How to market a signage and print company against online trade

Aug 27
3 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

Introduction

Online trade printers will always beat a local firm on price for a standard product delivered flat in a box. Competing there is a slow retreat.

But a great deal of signage and print work cannot be bought that way. It requires measuring a building, matching a colour, cutting to an awkward shape, obtaining permission and fitting the thing safely. That is the market, and it is defensible.

1. How to market a signage and print company means moving up the job

Deliberately shift the mix away from what an online supplier can post.

Fascias, vehicle wraps, window graphics, wayfinding, exhibition stands, illuminated signs, large format and installation. These involve site visits, judgement and fitting, all of which a price-per-unit website cannot supply.

2. Sell the survey, the fitting and the permission

The parts customers dread are the parts you should charge for and advertise.

Measuring, structural fixing, working at height, electrical connection, planning or landlord consent, and removing the old sign. A customer who has to organise a fitter separately would much rather buy the whole thing from one supplier.

3. Target the businesses that are changing something

Signage demand is triggered by events, and those events are visible.

New premises, refits, rebrands, new vehicles, expansions, franchise openings and businesses under scaffolding. Watching for these locally produces better-timed approaches than any general advertising, because the need is immediate.

4. Show local work, because recognition sells

Your best portfolio is the signage already installed in your own town.

Photographs of recognisable premises demonstrate quality and prove you actually did the work. Prospects walk past these every day, and a portfolio of local buildings is far more persuasive than an anonymous gallery of products.

5. Build relationships with the people who commission fit-outs

Much of the best work arrives through intermediaries.

Shopfitters, architects, interior designers, commercial agents, franchise groups and marketing agencies all need a reliable signage supplier and would prefer not to manage a difficult one. One good shopfitter relationship can be worth more than a year of direct enquiries.

6. Make artwork handling easy, because it is where jobs stall

Customers supply unusable files, and firms lose days to it.

Clear file requirements, a willingness to fix or redraw artwork, and a small design charge that is worth paying. Being easy about this is a genuine competitive advantage, since the alternative from the customer's point of view is an argument about resolution.

7. Quote quickly and visualise the result

Signage buyers are frequently uncertain what they want and cannot picture the outcome.

A quick mock-up of the sign on a photograph of their building converts remarkably well, because it moves the conversation from an abstract price to a specific object. Firms that do this routinely beat firms that send a figure.

8. Pursue the maintenance and repeat work

Signs fail, get damaged, need cleaning and go out of date, and vehicles get replaced.

Recording what you installed and when lets you contact customers before they think of it, which turns a one-off sale into a relationship. Multi-site customers in particular value a supplier who maintains a consistent look across all their locations.

9. Measure margin by job type, not average order value

Print and signage margins vary enormously between products and most firms cannot see it.

Track profitability separately for simple print, large format, fitted signage and vehicle work, including the installation labour. Almost always this reveals that the price-competitive work is barely contributing and the fitted work is carrying the business.

Conclusion

Stop competing with online trade printers on their terms and move deliberately toward the work that requires attendance, judgement and installation.

Sell the survey, fitting and permissions as part of the product, target businesses at the moment they change premises or branding, build a portfolio of recognisable local buildings, cultivate shopfitters and designers who commission work, make artwork handling painless, quote fast with a visual mock-up, chase maintenance and replacement work from your own records, and track margin separately by job type.