Value of Signage

Understanding the Value of Signage
There is an old axiom that the 3 keys to successfully selecting real estate are "location, location and location". The 3 keys that guide the successful selection and development of commercial properties are Visibility, Accessibility and Parking. An effective on-premise sign is critical component of visibility, and the sign should receive the same careful attention as these other components. Without a properly designed and placed on-premise business sign, a commercial site cannot function at its full economic potential.

Features and Advantages of EMC’s
Take into account the following when considering an electronic message center for your business:

EMC’s allow an unlimited number of message changes and variable controls, all easily completed with a computer. The result is lower labor cost and elimination of the physical liabilities often associated with copy changes on traditional reader boards.
EMC’s communicate variable messages as people pass by, allowing greater flexibility in communicating to the public.
With their automated dimming and focusing systems, EMC’s can respond to the visibility needs of the public, increasing safety and conspicuity day and night.
The flexibility offered by EMC’s means your business can advertise specials while also displaying public service information or other items of public interest.
These signs can quickly "brand" your business site in the local community.
EMC’s are an investment in your business and provide the best and most cost-effective forms of paid advertising. The only form of advertising that may be more powerful is word of mouth (although it can be neither purchased nor controlled).
The effectiveness of an EMC is not limited by space or surface area constraints as with a reader-board.
EMC’s act as your "salesman on the street," attracting new customers to your business location.
EMC’s allow you to market your products and services to your immediate trade area and prevent wasteful advertising expenses.
The business owner can change the message as needed to provide information to specific retail customers, and can be used for political, social or community events.
Software is available that enables a business owner to display sophisticated logos or images on the EMC precisely as planned.

In summary...although they may require a greater initial investment, electronic message centers offer many different advantages for the business owner to consider. Be sure to review the Frequently Asked Questions about EMC’s for additional information about the cost-effectiveness of your investment in an EMC.

An Answer to the Challenge of Changing Demographics
The public - your existing and potential customers - is on the move, both literally and figuratively, and sometimes catching their attention is like hitting a moving target. Consider that approximately 18.6% of Americans move every year. Whether they move a short or long distance, they usually change their basic trade area. Add to that the fact that 15-35% of the traffic on a given street is "just passing through" (vacation travelers and such), and you can see the great potential for single stops by those unfamiliar with the area. An electronic or variable message center offers a unique way to capture the attention of these passers-by. An EMC allows you to communicate more effectively with the typical person passing by at a particular time day by changing the message and graphic of your sign to match the profile on the street. The local airport in Monmouth, NJ offers a clever example of this flexibility. The airport used its display to advertise price specials at peak hours to those traveling by on the freeway on the way to and from work. During shopping hours or after-school traffic, the airport changed its display to offer community service messages. This kind of flexibility increases the readership of a message unit, as it can correspond to the traffic profile by the day of the week, the time of day, or the season. With the right software, virtually any message can be created and displayed. The demand by businesses for these electronic or variable message centers is increasing because these signs improve the economic viability of difficult commercial sites with limited space. Municipalities that wish to prevent urban sprawl or deterioration of urban land are passing enabling acts that require optimization of urban space, and thus are more willing to look at EMC’s as a signage option for businesses.

Electronic Message Centers: Safe and Legal
The federal government recognizes the superior communication value of EMC’s and uses electronic information panels on many freeways to warn drivers of possible hazards. Its use of portable electronic warning signs at construction or accident sites is also increasing. The sophisticated hardware that is now available makes maximum readability possible for the driver. Airports and highway departments are developing expertise in positioning and sizing of these signs to enable the driver to read, react and move through traffic with optimum safety. Electronic message centers are not a distraction to drivers; it is quite the contrary. Their exceptional readability and conspicuity means that EMCs actually increase driver safety. The federal government and other reviewers, after conducting numerous studies, analyzing court cases, and reviewing the available literature, have concluded that signs and electronic message centers, if used properly, are traffic safety enhancement devices. The 1958 Federal-Aid Highway Act established federal controls for signs illuminated by flashing, moving or intermittent light. The Federal-Aid Highway 1965 Act did not contain any reference to lighting controls. However, Federal/State agreements were entered into with all States referencing lighting restrictions on signs in commercial or industrial areas, based on customary usage. In 1978, the Surface Transportation Assistance Act amended the highway beautification law to allow on-premise electronic message centers along the Interstate and Federal Aid Primary road systems, subject to individual state law, so long as those signs do not contain flashing, intermittent, or moving lights. Variable message signs, whose content can be changed or altered on a fixed display surface, are recognized by the federal government as different from the regulated animated signage, which mimic movement or have high-intensity flashing lights in order to grab the viewer's attention. In a 1980 study commissioned by the Federal Highway Administration, researchers Ross Netherton and Jerry Wachtel set out to prove electronic variable message signs were unsafe. They concluded, however, that no credible statistical evidence existed to support the conclusion that electronic or variable message centers negatively impacted road safety. Their report also said that roadside signs provided a stimulus that helped maintain driver alertness, and increased safety by combating "highway hypnosis." Several states have conducted studies on the safety of roadside signs, including EMCs, and none have found an increase in traffic accidents - and in some cases found a significant decrease in accidents - related to the signs. Furthermore, nine leading insurance companies were surveyed, and all indicated that they had never received an accident claim involving an advertising sign. Richard Schwab, former Federal Highway Administration program manager for research on highway visibility and night driving safety and Fellow of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, conducted an extensive study that concluded EMCs could not be linked to traffic accidents or any reduction in traffic safety. In 1996, the Kentucky Supreme Court struck down a state statute that prohibited signs near highways if they contained or included "flashing, moving or intermittent lights except those displaying time, date, temperature or weather …" The court said the state had failed to demonstrate that a legitimate government interest was advanced by the prohibition, and said no evidence supported the notion that so limiting the content on the display had "anything to do with highway safety or aesthetics." It is a testament to the safety of EMCs that, since 1979, the Federal Highway Administration has not seen any need to revise its recognition of the legality of on-premise commercial variable electronic message signage, provided that:

the displays are changed at reasonable intervals,
the signage does not violate the compliance agreement's definition of flashing lights, and
a state has accepted local controls in lieu of state controls and such signs are considered to have been in customary use within the locality, or a state court has determined that such signs do not constitute flashing, intermittent or moving lights.

ALL INFORMATION WAS TAKEN FROM WWW.SBA.GOV – FEDERAL SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION