We finished off the first full month of the Worldwidestores, and we were glad to notice a significant trend in sales. Of course this is only a month of data, which in retail is only 1/12 of a really useful picture, but it has been good to see a positive regression line. Believe it or not, so far the most influential factor in sales has been… signs. When we have good signs in good places… sales are good–generally speaking of course.

A sign serves a lot of functions for new and existing companies alike:

• Make people aware of the existence of your store.
• Educate people about your store and product.
• Qualify the customer before hand.
• Begin building brand equity.

5 Keys to remember when making a sign for a start up company:

• Make it so people people know what product you are selling.
• Emphasize the name before the logo–you can do branding emphasis after you make some good initial capital
• Make it colorful! White just fades into the background.
• make it clear and legible! Don’t worry about cool logos… just make it unmistakable
• Make plenty of them and do what it takes to place them in high traffic areas-busy roads, intersections etc.

I know they sound simple, but they are easily transgressed. Just stick to ‘em and you’ll find a faster and more abundant success with your brick and mortar venture.

This is my experience, but I would love to hear more. I couldn’t find any good articles online about the keys to good signage, but I would love to see any resources people might have. Please let me know. -John