. Uh Oh. Turned out I have more power in my shed at home that in this new building. Gary said, “can’t turn on a flashlight without tripping a circuit”!

Not all was lost however, the City of Austin quoted two or three weeks to upgrade our electrical service. Wasn’t thrilled but said ‘Make it Happen’ and started the ball rolling. That was in October 2007.

Like all great cities, there were inexplicable delays that were “nobody’s fault in particular”. One delay after another, then Thanksgiving then Christmas then I don’t know before it seemed that tomorrow (hopefully) all will be complete.

Anyways: Thursday’s upgrade should go smoothly and we’ll have better working conditions and better technology and equipment. Not to mention I can turn on the fart fan again! We are most thankful.

Flickr is Cool!

February 21st, 2008

My cousin Doug and his wife have a blog they use to chronicle their personal lives. Their blog links to flickr.com to show pics they took and I thought that was cool. After loading up a few personal pics, I tried something else; I started putting a select group of proofed sign images on my flickr page.Screen Printed Bandit Sign with Hand-Written Font

It really works great and is easy to use and organize pics. And it’s really easy for customers to check out designs we’ve done before. I was talking to a customer who wanted a ‘hand written’ look for his sign. So I sent him this link: click here to see picture. He saw the picture, and made the order without hesitation!

Tips For Increasing Sales

February 20th, 2008

1. Offer Tangible Deals
Believe it or not, time-honored retail wisdom states that people respond better to an offer for a dollar amount off of a purchase rather than a percentage off. The reason is that people can easily deduct x amount of dollars off of a price, whereas figuring out the percentage off actually requires a bit of brain power. This applies even if the percentage off would yield a bigger savings. My experience running the Super Cheap Signs website supports this premise.

2. Don’t Be All Things To All People
There are two types of shoppers in this world: Those who are always looking for the deal and those who are more than willing to pay full price. The customer who is willing to pay full price does so for one or many reasons, such as quality, Read the rest of this entry »

Posting Signs in Austin

December 28th, 2007

Putting out signs is hard, and getting them out on a Friday and then picking up Sunday is key.  The City of Austin doesn’t seem nearly as annoyed with those who put signs out just on the weekend.  Long time SUPER loyal customer Dan Buffington passed along the contact info of someone that will do exactly that for a good price:

Chris Rodarte
Manager/ Owner
Austin Direct Advertising
512-992-3022
Dan says Chris will put out and pick up 100 signs for $125. Thanks, Dan!

These Guys Are Good

November 20th, 2007

Customer service is key.

One of the Customer Service Reps (CSR) was out on a vacation day today so I sat in to help. First thing I noticed: The phone never stops ringing! It’s not a bad thing, really! New orders, proofing updates, order changes, order status, can’t figure out how to send a file, and “I ordered UPS 2nd Day Air and it’s been 3 days so where are my signs?!?” with the response, “Sorry Sir, we have to make the signs first before we ship them 2nd Day Air”! Mostly I’m in awe of how cool Read the rest of this entry »