how effect are these signs

chprt

Hey folks


I was thinking of buying one of these and placing it on the main road near where my thai boxing gym is.

http://www.milltechdigital.com/pavement-signs/index.html

How effective is this type of advertising?

Is it legal just to leave it on the side of the road chained to a street sign, there are a few there already?

just wondering is it worth doing it really,

thanks folks paddy

IRE60

No - you cant chain it to a lamp post - positive of that. You would also be 'de facto' liable if someone fell over it, etc - personally i don't think its any good for you.

Are you facing the road/near a road?
What about window graphics - see through?
Canopy over the windows
Do you have a gable end

Plenty of other stuff you can be doing.

stcstc

i agree

those things just get in the way

and all you need is someone saying they got hurt because of it

i very rarely get asked to do them anymore, there are soooo many more options that look better are more effective and aint gonna cause you anywhere near as much greif

Tearaway

You have to get permission to put them on the street - same department that deals with street furniture (seats outside a cafe) I think!

They do work but they're a pain to police and as posters above said you could end up with a injury claim

Budget Marketing

Hi

A-bosrds and pavement signs are usefull but it very much so depends on the nature of the business using them. If you have a message which you want to get across to people and you are in an area of high passing trade then they do work provided the poster they hold is designed well.

We design and print posters to fit these regularily and where the client tells us that the aboard will be on the street we make sure not to overload the design with texta nd too much information. You want to make the message clear and concise.

For instance only recently i was walking down suffolk street and passed a pizza hut. They have an a-board which reads "All you can eat buffet - €9.99" I noticed that even in the short space of time that i walked past people were paying attention to the aboard and its short but clear message. The advantage of the boards is that where a prospect customer walks down strett they may not be ceraning their nack right and left looking to see what shops they are passing. However if their is an a-board with a message front facing them then that means that their attention is brought to your retail unit and your marketing message.

With regards of legality, i can tell you that yes on some small streets with narrow pavements they are banned. It is a matter of contacting your council to see if your area is affected. I know that in England this rule is sometimes enforced in areas where they are banned, the councils over there will confiscate the a-boards and you would be forced to pay a release fee.

Based on the link which you mentioned that to me seems to be a very unrealistic price. Its coming in on that site @ near €250 to include delivery. By the time you get your graphics sorted that will be nearer €300. A boards should not cost that much for what is essentiall a steel and plastic frame. I'm in the print display and signage business myself, give me a shout if you like and i will source an identical one for you at a much more reasonable and realistic price. Hope this helps.

rob@budgetmarketing.ie

edbar2

I don't know about others, but those type of signs ARE very effective for me.

Regardless of what you are selling, those signs get my attention.

milltech_ian

Hi, I'm Ian Kenefick and I work with Milltech Digital (the site in question here). I saw some links coming from boards.ie on our analytics so I thought I'd check it out. I'm a bit disappointed in what appears to be self serving remarks from Rob @ budgetmarketing.ie so I felt obliged to clear up the inaccuracies.

Budget Marketing wrote: »

Hi

A-bosrds and pavement signs are usefull but it very much so depends on the nature of the business using them. If you have a message which you want to get across to people and you are in an area of high passing trade then they do work provided the poster they hold is designed well.

You get what you pay for and that's why professional design houses charge for their work - good design is worth paying for! Designing on spec or for free (like you do) is damaging to the print & design trade - see http://www.no-spec.com/articles/what-is-spec/ for more details. We work with several leading design houses throughout Ireland so I say based on experience.

Budget Marketing wrote: »

Based on the link which you mentioned that to me seems to be a very unrealistic price. Its coming in on that site @ near €250 to include delivery. By the time you get your graphics sorted that will be nearer €300. A boards should not cost that much for what is essentiall a steel and plastic frame. I'm in the print display and signage business myself, give me a shout if you like and i will source an identical one for you at a much more reasonable and realistic price. Hope this helps.

Let's be very clear: the price listed is €180 (that's a 40% less than the price of €250 you are referring to). The price of €180 includes the 2x Full Colour A1 prints. Overnight delivery is €15 which is also very reasonable and in line with our competitors. As there are many different manufacturers of A-Boards it is not accurate to say the one that we provide is the "steel and plastic frame" you are referring to. In fact, ours is aluminium... the steel versions rust. I also want to make it clear that we will not engage in the business of spamming forums with our products and services while at the same time providing misleading information about our competitors. It is important to protect those making legitimate inquiries from biased or non impartial advice.

blue4ever

Actually - fair fecks to you milltech_ian, well composed and responded to.

It actually made me re-look at that other post - the money rob is quoting on your site is plus vat (which is a little off given its reclaimable) - but he declines to say if the prices on his own site are plus VAT or not!

Actually Robs post is fairly disingenuous and particularly misleading with regard to your own company. I'd like to think you have pointed that out and set the record straight.

Bula Bus!

C

Budget Marketing

milltech_ian wrote: »

I'm a bit disappointed in what appears to be self serving remarks from Rob @ budgetmarketing.ie.

Hi Ian, I have many years industry experience in regards of the subject, I expressed my views and communicated to the OP what i thought of A-boards in general and what i thought of your particular offer in general, after all the OP was looking for advice. I studied and specialised in Marketing myself in university so I think i am qualified in the subject. I am allowed to have an opinion in a field that I am well qualified in.

milltech_ian wrote: »

I felt obliged to clear up the inaccuracies. You get what you pay for and that's why professional design houses charge for their work - good design is worth paying for!........We work with several leading design houses throughout Ireland so I say based on experience.

It would be totally unpractical in 90% of cases to have a design house create artwork/graphics for a poster that will sit in an aboard. Design house work costs hundreds of euro per project. Sure for 48 sheet design and large integrated marketing campaigns they are essential but We are talking about small businesses here, the OP is looking for the best value and quality. Any competent designer could design good and effective artwork for an A-board. An A-board should not be loaded with detailed text and graphics, instead it should communicate a simple, attractive and quick message to attract passing trade. Its ridiculous to think that you suggest that good design can only come from a design house. Also We employ qualified graphic designers who carry out our design.

milltech_ian wrote: »

Designing on spec or for free (like you do) is damaging to the print & design trade - see http://www.no-spec.com/articles/what-is-spec/ for more details..

I am most angry about the fact that you are stating something which is completely untrue. WE DO NOT CARRY OUT ANY SPEC WORK?. I do not know why you think that we carry out spec work?....I completely agree with you that spec work is damaging to the design and print industry. Why do you think that we design on spec? We charge a standard rate of €25 + vat for simple design for our print. Making design affordable to small businesses.

milltech_ian wrote: »

Let's be very clear: the price listed is €180 (that's a 40% less than the price of €250 you are referring to). The price of €180 includes the 2x Full Colour A1 prints. Overnight delivery is €15 which is also very reasonable and in line with our competitors.

The price on your website is €180 ex vat, when i click on that and add to cart and then view the cart €37.80 in VAT is added to this and then another delivery charge of €15 is added to this again. This brings the total price of the product to €232.80. I said that it would cost near enough €250. €233 is near enough €250 in my opinion. So its not 40% less than the price i quoted....in fact it is only 7% less.

I will still maintain my original argument, and that is that €233 not incl. artwork for an a-board is a ridiculously expensive price. That is why i posted my post. Someone needs to stand up for small start-up businesses whom dont know the true and realistic value of commercial marketing goods. I probably should not reveal this on a public forum as many whom have bought expensive a-boards will get a shock but the cost price of an aboard to a small signage firm who dont order in bulk, and who order by the individual piece is about €50 + vat. This is from what is probably one of the most expensive signage suppliers in the Irish signage market. Such identical products can be purchased by the sign shop for alot cheaper abroad. So when I saw that miltech was making a potential 200-300% mark up on their product, it just seemed quite ridiculous. And this not even including design or delivery. We in fact offer FREE delivery on all products nationwide.

milltech_ian wrote: »

it is not accurate to say the one that we provide is the "steel and plastic frame" you are referring to. In fact, ours is aluminium... the steel versions rust..

There is no mention of "aluminium" on your website as far as i can see in fact on the website the pavemnet stand is described as "galvanised steel back panels" - so that is why i described your product as I did. Our a-boards are also aluminium. I believe that we source our a-boards from the same supplier, or at least they come from the same factory as the brochure picture you have on your website is identical to the brochure picture which we are provided by our supplier.

Also on the topic of materials you mention on your site that your aboard has "rounded chrome corners". Dont you mean that it has hardened plastic corners with a chrome finish, because the majority of aboards contain no chrome alloy. Correct me if I am wrong.

milltech_ian wrote: »

I also want to make it clear that we will not engage in the business of spamming forums with our products and services while at the same time providing misleading information about our competitors. It is important to protect those making legitimate inquiries from biased or non impartial advice.

We are boards.ie subscribers, we support the forum, and offer good advice to people starting up and running businesses. Because we are paying subscribers on the forum i cant see whats wrong with having a signature that conatins our logo. Instead of offering companies essential business products at extraordinarily high prices we offer affordable and realistic marketing tools and print. Any start up businesses whom work with us only ever get great value and service for their money. Our advice is not non impartial. In fact given our marketing background i regularly advise my clients with regards of their marketing efforts on the basis of providing that little bit extra for my clients.

blue4ever wrote: »

It actually made me re-look at that other post - the money rob is quoting on your site is plus vat (which is a little off given its reclaimable) - but he declines to say if the prices on his own site are plus VAT or not!

Hi Blue4ever, i have to point out that the money which i was quoting was +VAT, but less design, I still think i would be right in saying that the total cost for the aboard when design would be taken into account with milltech would be over €300. This is an outrageous price to pay for an a-board. I will reiterate that as Ian suggested, having a design house make a graphic for an a-board poster would be ridiculous. In terms of the including of VAT, we have to remember that VAT is only reclaimable if the business is making money. Consider a start up buisness which is buying its fittings and fixtures, there is no guarentee that they will make money or have much in terms of sales, they may have a very tought time trading in the first few months/years. Vat does suck casflow in the short term. You are right in saying that the prices on my site just like on Ians site are ex vat as we service business customers only.

blue4ever wrote: »

Actually Robs post is fairly disingenuous and particularly misleading with regard to your own company. I'd like to think you have pointed that out and set the record straight.!

I hope that after hearing my side of the argument you can somewhat see where i was coming from in posting my thoughts last week, I dont think an aboard stand should cost a small business near €233 and that's less design. Also my OP Was extremely detailed and i think that i advised the OP very well in regards of everyting one needs to know about a-boards.

Also I would like to make it clear that as a company we do not design on spec. This is completely false and i think Ian should clarify here that he was wrong is saying we design on spec. It is clearly stated on our website that we provide graphic design services for €25 + vat with the purchase of all of our print and marketing tools.

Thanks for your time in reading this, i can assure you its the last thing i wanted to write at this hour of the morning.

Rob

anuragdpfoc

Budget Marketing wrote: »

Hi

A-bosrds and pavement signs are usefull but it very much so depends on the nature of the business using them. If you have a message which you want to get across to people and you are in an area of high passing trade then they do work provided the poster they hold is designed well.
.

rob@budgetmarketing.ie

i too think it work in busy area....

milltech_ian

Budget Marketing wrote: »

It would be totally unpractical in 90% of cases to have a design house create artwork/graphics for a poster that will sit in an aboard. Design house work costs hundreds of euro per project.

90%? Hundreds of euro per project? You're generalising really.

Budget Marketing wrote: »

Its ridiculous to think that you suggest that good design can only come from a design house.

You're right. It would have been ridiculous to suggest that.... which is why I didn't. By the way - If you have designers and they are qualified professionals are you not a design house too?

Budget Marketing wrote: »

WE DO NOT CARRY OUT ANY SPEC WORK?. I do not know why you think that we carry out spec work?

I never said you did. I did say you did design for free.

Budget Marketing wrote: »

The price on your website ex vat

Yes, and it states this clearly. We work with the trade who deal ex VAT.

Budget Marketing wrote: »

I will still maintain my original argument, and that is that incl. artwork for an a-board is a ridiculously expensive price.

You have never seen the product therefore you are not qualified to judge what is or isn't expensive. As I explained this product isn't as you described.

Budget Marketing wrote: »

We in fact offer FREE delivery on all products nationwide.

Irrelevant.

Budget Marketing wrote: »

There is no mention of "aluminium" on your website as far as i can see in fact on the website the pavemnet stand is described as "galvanised steel back panels" - so that is why i described your product as I did. Our a-boards are also aluminium. I believe that we source our a-boards from the same supplier, or at least they come from the same factory as the brochure picture you have on your website is identical to the brochure picture which we are provided by our supplier.

We do not discuss suppliers.

Budget Marketing wrote: »

We are boards.ie subscribers, we support the forum, and offer good advice to people starting up and running businesses. Because we are paying subscribers on the forum i cant see whats wrong with having a signature that conatins our logo.

I think I know where you are going with this... however, I never mentioned anything about problems with signatures and logos. The OP asked about the effectiveness of a banner. You took it upon yourself to flog your services while inaccurately dismissing ours.

Budget Marketing wrote: »

Instead of offering companies essential business products at extraordinarily high prices we offer affordable and realistic marketing tools and print.

This thread isn't about you or your business. It's about the OP's request for information. You're the one volunteering the jib about how good you are!

Budget Marketing wrote: »

I hope that after hearing my side of the argument

I wouldn't get into an argument in a forum. As I said - my only intention was to correct the inaccuracies in your post.

Budget Marketing wrote: »

Also I would like to make it clear that as a company we do not design on spec. This is completely false

I never said you designed on spec. I said you did it for free. Your website advertises free design for banners does it not?

Budget Marketing wrote: »

Thanks for your time in reading this.

You are welcome Rob!

carbayon

I would stay way from pavement boards in Ireland in general. I see two small issues with them, narrow walk ways and weather.

Most walkways are narrow and when it rains people tends to walk closer to the buildings, thus walking into or having to avoid the sign, more often than not they won't read it.

The second problem is the rain and wind, today for example was windy enough that the signs would have been moving back and for and people would not be able to read it.

Personally I would use "Logo Projector Light", this units are a small version of a project and allows you to put in "discs" with logos or messages, the light is reflected on the payment, so people walks over it, no need to avoid it. Also the rain will no affected, and given the long nights and the dark days, it will be visible. Unlike the signs, you can leave this on at night when the business is closed, so it works longer.

I am not sure that you can find "Logo Projector" retailers in Ireland, but you may find them in the UK. It may be more expensive, but it will be "unique" and different, so people will pay attention at first.

Unlike all other respondents to the initial questions, I don't sell or trade or make a living on marketing or graphic design, I am just a punter with an opinion.