There are several advantages to making your small business seem bigger than it really is. The appearance of being big can make customers far more likely to take your business seriously and increase the level of customer to business trust.
Looking bigger than you really are can also make your business seem like a better value provider than its smaller competitors. After all, big businesses needed to be good in order to grow into large companies in the first place.
Luckily, you don’t need to run a huge business in order to give your company the appearance of being large and well known. These four tips will help your business design a signage that makes it look bigger, more established and more dependable.
List your website on your signage
An online presence is one of the most obvious signs that a business is larger than its physical presence alone. Designing and building (and promoting) your website is an excellent way to increase the perceived size of your business for consumers.
As well as listing your company’s name and slogan on its signage, list its website to show that it has an online presence. You can even list your Facebook Page or other social media accounts to show that your business has international reach.
Listing your website on your signage also makes it easier for people that pass your store or retail location to search for your business online and potentially return in the future.
Keep it simple, just like the big brands
Big brands all have one thing in common: they keep their signage simple. From Wal-Mart to McDonald’s, many of the world’s most well known brands keep their retail signage extremely simple to make it more recognizable.
Many small businesses, on the other hand, do the opposite and invest in signage that offers every detail about the business. It’s a trade-off – one is designed to make your brand familiar, while the other is designed for instant action.
One of the easiest ways to make your business seem larger than it really is to use the same branding techniques as large companies. Keep your signage nice and simple to make your brand more memorable for consumers.
Avoid using localized terms and phrases
The more local your business is, the smaller it will seem. Using words like your city’s name or approximate location in your business’s name – and particularly in its retail signage – makes it seem like a local business rather than a bigger brand.
In contrast, using a name that’s not restricted to any one location makes a business feel bigger than it really is. Because of this, it’s best to avoid geographical names if you’d like to make your business appear larger and more established.
As with all marketing choices, there’s a trade-off present. While a local name will make your business seem smaller, it can often be more effective for developing a local audience of loyal customers.
Create a brand for your company
Many small businesses pay little attention to branding, preferring to focus on the more easily measurable direct response style of marketing. While branding might not seem important for a small business, it’s actually extremely valuable.
When your business builds and establishes a brand, it becomes far more than the sum of its parts. It stands out from its competitors as a trusted name instead of a single choice among many others.
It also seems bigger than it really is, largely because of the trust that’s associated with the brand. By creating a brand for your company, you can make it stand out among the alternatives as a larger, more established and trustworthy option.
