Bill Boeckelman

The Yard Sign
The Original & Still, The Most Effective
Home Marketing Tool Ever Invented

Signs convey more messages to more people per dollar spent than any other method of advertising.

Marketing professionals always include signs as a primary component of every marketing campaign, because they're simple, they're inexpensive and ... they work.

The general purpose of any sign is to:

Attract attention or create interest
Identify a location
Communicate a brief message

In order to accomplish those goals a sign must be:

Designed correctly
Installed & displayed correctly
Contain the correct message.

In the real estate industry, The yard sign on the front lawn of a property being offered for sale has always been a home seller's most effective advertisement ... and many times the yard sign has proven to be the only advertisement necessary.

Any home seller, or Realtor, who ignores this fact is underestimating, perhaps, the most powerful home marketing tool at their disposal.

Unlike advertisements, which must be paid for each and every time they run, a sign (once it is paid for) continues to advertise the property every single day, 24 hours per day until it is sold.

The following are industry design standards. These are the guidelines that professional sign makers use. Adhering to these design & installation recommendations, will insure that any money spent on a sign will be money well spent.

YARD SIGN SPECIFICATIONS:

Keep in mind, the following specifications are meant to enable a motorist to read the sign easily while traveling at 30 mph.

Dimensions:

18" x 24" (or 20" x 30") printed on both sides of panel Message:

FOR SALE

Phone # (does not need to include the area code)

By Appointment Only (optional) Color:

BLACK letters on white or yellow background

A 3rd color, used as an accent color, can increase

the sign's visibility by 78% Design:

Use 2" BLACK letters or numerals for the phone #

Use an easy to read typeface

Use professional stick-on numerals or letters

Do NOT hand letter the sign with magic markers

Adding a border to a sign will help the viewer to read it 26% faster.

Reflectorized signs will readable at night Quality:

To a buyer, the quality of the yard sign is an indication

of the quality of the house

Cheap sign = cheap house.

Cheaply made signs encourage unqualified buyers. YARD SIGN INSTALLATION:

"How the sign is displayed" sends as strong a message as the words printed on the sign panel itself.

To a buyer, the care & pride you demonstrate by the way you install the sign is an indication of the care & pride you take in your home.

Sloppy sign installation = sloppy house.

How to install a yard sign:

Perpendicular to the direction of traffic
In front of the house, as close to the curb as practical (& as permitted by local zoning ordinances)
The bottom edge of the sign should be 3 feet above the ground

Signs installed too closely to the ground are difficult to read over the hood of a moving car. By the time the motorist is close enough to read the phone number, the sign will be below the line of sight.

Again, these guidelines are intended to improve a sign's ability to be read from a moving automobile.

ADDITIONAL SIGN ENHANCEMENTS:

By utilizing some simple enhancements, a sign can be upgraded into an extremely valuable "information kiosk".

SIGN RIDERS:
6" x 24" changeable strips or banners that can be attached to the For Sale sign to feature special attributes of the house: i.e. 4 bedrooms, 5 bedrooms, swimming pool, fireplace, 1/2 acre, 1 acre, etc.

Changing the riders every week or so, renews interest in the sign, even to those who drive by every day.

BROCHURE BOX:
A weatherproof box that attaches to the sign post and is stocked with property flyers for passers-by to take. The brochure box enables buyers to obtain information about the property at all hours of the day. The flyer should itemize all the special features of the home AND include the contact information (phone #) ... sometimes people can't find a pen & paper to jot down the phone number printed on the sign.

"OPEN HOUSE SUNDAY" SIGN RIDER:
This rider can be attached to the sign for the entire week preceding an open house to reinforce the advertisements and inform those who may not see the newspaper ad.

In a world where technology seems to be the answer to everything, it's hard to imagine that something as simple as a sign can be so powerful ... but it is!

Dollar for dollar, a quality sign, properly installed and displayed, will attract more motivated buyers than any other marketing device.

A professionally made sign that utilizes the above specifications and enhancements is worth its weight in gold.

Don't treat the "For Sale" sign as an afterthought ... include it as an important part of your overall marketing plan right from the very beginning. Consider it an investment. The money & effort you put into a sign's design, placement and appearance will be worth it.