Thread: Signage, LED, etc.??

Hey guys, we are thinking of installing a new sign, and I would love to hear your thoughts. I had a fellow self-storage owner (in another market) say to me, "Do you think a nice, new sign will push some tenants away because they will assume your rents are too expensive?" My first thought was, that's a negative way to look at things...but do you think there is any validity to his comment?

Lastly, we are considering an LED sign too, where we can communicate specials, auctions, etc. to drive-bys. Thinking I may even put more money into the LED sign than our real sign??? If you have LED signage, I'd love to hear if you think its effective and reliable. Thanks

We have an LED sign..here's a link to it...

http://www.miraclesigns.biz/portfoli...edstorall.html

We have had it for a little over a year...it's great..displays the date, time, and temperature, and my husband designs all kinds of movies to play on it, for holidays, for our storage facility, for local organizations that store with us like the Boy Scouts...he made one movie of our storage truck driving across the screen and then the words pop up "Free Truck, Move In Today!" in sparkly flashing letters....no one has ever commented on the cost of the sign

You can load as much movies, graphics, and slogans/sayings on it as you want...it just rotates and cycles through whatever you put together....We have a movie for Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, Spring cleaning storage.....you are only limited in what you put on the sign by what your imagination and creativity can come up with.

EVERYONE that drives by notices the sign, and we get over 70% of our move-in's from drive bys...it's expensive, but it works!

I would also say it's much easier if you have someone on staff with graphic design knowledge and skills with the graphics programs...since my husband used to design websites, we don't have to pay outside programmers, which can run into some $$$

I wish we could have a LED sign. Unfortunately the city of Dallas (Texas) will not allow it. Even banners,windman or balloons are now a NO NO!!! and tickets are given out quick.
A sign like that would be nice to show temp/weather website etc.

I would be reluctant to put specials on it and or auctions.

I would use it for general information mainly.

I always feel that by putting to much attention on auctions it will give us a negative reputation as a industry.

We never make a dollar with a auction so why advertise?

We auction just to follow a legal procedure to be able to empty the unit out.

But overall a flashy sign would be niceee!!

Alley, we can't put up banners or balloons either...and now we don't need to....we have our own huge LED banner that we can add, change, or delete whenever we want....same day service with no banner costs.

Originally Posted by Lisa T

Alley, we can't put up banners or balloons either...and now we don't need to....we have our own huge LED banner that we can add, change, or delete whenever we want....same day service with no banner costs.

They wont let us have a sign like yours
If they did I would have one today!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks, good point on promoting auctions. You lose money on them anyway, so what's the point. Also, its kinda like saying" Look at us, we're kicking another person out who can't pay!" Not really the message I want to send!

Lisa T, do you have any thoughts on buying LED signs? Which are best, How big does it need to be for people to see it, etc.?? Thanks

I am pouting and still very jealouse at LISA's sign !

The area we are in doesn't even allow backlit signs.

Bob (Astro)

Originally Posted by MTexas

Lisa T, do you have any thoughts on buying LED signs? Which are best, How big does it need to be for people to see it, etc.?? Thanks

Our sign looks big because it's sitting on a "grassy knoll".....but the actual screen of the LED is 4' x 6' ...my husband could tell you how many pixels it is...The owner of the facility purchased the sign, and knowing him, I'm sure he did more-than-ample research on the subject and suppliers.

So I don't have any thoughts or experience on purchasing one, but I am a very satisfied recipient of the one we have.

We run about 12 different items on it a time, alternating between movie clips and flashy slogans, with the time/date/temp being the last thing before it starts the cycle up again. We even have a nice clip my husband made up going right now about the Orlando Magic, and when school is in session, we have info about the UCF Orlando Knights.

If you want advice, contact Luke at Miracle Signs, it was a painless turn-key installtion, and training. Luke's email address is Luke@miraclesigns.biz

I'm not trying to be a saleswoman for the company or the sign, we just have had wonderful success with ours, and it's fun too! Everyone loves it. And I can't tell you how many people have called from their cell phone in their car inquiring about storage after driving by. Probably not the safest thing to do, but we do get a lot of interest from it, way more than from our previous marquee sign.