National Safety Month: “Safety Starts with Me”
Each year, the National Safety Council (NSC) encourages organizations and individuals to participate in National Safety Month, an observance to educate and influence behaviors around leading causes of preventable injuries and deaths.
According to NSC, unintentional injuries and deaths in the United States remain at unacceptable levels with unintentional deaths reaching an estimated 126,100 in 2010, an increase of nearly 3% over 2009. All told, these tragic events cost Americans and their employers more than $730 billion, or $6,200 per household.
The theme for National Safety Month 2013 is “Safety Starts with Me” and will showcase weekly themes designed to engage everyone in safety and create a culture where individuals feel a personal responsibility for their own safety and the safety of others. Themes include:
Week 1: Preventing Slips, Trips and Falls
Week 2: Employee Wellness
Week 3: Emergency Preparedness
Week 4: Ergonomics
Want to make your business safer? Help NSC celebrate its 100th anniversary and encourage your staff and coworkers to commit to safety by making a personal safety pledge. If you need to update your outdoor or indoor safety signage, contact the sign experts at your local Signs By Tomorrow to get started.
Attract—and Keep—Tenants with Better Visual Communications
Later this month, we will be sharing tips on how to build a better signage strategy for your real estate properties. But in the meantime, we thought we’d whet your whistle with a look at one of the most important objectives of your real estate property signage: increasing occupancy rates!
There’s no doubt that the right visual communication messages can be a huge asset in terms of attracting new tenants – or keeping existing ones! Whether you own or manage a commercial or residential property, let’s take a closer look at some of the things custom signage solutions can do to boost your occupancy rates and minimize turnover.
If You’ve Got It, Flaunt It!
Custom Feather Banners
It may seem obvious, but you would be surprised at how many property managers or owners don’t take advantage of custom designed graphics to communicate that space is available immediately. Depending on your location, prospective tenants could be driving by, but if they can’t quickly see that a) you have space and b) you have immediate availability you could be missing a potential sale or lease opportunity.
Custom large format signage that can be seen at a distance, with concise content featuring an easy-to-remember website or phone is your best bet for those drive-by impressions. Another good option is catchy new custom signage format options such as feather banners which can tell your story across a series of banners.
Make a Good First Impression
While capturing a prospective tenant’s attention by advertising available space is an important first step, it’s not going to do you much good if you’re not making a positive first impression. A dated or worn-looking sign is a red
Custom Monument Sign
flag to someone looking for space. A far better bet is a polished, professionally-designed visual communications device, in-line with your IMC (integrated marketing and communications), that sends a message about your brand.
For a high-end office park, a well-executed custom monument sign says you’re an established presence and makes you the kind of environment businesses want to associate with. For a residential condo, home or apartment community, new, trendy custom signage makes your space seem like the kind of place they would be proud to call home.
A Clear Path to Higher Occupancy
Custom Outdoor Directory Sign
Once you’ve got your prospective tenant on the hook, it’s time to close the deal with clear, well-marked wayfinding and directional signage that directs them to the leasing office. This serves to streamline the process while also reinforcing the benefit to the potential tenant that their new home or office space will be easy for visitors to find and access.
While these are just a few ideas to get you thinking, the professionals at your local Signs By Tomorrow signage and graphics center may have many more ideas for tactics that work well in your community.
Good luck and happy leasing!
5 Tips to Branding Wayfinding Signage
When planning a new building or venue what tops your task list? Location, interior design, maybe rent?
Where does wayfinding signage sit on that list?
Custom directory signs are a necessity for any new building or venue, yet it tends to be at the bottom of the priority barrel. At Signs By Tomorrow, we believe that directional and wayfinding signage and graphics can be fun, whimsical and even aid in increasing your brand perception through unique and engaging design.
Check out these 5 twists on traditional directional and wayfinding signs:
- Try customizing your ADA and other mandated indoor wayfinding signage with your company’s branding and identity. Custom ADA signage can be manufactured from various colored materials to match your identity. You can even apply graphics or engrave signage with your custom logo.
- Choose materials that match your office setting. Is your organization focused on environmental sustainability? Then maybe natural looking routed or engraved wood materials would be a good fit for your office. Work in an industrial setting? Consider brushed aluminum as your wayfinding signage material of choice.
- Add depth and dimension to your wayfinding signage by combining materials. Place clear acrylic over a metal backer for an industrial or modern look.
- Quickly and easily showcase your business as modern and sophisticated by including digital signage displays as part of your wayfinding graphics. The latest digital displays allow you to change directories with the touch of a button.
- Take advantage of today’s enhancements in routing technology to transform your wayfinding signage into custom shapes to fit your needs and stand out from the crowd. From simple ovals and triangles to more complex objects, your custom signage can be cut to a custom shape and graphics applied to replicate the look of your products or brand’s logo.
In today’s business environment it is vital that you differentiate yourself from the competition and position your brand at every point of customer contact. By customizing even the simplest of signage and graphics you are strengthening your brand and creating better brand retention.
Customizing your wayfinding signs can also help delivery upon your brand’s IMC (Integrated Marketing Communications) messaging; we’ve outlined strategies and tactics to help you start up a IMC plan in previous blog posts.
Don’t forget that custom directory or wayfinding signage isn’t exclusive to the interior of your building—exterior building signage can be branded as well.
To learn more about how Signs By Tomorrow has helped clients create exciting and unique outdoor signage read our recently published case study on the topic.
