Signage 101 It's a No-Brainer

Signage 101 - It's a No-Brainer
I get excited when I see job site signs. I am thrilled when I see van with a great logo, slogan and phone number, and website. I am ecstatic when I catch a vanity plate displaying in license code the name of a company (saw today) Assur U. It doesn't get any better than a big corporate logo on a banner sponsoring a fundraising event. Hmmm . . . in the grocery store parking lot, catch the back of a tee shirt stating, Cal Campbell Master Plumber of the Universe -- with solar system graphic to emphasize his claim to fame and contact info. Think of the space these logos and company names are taking up as portable billboards. If you were to pay for ad space on an actual billboard on freeway 5 in San Diego, you'd be looking at thousands of dollars per month--depending on traffic numbers. The sound of a $45 to $60 set of car magnet signs or a couple hundred dollars in tee shirt imprinting is looking really pretty good right now.

Where can you put, place, drop or imprint your logo?

Get in! the Water's Freezing Marketing Note

I believe a great way to get new insights is by being alert and just looking around for clues and messages. Last Sunday I went to Carlsbad's Ponto Beach for a walk midmorning. The tide was going out so the sand was smooth, wet and hard. There weren't many people yet -- so when a young boy around 11 years old came mad dashing from his folk's car straight to the waves with his skim board posed to fly on the sand with incoming surf, I had to stop and watch. When he hit the water, he screamed, "It's coooooooooooooold! It's freezing!" He ran from the waves, and I thought well that's that. Instead he spun around and looked to where his parents were and another boy. He yelled at the top of his lungs, "Heh, Aaron let's go! Get in here. This is a blast!" Off he went back into the cold surf.

Here's the insight I got. Picture today's business owner screaming, "OMG It's a recession! It's an awful downturn!" Does that person take the "Well, I'll just get out and spare myself of the discomfort of dealing with it," or do they, like the young boy, yell "Heh, let's get going, there have to be opportunities here! Let's go!" Let's use the adrenaline rush of excitement and fear to create more opporutnities in our businesses while calling out to others to do the same.

Pareto's 80/20 Rule for Your Company's Vision

When I had my ad agency, Almon Associates in Western New York in the 80s, I would get frustrated with getting everything "perfect" on jobs we would do i.e. brochure design, copy, print quality. I was complaining to my Dad who was a retired exec from Chrysler, and he explained the 80/20 rule to me based on his work in the auto industry. In essence the automakers knew what it would cost to make everything right on a car -- on in the long run they could not financially do so or they would lose money. So they chose to do the very best they could (80%) and in most cases the (20%) didn't thwart people from buying the cars.

My Dad has since passed on, yet I know he still advises me because I often have intuitive ideas about business and attribute them to his channelling. (It's great to stay connected.) Getting back to the post -- looking at the position of the auto industry today, maybe, just maybe they should have stretched the 80% in respect to defining their vision for the future of Chrysler.

Let's take this lesson into consideration for our own businesses.