Yard Signs: How to Make Them Work to Your Advantage
Most people have used a single sign, signs, or some sort of signage at one point or another in their life. From selling lemonade to supporting a political candidate, promoting a garage sale to directing traffic at a baby shower, life goes on, and custom signs alert friends and neighbors to what’s happening, and to whom, and of which way to go to get a better look. Yes, most of us use outdoor signs at one time or another but have never really used them to our advantage. How do you do that? Easy: You figure out who you want to reach with your lawn sign, what your lawn sign is attempting to express to them and how to make it stand out so they cannot miss or ignore it. Cheap signs are an effective, inexpensive way to make a point, make a sale, or mark a celebration.
Some yard signs are more effective than others. Have you ever wondered why? Have you ever had a neighbor or a friend whose yard sale signs attracted hordes of shoppers to an otherwise not-so-exceptional lawn sale? Or have you ever seen a perfectly captivating political yard sign that made you really take a look at a candidate for the first time? It’s not a mystery or magic that makes these certain yard signs sensational. Political yard signs, real estate yard signs, directional event yard signs, yard sale signs, and warning yard signs are just a few that can be extraordinary if a little time and effort goes into their design.
Whether you want to design an election sign, sell out your entire garage, direct people around back to the party, or alert by passers of a dog on your property, you must have a distinct, principal goal. Often when an individual begins to design their garden sign they start to lose that single intention or one purpose becomes many. Where you only wanted to get out the candidate’s name, you now want to go over their issues. Or where you wanted to tell people about one garage sale, now you’ve decided to span it over a few weekends. Nothing ruins a custom sign faster than a cluttered message. Pick one point: For Sale, Elect Jones, Saturday Sale, Keep off Lawn sign, Keep off the Grass signs etc. Stick with a focal point for your custom yard sign, or you will lose the majority of your audience.
Now that you have a message, you need to pick someone to receive it. All of this might sound pretty involved for a yard sign, but it can make the difference in a vote, a successful sale, a sold house and more. It’s not difficult to recognize your audience if you really think about it. In designing lawn signs, the group of people that you are focused on is often defined by age, but sometimes by lifestyle. For instance, if you are trying to attract a wealthier clientele to a weekday estate sale, the style and color of the estate sale sign will be different than if you were trying to attract soccer moms to a Saturday garage sale featuring a lemonade stand. Always have your target audience in mind. If you are renting a home and you know what your ideal tenant is (a non-smoker or someone with no pets) then cater to them during your yard sign-making process. Be creative and try to think like the intended target might think.
Placement, placement, placement – not only do you have to get into the head of your target audience, now you have to get into the car with them, too. That’s right; part of searching out the perfect sign-spectators is figuring out where they spend their time. This will be easy if your intended yard sign viewers are just like you. If they’re not, then you might have to put a little more effort into it. You see, yard signs aren’t just for your yard. If you’re directing prospective buyers to your real estate with an open house sign, then you could have various signs up all over the neighborhood. If you’re designing a political campaign yard sign, you could be distributing yard signs all over the district. The point is, whether it is a “Dog in Yard” sign for the neighborhood kids (hang it at eye-level for a child) or an “Everything Most Go” yard sale sign, think about where your audience is, and how they are going to view it.
Although there are some specific circumstances, like the ones we have already mentioned, in which yard signs have proven to be consistently successful, there are, also, many more promising and worthwhile occasions for their use. Now that we’ve gone over some of the basic garden sign scenarios and the best use of the custom yard signs in those situations, let’s move on to some overlooked opportunities in which you can communicate with signage.
One of these yard sign ideas could become just as popular as the more basic sign concepts at any given moment, but the thought process behind designing it will be just the same. Think about what your intention is – to get people to shop at your garage sale, vote for your candidate, support your team, or simply to express yourself. And once you’ve got it, stick to that single point. Next, think about which individuals you want your sign to affect. What style would they be attracted to? What kind of font, color, or writing technique would interest them? And, finally, when and where should this custom yard sign be displayed? Is it a warning sign or a lemonade yard sign for kids? Is it an open house sign for a home that is miles off the main road? All of these things will need to be considered as you decide on the placement of your perfect, custom lawn sign. Give it some thought and sooner than later, you will be the yard sign expert on the block!