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Sign Biz founder Teresa M. Young discusses her marketing strategies
By Steve Aust
In 1986, when Teresa M. Young founded her own, digital-graphics shop near San Diego, she faced the obstacle of owning one of the first such businesses in California.
Previously, she’d served as a sales manager for a nationwide, vitamin franchise, and a business coach for the Michael Gerber Corp., before she transferred her experience to the sign industry. Differing attitudes from two signshop owners toward her “newfangled” business yielded divergent outcomes.
“The owner of a neon signshop came into my shop and loudly criticized the use of computers to make signs,” Young recalled. “I finally asked him to leave. On the other hand, an old hippie who handcarved and painted signs came in and offered to partner with me to use our shop’s complementary capabilities. He became a good friend to our shop for several years, whereas the neon guy eventually went out of business.”
-->A trailblazer, she used trial and error to build her business. Young set up shop in a retail center, and focused on direct-mail and customer service. She recalled, “We soon learned that mass mailings to consumers, such as Val-Pak, were throwing good money to waste. However, we found mass mailings to 1,000 businesses yielded good results.”
A quarter-century later, the acumen of Young and her team has built Sign Biz to an assemblage of approximately 200 independent signshops across seven countries by offering marketing and logistical support while allowing owners to maintain complete independence. With a few exceptions, all members debuted under the Sign Biz umbrella.
At the company’s last annual convention, Sign Biz demonstrated how to implement QR codes, which allow smartphone downloads, search-engine optimization (SEO) to help customizers better locate a shop via an Internet search, and social media to broadcast successful projects. She said, “This is the new playing field. You don’t have to be GE or Apple to dominate in this marketing arena.”
However, Young emphasized that a successful signshop can’t abandon business fundamentals: “You have to implement every possible approach to achieve successful marketing for your shop. In addition to Facebook or Constant Contact [e-mail marketing software], owners still need to join appropriate professional organizations, wrap their shop vehicle, and participate in their local and regional sign associations and industry tradeshows. Each avenue brings its own return, and they all support each other.”
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