Why Your Business Needs To Light Up With Illuminated Signs

Illuminating your signage is about so much more than showing customers where you are. In fact, a well-illuminated sign will provide cost-effective advertising 24 hours a day, maximising the effectiveness of your message. Even if you don’t stay open all day and all night, your sign will still be doing your marketing for you.

Versatile and stylish, illuminated signage can take your visual assets to another level. More than that, a well-executed sign will add value to your business, thanks to its perceived value.

The ABC of illuminated signs

There are several practical questions you need to ask yourself when installing illuminated shop signs. Is the illumination visible and effective? Is the message legible? Is your sign well maintained, and if not, how will you keep it looking its best and doing its job. Work with a professional signage company and these issues and more will be worked out during the design, development and installation process.

However, before you approach a sign company, check the functionality of your concept by asking the ABC questions – does your sign Attract new customers, Build brand awareness and Create impulse sales? If you think your sign can do all three, then it’s a worthwhile investment.

Send a subliminal message

When you work together with a professional designer on your commercial signage, you’ll be surprised at the strong yet subliminal messages you can send with colour. Your bespoke LED signs don’t need to be pure white, though that can look clean and professional. Colour can make a subliminal statement about your business when coupled with clever design, for an effect that enhances your business.

Maximise your marketing budget

Illuminated shop signs create thousands of impression throughout the course of the day, giving you an exceptionally low cost per impression. The cost of your signage is a one-off in your budget, and when you compare the ROI against other forms of marketing, your illuminated signs can be quite a bargain, and they can have a reach that far outstrips more temporary forms of advertising like billboards and radio, TV or online ads.

Consider the interior options

While your exterior illuminated signs will be reaching out to passing trade at all hours of the day and night, don’t ignore the power of a sophisticated indoor sign with LED illumination. Beautifully designed, perhaps using halo illuminated letters for a subtle and stylish effect, an illuminated logo on the wall behind the till, or as customers first enter your premises, can drive brand recognition and create a stunning first impression.

Work with the professionals

At The Sussex Sign Company, we can offer you a range of stylish and effective solutions for your illuminated signage, whether that’s halo illuminated letters or a banner effect. We’ll steer you through the process from concept to design to installation, discussing illumination options and a maintenance schedule. If you want to see what illuminated signs can do for the exterior and interior of your store or office premises, then contact us today via phone or email and we’ll be happy to discuss your options.

The Unexpected Benefits Of Illuminated Signs

A successful business plan lives or dies by the number of customers who actually set foot through the door. After all, if nobody visits your business, how can you sell them your goods or services? That’s why you need attractive and attention-grabbing signage for your commercial premises. However, upgrading your commercial signage with illumination can take the value of your visual assets to another level and the functionality of your upgrade will quickly become apparent.

Clear advantages of illuminated signage

The advantages are clear. Your business automatically becomes highly visible and your sign keeps working for you 24/7, particularly if you use energy-efficient LEDs. Another benefit of a well-designed illuminated sign is that you’ll attract passing trade in a more effective way than you did before and you’ll drive brand recognition.

The unexpected benefits

Beyond the shining beacon of your illuminated signage, there are a host of benefits that are quite unexpected, that can further boost your intangible assets. Here are some of the most interesting hidden perks:

Increase the value of your property: investing in illuminated signage is a smart move in as much as it enhances the kerb appeal of your business. And that, as any estate agent will tell you, can significantly enhance the value of your property. By enhancing your signage and boosting brand recognition through illumination, you’re adding value to your business assets.

Inspire customer decisions: Nearly half of all purchases are made on sheer impulse. Imagine how you can leverage that impulsive behaviour with a bright and attractive illuminated sign? Now factor in the percentage of the population who are actively looking for local commerce. Illuminate your signs and you’ll be directly in their eye line. It’s your way to take control of the customer journey and influence those impulse decisions.

A community landmark: Not only will illuminated signage catch the eye of potential consumers, but it will also give your community an attractive focal point. Imagine becoming a local landmark and meeting spot, and then think about how that recognition will drive footfall. Make a good enough job of your illuminated signage and you may even attract the attention of the local council who may choose to reward you for business innovation and/or regeneration.

Multiple impressions: Your illuminated signage will not only attract customers and boost your sales, but it can also create multiple impressions throughout the day and night. Estimates put the number of impressions as high as 60 per month for 85% of your customer base. Each time they view your signs, it reinforces brand recognition, keeping your business top of mind and having an impact, whether subconscious or conscious, on your customer’s purchasing decisions.

Ask the experts

Of course, when you make the decision to upgrade your signage, then you expect your new illuminated signs to have that wow factor that will reap all these unexpected benefits. At The Sussex Sign Company, we can offer advice on the most appropriate illuminated signage solutions, including LED lighting systems, ensuring the best possible return on investment for our clients. Contact us via phone or email to find out more.

Should You Invest In LED Illuminated Exterior Signage?

LED displays are one of the most rapidly growing sectors in illuminated signage, with a market share expected to reach at least $12 billion by 2020. Advances in technology have made LED the illumination of choice, but is it always the right choice for your business? Before making an investment in illuminated exterior signs, it’s important to know all the ins and outs of LED lighting.

Light up the night

There’s little wonder that LED lighting has risen in popularity. It’s both extremely striking and highly cost-effective, with LEDs lasting up to 60,000 hours, compared to 10,000 hours for fluorescent lighting. Not only will LEDs drive down your replacement costs, but you’ll also experience lower energy costs, with 80-90% energy efficiency.

It’s this efficiency, coupled with the fact that LED bulbs don’t leak mercury and argon like neon signs, that make LEDs the green choice. If sustainability is important to your business, then LEDs are the eco-friendly way to light up the night.

Signage styles

LED signage can take several forms. For example, you might decide to use a fret-cut fascia using backlighting to highlight your logo and text. Or you may prefer to use a halo effect with built up letters. This is a particularly effective and impressive way to create an effect. Great design and layout with clever use of colour will enhance your visual assets and drive brand recognition in a cost effective way. Colour is also excellent for attention generation, giving your LED exterior signs an even greater impact.

What the stats say

Over 70% of your target audience will see your LED signs and be engaged by them. That’s higher than internet, TV and billboard advertising, and a quarter higher than the reach of social network platforms. In fact, 84% of retailers believe an illuminated sign is essential for building brand awareness and engaging with your customers.

LED signage is second to none when it comes to location branding and costs per impression are astonishingly low, at just 4p per thousand impressions. Although the initial installation costs can be higher than other forms of illuminated signage, the rapid returns and effectiveness of a good LED sign can more than recoup the investment.

A long term investment

When it comes to evaluating your business, most customers take around 7 seconds to decide whether they’ll step through your doors or not. Eye-catching and effective signage is the perfect way to create a strong first impression that brings the customer in through the door and then helps them to find you again and direct their friends and family to your business.

At the Sussex Sign Company, we understand that your signs will act as the visual standard bearer for your business for years to come. That’s why we’ll advise you as to the most appropriate illuminated signage solutions, including LED lighting systems, to ensure the best possible return on investment and the best possible visual representation for your business. Contact us via phone or email today to find out more.

How to Choose the Best Signwriter for Your Business

Finding a great signwriter should be easy in this day and age. After all, we have the internet with its range of trade checking websites to help us make that decision. For example, if you were looking for signwriting in Crowborough, you’d Google it and take your pick. But how will you know you’ve really chosen the right signwriter to take your ideas and concepts from design to installation?

If you want to ensure that you’ve found the right signwriter for you, you need to be clear on why you need quality signage for your company and the type of signage that’s going to work for you. Having the killer idea is only one piece of the puzzle – your signs should be executed to your specifications, using the right corporate colours and logo, manufactured from durable and appropriate materials and installed in the right place.

What Quality Signage Means for Your Business

Signs are a brilliant marketing tool for any business. They’re your primary visual assets, and they’re a powerful tool for promoting brand recognition. A great sign will differentiate your business from the competition – over 76% of consumers say they’ve visited a business because of the quality of its signs – and provide advertising 24/7. And once you’ve paid the upfront costs, good signage is one of the most cost-effective forms of marketing there is, creating impressions all day every day.

Given what a great return on investment signage has, and how much it can boost your brand, finding a sign company that can meet your needs becomes even more imperative.

Individual Expertise or Integrated Services?

It’s very tempting to try to find the best designer and invest in some exceptional designs for your signage. After all, creating a visual wow factor is what will set your signs apart from the competition and attract customers to walk in off the street. Then you’ll need to find a company that can manufacture those signs and make good on your designer’s vision, and then you’ll need to find a handyman who can install them with good-quality fixings in the optimum position.

Or you could find a sign company with an excellent reputation that offers all these services as an integrated package. The advantage for you is that you’ll know exactly what’s going on at every step of the process. A good sign company will be able to optimise every step of the process and even offer you a maintenance package so your signs remain in the best possible shape.

Experience and Expertise

When choosing your signage provider, you can’t afford to settle for an amateur because your signs need to look polished and professional. You need a signwriter who knows what works and can advise you on the right design, colours, fonts, materials and message, and who knows exactly what size of signs you need and how to display them. It may be tempting to choose a start-up that has interesting and innovative ideas, but when you’re making an investment in your visual assets, you really need to work with a company that knows what works. Who knows, in ten years you might be asking that start-up to design your new signs now that they’re established and experienced in the business.

Ask around, and don’t be afraid to approach businesses that have signage you particularly like. After all, you don’t want to rip off their signage: you simply want to create first-class signage that boosts your brand and boosts your local reputation.

Check Out Their Portfolio

A sign writing company’s portfolio should speak for itself, offering you a wide range of creative and innovative design solutions for your business. After all, if you can see from their previous work that they’re capable of creating exciting and eye-catching signs for a range of businesses, the chances are they’ll be able to work the same magic for you.

Make sure the company offers a wide range of design options and would be happy to create a campaign that encompasses everything from illuminated signs to vinyl car wrapping. Do they offer a wide colour range and the latest print technology? And will they be able to source the best materials for the job?

Will They Work for Your Business?

A good signwriting company will really engage with your business to create signage that is active and engaging for your potential customers. Don’t settle for the passive and generic – if your signwriters can’t deliver a range of ideas for powerful and exciting signage, then you need to look elsewhere. If your signwriter has produced signs that really stand out from the crowd for other clients, then you can trust them to create the same quality of signage for you.

Choose a Company You Can Trust

You don’t always want a company that is cheap and fast – when it comes to signage, you want a company you can trust to deliver the maximum return on investment. Quality will always count when it comes to creating a suite of signs that attract the attention of potential customers and bring them in through your doors. That’s why you need a company like the Sussex Sign Company, who can create bespoke signage that delivers everything your company expects and more. Whether you’re looking for halo lettering, wayfinding signage or vinyl car wraps, we can deliver them all, so contact us today via phone or email for more details.

The Seven Steps to a Perfect Car Wrap

Wrapping your car in vinyl may have started as a quick way to transform domestic vehicles into government taxis in Germany, but it’s now worth its weight in gold as a low-cost, high-impact way to advertise your goods and services. Mobile advertising creates more impressions than any other form of advertising, and it creates a great impression with your potential customers, who perceive your business as create and innovative.

So there are plenty of great reasons to choose vehicle wrapping in Hailsham and across the South East, but how do you go about getting the perfect car wrap for your vehicles?

Choose Your Company with Care

There are sign companies and there are are car wrapping companies, both of which can do half the job you need. Of course, if you have a talented design team, then you could go ahead and get your vinyl printed and then installed by a wrapping place. But for a precision job like vinyl car wrapping, you need a sign-making company that can take your ideas from conception right through to installation. You’ll have input at every stage of the process, and your sign-making company will have the expertise to create and install the wrap you want, modelling potential outcomes for you so you can get the best possible RoI on your new car wrap.

Get the Design Right

Putting your logo on your business card is straightforward. After all, it’s a simple 2D rectangle. But a car or a van is a 3D surface with curves and different planes that need to be taken into account when designing your car wrap. An experienced designer will have access to a wide variety of vehicle templates, so they can model your design for the best possible effect. You don’t want to find that your image looks distorted or your message doesn’t fit, do you?

A great designer will take every inch of the vehicle into account and will have previous experience in designing wraps for your type of vehicle. They’ll be able to make suggestions about what works best so that your vinyl wrap is both easy to understand and easy on the eye. A car wrap failure is the easiest way to switch off potential customers.

You Get What You Pay For

Choose a low-grade vinyl and you might save a few pounds but you’ll pay the hidden costs of taking a hit to your reputation when your vinyl wrapping quickly starts to look tattered and tired. You’ll also have to take into account the costs of having your vehicle rewrapped. If you make the same mistake across your entire fleet, it can really hit you in the pocket.

Having said that, simply choosing a brand name rather than a vinyl which is the most compatible for the job you want doing can have its own problems. Again, an experienced sign-making company will be able to advise you on the best materials for the job. You don’t want to ruin your car wrap graphics because you used the wrong materials.

Print and Prep

Once you have your killer design and choice of materials in place, it’s time for your sign company to print your images on to vinyl using a wide-format printer. A good company will respect the print profile of the vinyl you’re using, which instructs the printer about exactly how much ink to use, resulting in a vibrant and eye-catching image. Ignore the profile and you can end up with a flat, muddy image or one that’s over-saturated. Neither will give you the effect you’re looking for.

But let’s assume you’ve found a great company to design and produce your vehicle wrapping in Hailsham and it just needs to be applied to your car. Not so fast, because what follows is possibly the most painstaking part of the entire business. In order to get the very best results for your vinyl wrap, you’ll need to have your car prepared for wrapping. And that means removing every speck of grease, grime and oil that could stop the vinyl from sticking properly.

Your installers will also fill in any dings in the paintwork and deal with any rust so that the installation is as flawless as possible. Even a squashed bug can make your vinyl wrap bulge and ruin the seamless effect you’re looking for.

Why is this so important? Because great preparation is the only way to make the most of your beautifully printed and brilliantly designed car wrap graphic. Any bulging, lifting or adhesion problems will lead to a poor end result. Unfortunately, it’s a long and tedious job, and one where a poor-quality installer may be tempted to cut corners.

Install and Go

Every other step of the process now hinges on getting the installation right. That’s why it’s so important that your print company can offer high-quality installation. It takes hours to get this step of the process right and requires experience, patience and a steady hand. A good installer will not overstretch the vinyl or skimp on the all-important post-installation step of heating the vinyl to kill its ‘memory’ so it doesn’t ping back into its old shape. All these steps are time-consuming and can be boring, so unscrupulous wrapping companies can be tempted to skimp on them. You’ll be the first to notice if they do.

Ask the Professionals

If you want to get the best of car wrapping in Hailsham or anywhere else in Sussex, then you need to contact the Sussex Sign Company. We offer the integrated services you need to design, produce and install superb vinyl car wraps that will create thousands of impressions. Get in touch with us via phone or email today for more details.

Why Your Sign Company Can Be Central To Delivering A Brand Experience

Whether your retail premises have recently undergone a refit, or you’re designing a walking route around a stately home, the challenges that face you are fundamentally the same: how can I use beautifully designed signage to enhance the brand experience for customers and visitors?

The problem that faces you is whether you can use bold and innovative signs to head off frustration, and whether you can develop a wayfinding strategy that hits all the touchpoints of your customer’s experience to positively improve brand recognition and experience.

Apply online navigation to offline spaces

Your customer should never be confused about the space they’re in. Signs need to be consistent with your branding and attractive and clear enough to bring in first time customers who can quickly interact with the brand thanks to the cues from your signage. Just as customers browsing your website will click away if the navigation isn’t simple, precise and consistent across the site, so your offline customers will go elsewhere if you don’t apply the same navigation principles.

The decision making process

Wayfinding is about keying into the critical decisions that consumers make and giving useful information at every decision point. The fact is a well-designed entrance will attract people when the overhead sign may be ignored, but the success of your overall strategy is directly dependent on how well all the elements of the wayfinding environment come together in the designs you create with your sign maker.

Wayfinding and the branding experience

If wayfinding is part of a wider visual environment, then it must be part of the broader conversation around branding. After all, it’s the purpose of good quality signage to control the movement of consumers within the retail environment. From the first touchpoint with your brand, you need to establish clarity and tone of voice, whether that’s a map on a flyer or spoken instructions on a phone message.

Interact with the space

Retail spaces are no longer designed to be static. Instead, ranges, layouts and promotions often change, which makes effective signage absolutely vital in helping customers navigate the store successfully, and creating a positive impression of their interaction with your brand. Treating the signage as integral to the success of the overall design will help avoid pitfalls that lead to frustration and disconnection with your brand.

Using a sign company to make signs work

You’ll need both directional signs (those with a visual clue like an arrow) and location signs (those that tell you where you are). Ask your sign maker to produce a group of signs that use corporate colours to enhance your signage, and pay attention to contrast, fonts and font size and accessibility. Remember that your customers will assume a frictionless brand experience that is the same offline and online, and if you don’t deliver, you’ll create a poor brand experience and impression that can be hard to recover from. Search out a decent sign maker who can help you deliver.

If you’re looking for an experienced and professional sign company in London, or the south-east, then here at the The Sussex Sign Company, we strive to earn the best ROI for our customers. Contact us via phone or email for more details.

How Built Up Letters Can Make You Stand Out

There’s a good reason that built up letters are so popular for everything from shop signage to commercial business signs. These 3D letters are designed to really pop, giving your brand instant and powerful visual appeal. Striking and distinctive, they’re also totally bespoke and the processes involved in their manufacture are the most complex in the industry. When you’re looking for a sign company in Littlehampton who can give your premises the wow factor, checking whether they can produce high quality built up letter signs is critical.

3D letters: get the effect

Obviously, the kind of standing 3D letters you see outside commercial organisations have the most wow factor, but you can achieve a similar effect on a budget if you explore some different options – a good sign making company will be able to advise you on the smart choice for your shop signage.

Flat cut aluminium and acrylic letters can both be attached to a backing board to create a very subtle and cost effective 3D effect. Both are lightweight materials that can be effectively painted to match your branding colours. Acrylic can also be pigmented, so it doesn’t peel or rust.

Foamex letters are another affordable alternative that can be wall mounted or raised on a stand-off of your choice. Foamex comes in a range of widths, so you can play with perspective. Coated with an acrylic or dibond, you can create a robust and premium feel for your retail signage. They have a high strength to weight ratio and can stand up to all but the harshest weather conditions.

Polystyrene letters can also be a savvy choice when you need something temporary that makes a strong and dramatic impact. These types of letters are gaining a lot of currency at events where the ability to create a great social media photo opportunity is factored into your marketing strategy.

New and innovative products are emerging in the market all the time. Your sign making company will be up to speed with new technologies and materials as they emerge, in order to give you the widest range of options available.

The premium choice: channel letters

True built up letters are known as channel letters and are created using a channel letter bender machine. However, once the machine has finished its job, that’s just the start of the process. This is when the finishing touches are added to your letters, making the difference between full on impact or disappointing damp squib.

It’s at this point that your letters can be wrapped in various films, given a distressed look, or fitted with different types of LED lighting. Stainless steel lettering, either used alone or in combination with other materials like perspex, gives a really strong architectural look, while powder coated aluminium can replicate any RAL corporate colours for letters that are robust, weather resistant and lightweight, for use just about anywhere.

Standout signage: current trends

While polished metal letters continue to be hugely popular for creating that premium association between your shop signage and your brand, distressed letters and those with an aged patina are becoming incredibly popular, particularly across the hospitality and leisure sectors. Effects like verdigris can add real star quality to your standout letters. In the heritage sector, letters crafted from bronze and copper add a weighty, traditional feel.

Illuminated letters continue to increase in popularity, either front, open or halo lit. The uptake is being driven by low cost LED lights that last for years with low maintenance. They are infinitely customisable in terms of colour, brightness and warmth.

Light up your signs: the Halo effect

There’s a reason why halo illuminated letters are becoming more and more popular. A halo illuminated sign is distinctive, stylish and really comes alive at night to give a stunning iridescent effect to your shop signage. A halo LED sign is the perfect way to differentiate your business from the competition.

Halo or reverse lighting doesn’t illuminate the face of the letters. Instead, the lighting is directed onto the wall behind the letters and then reflects back, giving the distinctive halo effect. If you’ve invested in 3D built up letters, then this is the most effective way to light them and create a real sense of depth for a sense of drama. Halo illuminated letters can also be seen from a greater distance, boosting the impact and the legibility of your 3D sign.

Best of all, by using low energy LED lighting, you can create a wide range of effects, highlighting different parts of the sign with different colours, while driving down your energy bills.

Get the effect for your business

There’s no doubt that built up letters and illuminated signs can really take your signage to the next level. When you’re looking for a sign company in Littlehampton to take your designs from conception to installation, you’ll need to think not just about reach and impressions, but the return on investment from your 3D signs.

At the Sussex Sign Company, we’re experienced in helping our clients get the best value for their investment, whether that’s in vinyl car wraps or built up letter 3D signage. If you want to see how a combination of clever signage design and LED lighting can give your signage and displays the ultimate wow factor, contact us via phone or email today and our friendly and knowledgeable team will be happy to help.

Choosing The Best Sign Material For The Job

If you need new signs, then the chances are you’re looking for a high quality sign making company to deliver on your concept. You’ll need to think about design, manufacture, installation and the type of material to be used.

Whatever the kind of signage you have in mind – whether that’s a shop window sign, wayfinding signage or signs for schools – it’s critical that you choose the right material for the job. Will you be wall mounting your sign, creating a car wrap design or covering up an existing signboard? Or will you be creating a new freestanding rigid sign or display? Is this an interior or an exterior sign, and for permanent or temporary display? When you have the answers to those questions, you can start making choices about available materials.

As with any aspect of the sign making process, a good sign company in Arundel or elsewhere will be able to guide you through the process, offering the right material for the signage you have in mind.

I want to cover an existing rigid sign

If you have an existing sign that you simply want to cover with a new image, then printed self adhesive vinyl is the savvy choice. This has a white surface and can be overprinted with your branding, slogans, or even a high resolution image. It’s a clever way to recycle existing signage without breaking the bank.

I want to put a sign in a window

Printed clear self adhesive vinyl can be printed on in reverse, stuck to your window, and then backed with white vinyl. The effect is crisp and smart and the vinyl is lightweight and can be easily removed when you want to update your signage.

I want something flexible

If you want to create a stunning wall display, or a car wrap design with plenty of impact, you need cut self-adhesive vinyl. This comes in a wide range of colours and is most often used to produce single colour text or silhouette shapes. Unlike using a wall stencil, it’s easy to unpeel cut vinyl, making it ideal for temporary displays or to add design accents for summer or Christmas promotions.

These types of cut stickers are often seen as single panels on a car, when a fully vinyl wrap is not required. They can even be used on display stands to spice up your exhibit, but remember to remove them if your stands are hired.

I need a rigid sign, after all

There are three main types of material that are used for rigid signage. These are usually known by their brand names: Correx, Foamex and Dibond. These are also sometimes known by other names and come in various thicknesses. Each has its particular strengths and weaknesses as a material, which your sign company will explain.

I want an estate agent’s sign board

The cheapest form of sign board is Correx and it’s ideal for estate agent signage. This is a type of corrugated plastic sheet that’s super lightweight, and it should be printed with weatherproof inks, then laminated, for superior weather resistance. Correx signs are often used when low cost temporary signage is required – on a building site or for a short term exhibition, for example.

For outside use, a Correx sign should be mounted to an additional wooden board for strength, as the material is prone to bending along the flutes when caught in a strong wind. Washers should always be used to stop the screwheads ripping through the board.

I want an outdoor wayfinding sign for a visitor attraction

PVC foam sheet is an excellent material for use indoors and out, and comes in 3mm, 5mm and 10mm thicknesses. Foamex offers good durability while also being cost effective and it behaves like a solid plastic sheet.

Foamex has an excellent strength to weight ratio, although the 10mm sheets can be quite heavy for larger signs, making Dibond a better option. Because this material is so easy to cut, it can be used to create really exceptional signage for indoor and outdoor use. It’s waterproof too, so it can withstand the worst that the British weather can throw at it!

Opt for lightweight 3mm for indoor boards that can be wall mounted with velcro, and use the thicker boards for outdoor signage that has great strength, resistant and durability – ideal for wayfinding signage. These outdoor signs are simple to drill and attach with screws.

I need a permanent display sign for a coastal café

You need Dibond, the longest lasting of the rigid materials. Consisting of a solid sheet of polyethylene at its core, sandwiched between two thin aluminium panels, Dibond is just 3mm thick, but can stand up to heavy wind and rain.

There’s no limit to the signage shapes you can create with Dibond, as it can be drilled, screwed and shaped with ease. It has a huge range of uses, from shop signage to exhibition and event signage and so much more. Dibond can also be clamped to metal poles for even greater stability.

Dibond is fantastically light and terrifically strong, making it the premium choice for rigid signage, especially where it needs to stand up to all weather conditions and stay looking good for years.

I need to find a good sign company in Arundel

At the Sussex Sign Company, we can help you create permanent or temporary signs for interior or exterior use that will make the best possible first impression. When your visual assets are so important, let us help you maximise your return on investment by creating signs that use the right materials for the perfect installation. Contact our friendly and knowledgeable team by phone or email for more details.

Create Great Vinyl Car Wraps And Watch Your Impressions Soar

Great advertising is all about creating that first impression that lasts. So it may or may not surprise you that, according to research in the US, bright and attractive vinyl car and van wraps created an astonishing 1.26 million impressions in a year.

So what’s so great about vinyl wrap advertising? Obviously, mobile advertising has a much greater reach than static advertising and a well-wrapped vehicle with an eye-catching design will attract attention wherever it goes.

Perhaps more importantly, this type of advertising isn’t in your face and that can be crucial in creating the right impression. There’s nothing aggressive or hectoring about a vinyl wrap and customers generally respond well to advertising that isn’t so direct.

So you’ve decided to invest in wrapping one or more vehicles in your fleet, to exploit the power of this clever, high impact form of marketing. How do you create a vinyl wrap that promotes your products or services in the best possible way? The easiest course of action is to find a sign company in Crowborough with a crack design team that can work with you to create that killer vinyl wrap.

Don’t waste the opportunity

Vinyl wrap advertising can create powerful and long lasting impressions, with strong branding and a clear message. But so often, businesses waste the opportunity by creating designs and messages that just don’t work. That’s why you need an experienced designer who knows the ins and outs of car wrap design and how to exploit the medium as effectively as possible.

Start with the brand

Before you even begin to think about using a vinyl wrap to market your business, stop and think about the effectiveness of your brand. If you have a poor brand identity or an unmemorable logo, then you’re simply wasting your money on a vinyl car wrap and you’ll miss out on those marketing opportunities.

With car wrap design, the brand is the message. If your brand doesn’t measure up, then you may need to think about a complete overhaul of your marketing image, in which case, your vinyl wrap could be the ideal way to launch your new logo and brand image. However, never use a different logo for your car wrap, no matter how much better than your existing logo and branding it is, without changing the logo on every other piece of branding you put out there. This creates a confusing impression and can really put customers off.

Your car wrap design really is all about strong brand integration, so avoid using photos that can be meaningless to your potential customers. A memorable message and your well designed logo will make your impressions for you.

Keep it short and sweet

Don’t write an essay or use a bullet list as customers won’t have a clear takeaway message. This is the time to keep it short, sweet and simple, with the following hierarchy: brand, tagline, web and/or phone number. Again, the focus should be on strong brand implementation, which is why you need a good designer who understands what works and what doesn’t.

Make your tagline memorable by thinking of your vinyl wrap as a mobile billboard. Think of posters you’ve found effective and use them as a template.

Stand out from the noise

While your instinct may be to add some fancy background graphics or interesting fonts, any good designer will steer you away from visual tricks towards something much more pared back and classic. Why? Think of the kinds of branding that’s really memorable – Apple’s classic white with the simple apple logo, for example – and how that stands out from all the visual noise around it.

You’re aiming for that same kind of strong visual impact amidst all the visual noise of the everyday world, and your vinyl wrap designer will help you achieve an innovative design that helps you stand out from the crowd. Sometimes less really is more.

Make it great

Never confuse car wrap design with print advertising. Where the latter gives your customer time to really absorb the message, you’ll have one chance with your car or van vinyl wrap to create that impression. If a passerby has to work too hard to figure out your advertising message, then that moment is gone and the opportunity to create a strong impression is lost.

Your designer will understand how to steer you towards creating one strong principal takeaway message that your customers will recognise immediately. They’ll also be clued up on distance legibility, so your message loses none of its impact wherever it’s viewed from. A good designer will also take into account the shape of your car and tailor the design accordingly, so it flows and wraps around the contours accurately.

You have a very limited amount of time to capture your viewer and get your branding and message across. Don’t waste it, make your design great.

Create a return on your investment

At the Sussex Sign Company, we believe in helping you exploit the power of car wrap design to create an eye-catching advertising statement that creates thousands of impressions and maximises the return on your investment. Our designers have the skill and expertise to create that clear, attention-grabbing message and design for you, so if you’re looking for the best sign company in Crowborough to take your ideas from concept to car wrap, give us a ring or an email and we’ll be happy to help.

Finding The Right Sign Company To Create Your Killer Illuminated Signs

The right illuminated sign can give your business massive visibility – literally. An illuminated sign not only adds real impact to your brand, but it keeps it visible even when darkness falls. Develop the right signage strategy and find the right sign company to implement it and you’ll boost recognition and return on investment.

Why do I need an illuminated sign?

Illuminated signs are versatile and flexible, keeping your brand in the public eye 24/7. They’re an effective advertising medium that can take advantage of those passing by after hours to get your name out there in a surprisingly cost effective way, particularly if you use energy efficient LED lighting.

But simply having an illuminated sign is not the same as having an effective illuminated sign. You need to make some strategic decisions about the environment where your sign will be displayed and the type of lighting you’ll use, in order for your sign to be as effective as possible.

What’s your lighting environment?

Take a look at your premises after dark. Is the lighting environment a soft and ambient one, with no harsh street lighting or bright competing signs, or are you in a busy location with headlights, neon lights and bright street lights?

Obviously, what works in one situation may not work in the other, but it makes sense to match your lighting to the general scheme, so you don’t either overpower the street or fade away into a corner.

You’ll also need to consider the image you want to convey of your business – if you’re a pizza restaurant. you’ll want to convey a different image to a boutique hotel, for example. Getting it right with illuminated signs can make your business up to 35% more visible, so you need to find a sign maker that can walk you through the process from design to installation and who understand your particular lighting environment.

Light up your letters

Getting the right effect with an illuminated sign depends on several factors, including the way you choose to illuminate your sign. If you choose individual letters, then you’ll really make them pop if you illuminate them from behind with an LED halo effect. Hollow 3D letters are then wired with LEDs which cast their light onto the wall behind the letters, creating a silhouette or halo effect. You can play around with the colour of the LEDs to create different intensities.

LED light can also be used to illuminate the face of the letters, which produces a crisp look for your branding, or you could choose to have your letters created from acrylic, which can create a colourful and eye-catching display using different coloured LEDs.

You might also choose a debossed (stencil cut letters or logo) or embossed (slightly raised letters or logo) sign, which takes the form of a metal box with an illuminated acrylic panel.

You’ll need to find a company who can manufacture channel lettering to your specifications for improved day and night visibility and who understand the latest advances in LED technology, so they can create signs that have the wow factor you’re looking for. Your signage is your biggest digital asset, so take the time to get it right.

Ask the right questions

Finding the right sign company in Lewes can be the key to successfully lighting up your signage. Of course, you can look through the Yellow Pages or search Google, but the point of using a local company is to tap into their knowledge of what works in your area. Ask for recommendations from other businesses whose signage you particularly like and then draw up a shortlist of possible companies. Now ask them these questions:

What’s your track record? A well crafted illuminated sign should last you a long time and can represent a significant investment, so you need a company who’ll be there for you if anything goes wrong. The company you choose should have a long standing record creating signage that companies are proud of, so they should have no hesitation in putting you in touch with businesses they’ve worked for.

Can I see a portfolio of your work? A sign company may be offering everything you’re looking for, but you want to know that the sign they create will differentiate you in the marketplace. Ask to see examples of their work, so you can see the diversity of their designs. If they only seem to create one kind of sign, count them out.

Can I see what my sign’s going to look like? A good sign company will be able to mock up the final effect for you – there’s nothing worse than being excited by the initial designs and then disappointed by the final result.

Can you take me from design to maintenance? When you’re looking for a sign company in Lewes, it’s more cost effective to use one that can integrate all the services you need, from design to installation to programmed maintenance, to keep your sign in tip top condition – a real consideration with illuminated signs. Check that your company can undertake every step of the process for you and can deliver on time and within budget.

How will you find out what I want? The best sign companies will offer expert guidance through every stage of the process, including a detailed first briefing so that you both understand exactly what will be involved throughout the process and can create the best signage solution.

At the Sussex Sign Company, we can advise you on the most appropriate illuminated signs for your company, taking you through the entire process from conception to final installation and beyond, ensuring the best possible return on your investment and the biggest possible impact for your brand. Call or email today for more information.