If you own or manage a business, you know that advertising is everything. Tools like digital signs and outdoor displays are crucial to enticing customers. Whether you run a store, a restaurant, or any other kind of business, signs are the face of a business, and you want yours to be attractive.

Unfortunately, making a mistake when choosing or placing a sign can be detrimental to your business. Use the following dos and don’ts to avoid signage fiascoes, and to help your business thrive:

Do Consider Your Audience

As with any other marketing or advertising endeavor, the audience is everything. If you know that your target market is children and families, be sure that your sign is fun, colorful, and implies either educational or recreational benefits for kiddos. If your target audience is more mature, consider sophisticated fonts with simplified colors and styles to indicate quality and expertise.

Do Think About Location

A good sign is easily readable. Find a location that is raised to help viewers see it from a distance, but don’t select a location that is too high for nearby onlookers. Choose a place that can be viewed from multiple directions, or else risk losing a portion of potential customers.

Do Focus on Brand

Your outdoor signs should be a reflection of your brand’s mission. Be sure to include fonts, colors, and images that you want your customers to associate with your company. Failing to include a brand logo or styles typical of your company might render the sign ineffective, as viewers won’t sure who the message is coming from.

Don’t Try to Do Too Much

Trying to incorporate custom lighting and designs is a good choice, but don’t expect a single sign to be able to advertise multiple aspects of your business. Too much clutter on a sign can make it less appealing. Don’t try to cram in your address, website, email, and phone number, either– your customers should be able to find everything they need with a quick online search.

Don’t Sacrifice Quality

Finally, don’t spend your hard-earned money on a sign that is poorly designed or not built to last. Cutting corners will result in less business and a lower return on investment. Purchasing high-quality signs can save you headaches down the road, and can help promote your business so that you can buy more advertising opportunities in the future.

No matter what kind of business you operate, you can’t deny the importance of good signage. In fact, 70% of consumers agree that the quality of a businesses’ sign reflects the quality of the business. Use these dos and don’ts to help guide customers to your high-quality products with a few well-placed and attractive custom signs.