If your company has a marketing plan, then you’re ahead of the game: this is a powerful yet often overlooked planning tool which can help your company reach its goals. However, to really take your marketing plan one step further, you should make sure to incorporate signage in your efforts.

But wait: let’s back up. Before we talk about how to incorporate signage into your marketing plan, it may be helpful to offer a refresher on what a marketing plan actually is. A marketing plan is like your company’s blueprint for upcoming advertising efforts. It’s like a sort of outline or rough sketch of what your advertising efforts are going to be for a specific period of time, usually on a quarterly or yearly basis. The marketing plan details how the company intends to reach either financial or other company goals by employing various marketing efforts. These might include trade shows, social media outreach, advertising materials, and the subject of this post, signage.

Here, we’ll detail some tips and tricks for how to incorporate signage into your marketing plan. This will allow you to create an effective marketing plan which will increase your company’s visual appeal and ultimately, help you reach your goals.

Set goals.

While setting goals might not seem as if it has a lot to do with incorporating signage into your marketing plan, it’s really one of the most important tips that can be offered as it’s a proactive step.

To make your marketing effective, it’s vital to set goals. Otherwise, what is your marker for success? So before you set a budget or start investing in marketing materials, take some time to really look at your goals. Is it to increase business with a specific demographic? Or is it to advertise a new product or service? These goals can help inform what it is that you hope to gain in your marketing efforts, and can help you decide where and how signage fits into the plan.

Look at what is working for others.

As you’re considering how to fit signage into your marketing plan, it can be helpful to observe what others are doing successfully. Take a week or so to simply observe what types of signage seem to be doing an effective job in your community. This can be for all sorts of different businesses, not just in your industry.

Often, when you look at what other people are doing well, it can inspire you to incorporate those successful methods into your own marketing. So if you notice that the mattress store down the street is bringing in a lot of customers with an advertising inflatable, even if your business is quite different, a like-minded sort of signage might have similarly successful results for you.

Get pricing quotes before setting your budget.

If your marketing plan involves setting a budget for advertising materials, be sure to investigate the pricing before you set a budget. Researching the prices of various signage options that appeal to you can help you make a more realistic budget.

Getting pricing quotes might not give you exact amounts, but it will give you a far more realistic idea of how much you might be looking at spending on your signage. This leads into the next tip, which involves allocation of funds.

Allocate appropriately.

Be sure to allocate an appropriate amount of funding in your marketing plan for signage. You don’t want to over or underestimate how much should be allocated toward signage. Actually, neither option is desirable. Of course, nobody wants to be unpleasantly surprised by the cost of signage if it’s more than anticipated. But on the flip side, if you allocate too many funds toward signage and don’t use them, this money might not be effectively used toward advertising and could get lost in the shuffle or spent on less useful things. Keeping your budget streamlined is always a good thing.

Consider the value of your investment.

With signage, it’s important to consider the long term value of your investment. When you purchase signage, it’s not necessarily the type of investment that you can quantify how much you’ve made from it, because while it is direct marketing, it is an indirect sales tool. However, when you recognize the fact that it has a built in, long-term value, and that it is a visible sales tool that is always working in your favor, it’s easier to recognize how important its place is in your marketing plan.

Consider signage when investing in design or branding services.

Branding, design, and signage all work hand in hand. If your marketing plan involves design or branding services, then it’s helpful (and potentially money-saving) to consider signage at the same time. If you have an idea of the look or style of the signs themselves, it can be easier to format your branding or logo so that they work within the parameters of the sign, or so that a variation can be designed which works. Not only does this streamline the process for you and any professionals you hire, but it offers a better chance of cohesive, strong design and a good “story” with your branding.

Make signage a priority.

Signage, whether it’s displayed indoors or outdoors, offers many benefits for your company. On the most basic level, it informs people that you exist; among its many other functions, it can also help people find and discover you, create a rapport with customers, inform them of what you do, and importantly, make them like you. Signage should not be optional in your marketing plan; it should be a priority.

Making signage a priority in your marketing plan from the get-go is one of the most effective ways to make room for it in your marketing plan.

Conclusion: Signage should be included in your marketing plan, whether you’re a brand new company just finding its feet or a long established corporation. By following the tips and tricks detailed in this post, you’ll be one step closer to creating a vibrant and effective marketing plan which will help further the advertising efforts and will have a positive effect on your company’s bottom line.

Do you incorporate signage as part of your marketing plan?