Exploring National Sign Maintenance Companies? Here’s What to Consider
If your organization is evaluating national sign maintenance companies to support a growth strategy or to better protect signage investments at existing locations, you’re likely not alone. Many brands nationwide — and in multiple industries — are expanding their sphere of operations as the events of the past two years have reshaped their interactions with consumers and created opportunities for growth.
One key example comes from the grocery industry. While online ordering for groceries is expected to continue increasing, research giant McKinsey & Company reported in its State of Grocery Consumer Survey conducted in late 2021 that the leading reason why people don’t buy groceries online more frequently is that they prefer personal contact in stores. Additionally, major brands are actively adding new locations to capitalize on new technologies and markets — creating the need for more signage.
The same is happening in the retail industry, with brands such as Dollar General and Warby Parker looking to expand their number of stores. Additionally, recent research revealed that more people plan to shop in physical stores in 2022 than they did last year. And with more and more brands exploring partnerships to create branded ‘store-in-store’ environments, the need for support from national sign maintenance companies is only going to continue increasing.
Ultimately, growth in any industry means more brand assets that need to be implemented. But with that growth comes a responsibility to maintain those assets, especially signage that is illuminated and is subjected to weather. When exploring national sign maintenance companies, brands must be careful to look for a partner rather than reactive service providers. Let’s explore a few of the advantages of this approach.
Partnership has its benefits: Go in-depth into the advantages of preventive maintenance for your signage and other brand assets.
Benefits of the Partnership Approach
Greater Efficiency
As a leader in your organization, the last thing you need to be dealing with is you, your team, or leaders at your locations panicking over a signage issue and struggling to find someone locally to take care of it. It’s more time everyone could’ve spent doing something of greater value. Building a program and establishing a partnership with a national sign maintenance company means one organization will be overseeing all maintenance activities — dramatically reducing the time spent on identifying service providers, coordinating work, managing information, and more.
Partnerships help you pay less: Stratus has been helping Payless ShoeSource for nearly 20 years with sign maintenance across more than 4,000 locations.
Brand Focus
It’s important to remember when researching national sign maintenance companies that signage is far more than just signage — it’s one of your most important brand assets. Signage is often the first physical interaction your customer has with your brand. It sends a message with its appearance and functionality, which is why it’s imperative to keep these assets in good condition. Partnering with the right national sign maintenance company — particularly one that understands the power of external branding — will ensure that this aspect of your signage is never forgotten.
Maintenance matters: Explore four examples of how signage maintenance made a proactive difference for major brands across multiple markets.
National Coverage
As a national brand, the most ideal partner would of course be one that had the reach and network to support all of your locations — not just a specific state or region. Remember, signage is a brand asset. That means it needs to be consistent across every location, whether you have a few dozen or a few hundred (or more). When researching national sign maintenance companies, consider their approach to multi-site sign maintenance. Are they self-performing, or do they aggregate the services of a network of providers throughout your territory? If the latter, is that network reliable, proven, and aligned with your service expectations?
Chasing results: Learn how Stratus has helped a major financial institution with proactive sign maintenance across countless locations for years.
Supportive Capabilities
Truly beneficial sign maintenance is about more than just repairing letter sets that aren’t illuminated or cleaning signage that’s been dirtied by years of weather. It’s about identifying opportunities for even greater improvements and how signage relates to other brand assets. For example, your signage can be in the best condition possible yet be using outdated lamps and other lighting-related components, resulting in higher energy expenses. Consumers today want to know that your brand is doing all it can to reduce its environmental impact, so partnering with a national sign maintenance company that can tackle improvements such as LED retrofits, alternative forms of energy, and more will go a long way in saving you money while deepening your connection with customers.
Better energy, better results: Explore a few energy-related recommendations for signage and other brand assets that can help you strengthen the image of your brand.
Experience the Same Results as Other Leading Brands
For decades, Stratus has been leveraging proven expertise in signage and other brand assets along with a proven network of more than 4,000 experienced field partners nationwide to help our clients produce meaningful, quantifiable results. We take a programmatic approach in all that we do, overseeing your national sign maintenance program as a whole and managing every detail thoroughly along the way.
All documentation and details about your program is available to you at any time thanks to our various technology solutions and your dedicated account team. And to ensure that your brand assets are being managed efficiently, we take care of everything happening in the middle — from production and warehousing through to installation.
Stop searching for national sign maintenance companies and start working with a partner that’s been helping leading brands nationwide streamline their maintenance programs. Work with Stratus. Connect with us today to learn more about our sign maintenance capabilities.