Monday, November 03, 2008
Signs Critical to the Success of Baltimore County Businesses
Considering today’s challenging economic climate, would it be wise for our local government to restrict the ability of small businesses to try to bring in more customers? If a local merchant has a tool that works 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year, to advertise business, does it make sense for our local officials to limit that tool? Of course not. But that is exactly what happens when a local government enacts a restrictive sign code. Right here in our area, the Baltimore County Council will decide in the next few weeks whether or not to impose a 30-minute time limit on Electronic Message Center (EMC) signs. Currently, no such time limit exists, and small businesses are able to freely send multiple messages to potential customers. These innovative types of signs not only communicate commercial transactions, but are often programmed to broadcast community-oriented messages to our fellow citizens. If this measure is passed, it would severely hamper local businesses’ ability to promote their products and services. Such restrictions would be just one more devastating blow for small companies struggling to stay afloat in today’s economic crunch.
In this instance, as in other municipalities looking at similar sign code restrictions throughout the country, local officials are not taking into account the substantial role that on-premise signs play in the success of a business and, in turn, the well-being of the community’s economy.
Signs are so widespread we hardly notice them. However, it is precisely because they are so commonplace that many municipalities take them for granted and do not realize how crucial they are to the health of local economies. A well-designed, visible sign can brand a business, attract new customers and retain existing ones. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, signs can draw in up to fifty percent of a new business’ customers - as much as all other forms of advertising combined! Fifty percent!
In addition, when a business is allowed to have visible and effective on-premise signage, it can increase its revenues, sometimes even doubling sales. Increased business revenues means more tax revenues for local communities, which in turn makes it a little bit easier to pay for the services offered by the government, such as public schools, roads and hospitals. And of course, a successful business is often able to hire more employees, or at least keep the ones it already has.
Sign manufacturers themselves are also integral to many local economies. In fact, most sign products are created within or very near the communities they serve. “Made in the USA” is a way of life in the on-premise sign industry.
There is a lot at stake for local sign suppliers and manufacturers operating in and around the Baltimore area. Take, for example, Neschen Americas, a large manufacturer of laminators, vinyl and other products for large-format graphics. If restrictive sign codes are put in place that limit end users’ ability to purchase and install large signs, Neschen will undoubtedly feel the pinch.
One of Baltimore’s largest sign companies, Gable Sign, has become a notable export business, bringing many jobs back to the region. Sign ordinances inhibiting the company’s ability to place products in its own backyard could have serious downstream consequences for Gable’s many employees who live - and spend money in - Baltimore County.
But restrictive sign codes such as those proposed in Baltimore County hurt all of these businesses-both the end users who employ signs to market their own businesses, and the downstream suppliers and distributors involved in the manufacture of signage, not to mention our community itself.
A substantial body of research provides convincing evidence of the value added to a site through effective signage. A major multipart study conducted by the University of San Diego looking at the effects of on-premise signage on the financial performance of retail sales found that “on-premise signage has a statistically significant and financially substantive impact on the revenues of a site.”
In another case, the U.S. Small Business Administration found that, without a properly designed on-premise sign business sign, a commercial site can’t function at its full economic potential.
In today’s unsteady economy, we need to give small businesses every possible advantage they need to succeed. Our communities and our fellow citizens depend on it. Better signs mean better business. And better business means more jobs and increased tax revenues for our communities. After all, nothing says “open for business” more clearly than a good sign.
