How To Be Successful With an Illuminated 'Word' Sign for Your Small Town
SOURCE: Global News
Have you ever driven past a dazzling neon sign showing a town’s name and it instantly caught your attention? Collingwood, Cambridge and Kingston, Ontario are three of such destinations that have created a ‘wow’ factor will illuminated signs.
So, it’s pretty simple, right? Just use taxpayer money and go get an illuminated sign made of your town name. And then the magic will instantly happen. Um, well it’s not that simple. In forward-thinking successful towns there’s a lot of thought that goes into what makes an illuminated ‘word’ sign awesome.
Illuminated signs have a unique ability to draw people in and leave a lasting impression. Whether it's a vintage neon sign or a modern LED display, these signs have the power to captivate and engage audiences. And they can be a savvy marketing tool too.
Or they can be a costly illuminated ‘word’ sign dud that just sits off to the side at festivals or in your downtown with no real purpose or audience engagement.
Before your town gets a ‘word’ sign, it’s important to understand it isn’t just about letters and coloured lightbulbs.
In a world saturated with advertisements, it's essential to create a sign that stands out from the crowd. Think outside the box and come up with a design that is eye-catching, memorable, and reflective of your town and community. It demands a clever design to make sure your sign has that "wow" factor that will make people stop and take notice.
First and foremost you need to make your ‘word’ sign be an interactive display. Your installation can spark curiousity and encourage passersby to engage with your sign and share their experience online. But only if you take the time to create something that not’s just letters with lightbulbs. (See pro tips below)
SOURCE: MyCollingwood
Here are some pro tips:
Placing your ‘word’ sign in one spot will make it a permanent landmark and grow local pride in it. Putting it on a flatbead trailer and hauling it out of storage once in and a while to only appear at select community parades and events will make it a costly part-time ‘sign’ that’s not a landmark.
Make sure your town’s ‘word’ sign is placed at ground level. Anything else is not making it accessible. People of all sizes and abilities want to interact with it. If it’s sitting five feet off the ground on a trailer or high cement base, peope can only look at it. That’s a fail in today’s social media era.
Carefully choose the font that you use. You know your costly illuminated ‘word’ sign is a creative flop if, for example, your town name has an ‘O’ among its letters but the ‘O’ is made in a squishy font that leaves no room for people to stick their head in the ‘O’ for social media photos. Oops.
Be savvy with the design and ensure it’s interactive. In Kingston, ON the design deliberately leaves out the ‘i’ so that people can stand between the letters and become the ‘i’. The thousands upon thousands of social media photos that Kingston generates each year through this savvy design speaks volumes!
Truly understand the correlation between a ‘word’ sign and social media. Photos of a sign on social media are boring. But photos of people interacting with your ‘word’ sign on social media are engaging! Know the difference before someone in the planning phase of your sign project says “Hey! A sign will be great for social media!” Um, probably not if you don’t understand social media.
Towns like Collingwood, Cambridge and Kingston can easily track social media engagement with their illuminated signs. Every year thousands of locals and tourists snap photos at these signs.
Remember: Your illuminated sign has the potential to become a local landmark and a catalyst for social media buzz. But it only happens if you embrace the power of social media, harness the attention-grabbing potential of illuminated signs. If you do these steps, watch your town's visibility soar across social media!
