The Signdealz Blog provides information about our products as well as actionable ideas, trends, case studies, and news about business signage.

What’s the goal of anything you invest in as it relates to your business? The goal is to make more money, of course. Sure, you probably have an emotional connection with your business, too. You’ve poured a lot of time and effort into it, so you have a personal stake in its success. But, at the end of the day, if a business isn’t making a lot of money, it’s hard to justify keeping. That’s where marketing comes in.

A business owner with a brick and mortar location can almost feel like an anachronism in this day and age. “You mean you’re not an ecommerce business that does drop shipping? How strange.” While the tech sector would have you believe we’re all plugged in with an ethernet cable all day waiting for everything from clothes to groceries to just appear at our door step after using an app, we all know that isn’t true. People still need and want to go to the stores. The fact that so many stores exist and are continually popping up is proof of that. If anything, competition has never been fiercer when it comes to growing your customer base.

Business owners and marketers often have strong opinions, if not clashes, when it comes to the question of what advertising and marketing looks like now. It’s hard to make blanket statements, but generally speaking you’ll probably find business owners touting the benefits of the tried and true methods of traditional advertising while marketers will have white papers evangelizing for all things digital. This sets the stage for arguments involving ROI, buyer personas, and “things that actually work.” It can all get very ugly.

Marketing as an industry is in a weird place currently. By its very nature, it’s an industry that is obsessed with the latest and greatest. This usually takes the form of technology. There is always some new tool to use, some new metric to be aware of, and some must have trending topic, like “big data,” that you need to engage with.

One of the great challenges of running a business for years is the delicate balance of needing to stay modern and feeling new without going so far as to reinvent the wheel. Retaining what makes your business unique while remaining competitive with new ones that pop-up nearby can be problematic. While much of the constant strategizing that takes place deals with continuing to offer a good product, evaluating pricing, and other matters of day to day business, it’s important to also think about branding.

If you are someone who has decided to start your own business, you no doubt thrive on competition. You have to thrive on it because it’s something you face every single day. The saying goes “there’s nothing new under the sun.” This is especially true in the world of business. We can’t all be Elon Musk. The vast majority of business owners are entering into existing markets that are already full of businesses already providing a similar product or service. The road to success involves providing a better experience for your customers and doing all that you can to stand out. Getting noticed is a big contributor towards success. This is sometimes not given the proper attention it needs in the face of concerns over products or pricing or other operational issues.

The way Americans shop has changed over the last few decades. We increasingly live in places with more open space. Walking through the streets to the local store is essentially something from a bygone era unless you live in a major metropolitan area. Much has been said in the news lately about the decline of the indoor shopping mall. It’s safe to say shopping options for the average American are consolidating. Sure, people buy things online more often now. Amazon is probably the major retailer everyone immediately thinks of when it comes to buying nearly anything. But, that doesn’t mean people aren’t going into stores anymore, clearly. What it means is that retail spaces are becoming a bit more uniform.

Getting a potential customer from thinking about a product or service they want to the point where they are paying you for what you’re selling is, to put it lightly, a challenge. That’s not to say you don’t offer an exceptional product or you’re not a leader in your industry. No, the issue is often one of visibility.

If running a business was just about selling your product and service and nothing else, it would be so much easier. In a perfect world, you are an expert on what you sell. No one knows more about it than you do, and that would come through. With this formidable knowledge alone, customers would be banging down the doors to spend their hard earned money on your awesome product. That would be pretty great right? But, as any business owner knows the day to day operations don’t really resemble that.

Signdealz worked with the management team at Cherry Creek State Park, to develop a cost effective and reliable messaging solution. This sign can be used to inform the park visitors on the fire status, events, and on weather conditions. Cherry Creek state park includes numerous activities to include a shooting range, RC Plane and Drone Flying Area, and a large reservoir used by thousands of visitors a year.