Kurt Tyack, Director at Signarama Southern Africa outlines why sign companies need a strong local footprint. We operate in an increasingly digital world. Customers search online, request quotations by email and communicate through messaging platforms. These tools make business faster, but they can also make relationships feel increasingly distant.
For sign companies, this creates an important question: how visible and involved are we in the communities where we actually operate? Our industry is uniquely positioned to make a meaningful contribution. We work with schools, charities, sports clubs, community organisations and businesses of every size. We also possess practical skills and production capabilities that many of these organisations urgently need but cannot always afford.
Community involvement does not have to mean making a significant financial donation. It could involve sponsoring a sign for a local charity, producing event banners for a school, assisting a sports club with branding, improving the visibility of a community organisation or donating wayfinding signage to a worthy initiative.
The material cost may be relatively modest, but the value to the recipient can be substantial. There is also a sound business case for becoming more involved. People prefer doing business with companies they know and trust. Supporting a worthwhile local initiative creates relationships, demonstrates your capabilities and gives your team an opportunity to contribute to something beyond the next production deadline.
However, the contribution must be genuine. If community involvement is approached purely as a sales tactic, people will recognise it. The objective should be to create real value first, with goodwill and greater local visibility developing naturally from that contribution.
In the daily rush to complete jobs, manage installations and meet deadlines, these opportunities are easily overlooked. A simple way to change this is to include community involvement in the company’s annual planning.
– Identify one or two local causes that matter to your team.
– Decide what products, skills or production capacity you can contribute.
– Establish a realistic annual budget or allocation of time.
– Involve employees and encourage them to suggest deserving organisations.
– Build long-term relationships instead of pursuing isolated publicity opportunities.
Digital visibility remains important, but a business should also have a meaningful physical and human footprint in its market. As sign companies, we spend every day helping other organisations become visible. Perhaps we should also consider how those same capabilities can help the communities around us become stronger.
SIGNARAMA
+27 83 278 9000
kurt@signarama.co.za
https://www.signfranchise.co.za/
