First Impressions Matter: Why Exterior Building Signs Are Essential for Business Visibility

Exterior building sign s significantly affect a company’s visibility and brand recognition. They are among the first things potential customers see when they encounter your business. Signage and even awnings serve as silent salespeople, promoting your business and passersby to your location. But what makes an effective outdoor business sign? And how can you leverage these tools to maximize your brand visibility and profitability? This guide explains why exterior building signs are crucial in business visibility, the key components of effective signage, their impact on your business, and the types of business signage to consider when selecting.

Understanding the Role of Outdoor Signs

Exterior signs serve a vital role in business visibility and branding. They act as round-the-clock advertisements for stores and companies, providing information and visibility to potential customers passing by. Well-designed exterior signs attract attention, communicate branding, and drive foot traffic into businesses.

How Exterior Building Signs Contribute to Quality First Impressions

A company’s exterior signage creates a critical first impression for potential customers. An attractive, visible sign immediately communicates quality, professionalism, and branding. This allows customers to easily identify, recognize, and form positive associations with a business.

How Exterior Building Signs Impact Your Business

There’s more to exterior building signs than signaling to a customer pulling into the parking lot where your store is. Let’s explore the meaningful impact well-made signage can make:

Increasing Visibility

Outdoor business signs provide constant visibility for stores and companies to vehicle traffic and pedestrian audiences. Strategically designed and placed, they put brands on display all the time.

24/7 Presence

Well-positioned and illuminated exterior signs provide around-the-clock presence and awareness for businesses. This enables brands to capitalize on exposure from daytime and nighttime traffic.

Enhancing Brand Recognition

Consistent, high-quality signage on building exteriors strengthens public familiarity with and recognition of brands by repeating visual branding elements like logos, fonts, and imagery. Consider a new restaurant near your home. You’ve driven past the same parking lot countless times, but the new exterior building sign catches your attention. Maybe you don’t stop in that night for dinner, but over time, aren’t you more likely to give that establishment a shot than one you don’t even know exists?

Driving Foot Traffic

Compelling exterior signs motivate passing pedestrians and drivers to engage with businesses. This directly translates to more customers walking through doors and making purchases. Think about all the times you’ve been aimlessly wandering down a busy shopping district and noticed a sign that caught your eye. You’ve probably stopped in hundreds of stores for that exact reason. It’s a testament to the effectiveness of appealing exterior building signs.

Supporting Marketing and Promotion Efforts

Exterior building signage presents opportunities to highlight current sales, specials, new products, and seasonal offers through interchangeable elements like reader boards and banners. Electronic display signs allow you to update messaging in real-time, drawing in customers with attractive sale offers or new product alerts.

Making Lasting Impressions

A company’s permanent exterior signs’ visual quality and curb appeal create lasting impressions on customer perceptions of brands for many years through sustained exposure. Are you more likely to give a business with a bold, well-maintained sign a shot or one with a faded, broken, or downright unattractive sign an opportunity to earn your business?

Make your business sign vision a reality with a custom exterior building signdesigned, constructed, and installed by St. Louis’ premier sign company, Excel Signs & Design.

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Types of Outdoor Business Signage to Consider

Whether you’re a local small business or a nationally recognized enterprise, there’s rarely a one-size-fits-all solution for exterior building signs. Based on what you sell, your locations, target audience, and many other factors, you have several options to choose from, including:

Monument Signs

Freestanding monument signs placed in front of business facilities serve as fixed focal points along streets and parking areas, enhancing visibility and establishing a solid presence. They’re ideal for large corporate offices or shopping centers.

Post and Panel Signs

Post and panel signs offer affordable outdoor visibility solutions that are easy to install directly into the ground, making them ideal for businesses seeking a cost-effective signage option. These are often best utilized for small businesses or community centers.

Blade Signs

Hanging perpendicular to exterior walls, blade signs attract pedestrian traffic attention, making them practical for businesses located in high-foot-traffic areas. These are well suited for retail stores or restaurants in bustling, condensed areas.

Pole Signs

Mounted on poles, these signs maximize visibility to passing vehicular traffic and offer flexibility in mounting height, ensuring maximum exposure for businesses located along busy roads or highways. Pole signs are ideal for gas stations or fast-food restaurants along highways.

Cabinet Signs

Enclosing dotted lettering or sign panels within box-like housings, cabinet signs provide a clean and professional appearance while offering the option for illumination through backlighting, enhancing visibility day and night. Ideal for medical offices or professional services.

Channel Letter Signs

Channel lettering offers three-dimensional, visually striking exterior signage that stands out with its depth, making it an excellent choice for businesses looking to make a bold statement. These signs are commonly used for upscale retail stores or corporate headquarters.

Digital Signs

With the ability to showcase variable content, imagery, and messaging, digital displays provide businesses with dynamic and engaging exterior signage solutions that adapt to changing needs and promotions. Businesses like theaters or venues showcasing upcoming events and promotions often use digital signage to maximize effectiveness.

Key Components of Effective Exterior Business Signage

Creating an outdoor sign isn’t exactly a difficult task. However, crafting high-quality signs that draw the attention of potential customers, are visible from distances, and are easily read is no simple feat. Let’s explore some of the main factors in creating custom storefront signs that connect with your audience:

Size and Placement

When designing exterior signs, sufficient size and strategic placement are key. Signs must be large and bold enough to catch the eye from a distance quickly. Positioning signs in high visibility areas where pedestrian or vehicle traffic passes maximize impressions.

Design and Color

An exterior sign’s design and color scheme also significantly impact its ability to attract attention and effectively brand a business. Considerations for design and color include:

Design Elements to Consider

Fonts and lettering
Logo design and size
Pictorial or graphic elements
Layout and use of space

Importance of Color Choice in Visual Design

Colors carry psychological associations that influence customer perceptions and behavior. Using colors that connect to a company’s branding on its exterior signs creates a strong brand association. It is also vital to consider the visual appeal of color combinations. Limiting your color palette is also important to ensure your signs aren’t “too busy.”

Illumination

Illuminating exterior business signs through backlighting or external lighting fixtures allows them to stand out and remain highly visible 24/7. This dramatically expands their exposure to more potential customers.

Quality and Maintenance

Constructing signs with durable, weather-resistant materials and providing regular cleaning and upkeep enables them to maintain visual appeal and effectively represent a business over years of exposure to elements.

Why Regular Maintenance Is Essential

Maintaining effective signage involves preserving legibility, visual impact, and branding consistency. This ensures that signs remain clear and attractive and reflect the brand’s identity. Additionally, protecting investments by regular maintenance extends their lifespan and maximizes advertising effectiveness.

Increase Brand Visibility With a Custom Exterior Building Sign Crafted by Excel Signs & Design

Since 2011, we’ve built our reputation as the premier custom sign provider in the St. Louis area. Our expansive portfolio features many of our partners’ signs you’re sure to instantly recognize from your daily commutes through our great city. Whether you’re looking to pull in highway traffic to your gas station or entice neighborhood diners, we’re here to design, craft, and install a brand-enhancing exterior building sign for you. Contact Excel Signs today to schedule a consultation and receive a free project quote.

First Impressions Matter: Why Exterior Building Signs Are Essential for Business Visibility

Understanding the Role of Outdoor Signs

How Exterior Building Signs Contribute to Quality First Impressions

How Exterior Building Signs Impact Your Business

Increasing Visibility

24/7 Presence

Enhancing Brand Recognition

Driving Foot Traffic

Supporting Marketing and Promotion Efforts

Making Lasting Impressions

Types of Outdoor Business Signage to Consider

Monument Signs

Post and Panel Signs

Blade Signs

Pole Signs

Cabinet Signs

Channel Letter Signs

Digital Signs

Key Components of Effective Exterior Business Signage

Size and Placement

Design and Color

Design Elements to Consider

Importance of Color Choice in Visual Design

Illumination

Quality and Maintenance

Why Regular Maintenance Is Essential

Increase Brand Visibility With a Custom Exterior Building Sign Crafted by Excel Signs & Design

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