Know the secrets the sign and wrap industry has been keeping from you.
Introduction
The complete consumer guide for pricing signage and vinyl wraps, gives you the game on why, the signage and wrap industry is shrouded with secrets. The industry has always left the consumer in the dark about what it would cost the consumer to produce a sign or to get a wrap on a company or personal vehicle. The consumer would have to call around to different sign and wrap shops to get a quote. This still happens by the way. Most times quotes can take up to 48 hours (about 2 days) to produce.
Most times sign and wrap shops are aware that the consumer is shopping around to get the best quote, and most of these companies never send the quotes to the consumer on time. How is the consumer ever able to know what a product or a service cost, if there is no standard to go by? I understand how this all works. I have been in the signage and wrap business for 10 years now. I am the owner of my own sign shop, Home – DEW – Vinyl Installs and Signage This is a very artistic industry most signs are made by hand or machine.
Ask an Insider
As an insider, I am no stranger to the question I pose. I believe if the consumer was more educated on the product and services provided and on how it is produced, he or she would know that cost would not be so much of a deterrent, but more of an investment in a one-of-a-kind piece of art. My peers would agree that there are a lot of factors that go into pricing a sign for a consumer. Let’s get down to the specifics: 1. The materials, there are hundreds upon hundreds of varied materials to choose from to decide the price of a specific sign or vinyl. This process alone can take hours, days, or sometimes a year depending on how large the project is. Every material comes with its own price points, as a consumer if you are choosing whether to go with a metal sign or a polyurethane sign for example this will pose many challenges a sign shop would have to register to produce these types of signs, let alone price them.
Choosing the Right Materials
Choosing different vinyl materials also comes with its own challenges, what type of finish as a consumer will you choose? Examples: will it be a gloss finish, chrome, satin, matte, velvet, I can go on and on. Each vinyl material requires specific knowledge, understanding, and skill on how to install or print graphics to produce the vibrant colors you see on fleet company vehicles. Or murals printed on vinyl, you would see in the office building or on brick walls at sporting events. Now do you, the consumer, see how complex this process can be? Don’t be alarmed, we are here to help you at every step of the process. If ever in doubt you can always contact https://dew.com.co Be sure to sign up for our alerts and follow our blog.
Determine your Needs
Moving on. Now once we, the sign and wrap shops, figure out what materials you the consumer are looking for, we must decide what your needs are.
1. What is your project for, is it personal or business? 2. What are your ideas? You must be detailed in this regard. Sending pictures, helps the sign or wrap shop understand your goals better. 3. Do you have digital designs for your project? Send us the designs in the format the sign or wrap shop desires. Examples: send vector files or digital files. They are large but having these files helps graphic designers at sign or wrap shops adjust the project images digitally if needed. Jpeg files must have high-quality pictures of your design. If they are not high quality the sign or wrap shop cannot do anything with them.
There are alternative formats, but I will not talk about all of them here. Surveys must be done at every location on every vehicle. We must have measurements and a proper floor plan. This requires a lot of organization and detail. Once you’ve answered questions one through three, then we go into the print phase. If the sign or wrap shop is printing graphics or producing signs ready for the final stage of installation, then you are good to go.
Guide for Pricing Signage and Vinyl Wraps
See how each step has its own category? They also come with their own price points. See most times when you receive a quote you will not get an Itemized detail of everything that is being offered. It requires a lot of time especially when you are sending out 100 quotes a day.
You might see an invoice with an itemized breakdown and the cost of each item. You can request this if you like but a sign shop is not required to break every little detail down in this manner and it really depends on the project. I believe if shops are not doing this it should be a courtesy that they do. There are other factors that decide the price of a significant product or service. How large is the company you are working with to produce a sign or install that vinyl?
We, as sign and wrap shops must decide our overhead, labor, and time it takes to complete each task. This is not always included in the quote or invoice, although I believe it should be. My reasoning is that the more transparent a sign or wrap shop can be, about its process on what things cost. The better educated the consumer is about what it takes to get a task done. If the consumer knows it takes 10.5 hours to produce a sign or 3 days to install a color change on a vehicle. Because the vehicle will need to be cleaned and prepped and critical items will need to be removed for a clean install. I believe the price wouldn’t be a shell shock to most. If the consumer knows how many people it will take to carry out each task, they will be less inclined to negotiate prices, because they would have received the knowledge upfront and understand its value.
Opinions of a Sign Shop Owner
Sign and wraps companies are too concerned with the bottom line and have less pride in promoting value. When you buy a painting that has value you are not just buying a piece of art, you are buying the authenticity of the artists. That one-of-a-kind art piece, the artistry of the individual who painted the picture, and what it means to you. In the same vein, we are artists we may not see ourselves as such but that is what we are. The consumer must understand this and value our artistry. We must spend more time educating the consumer about the intrinsic value of what we do for them.
Large VS. Small Sign & Wrap shops
As a consumer you will need to know the difference between large and small sign and wrap companies, not all are created equal, and not all price their products or services the same. Larger, well-known companies have more capabilities, but lack the speed and agility of a smaller organization. Depending on your project you will need to decide if a larger organization is suitable for your project. can it be handled by a smaller company that will be able to meet your needs much quicker? If you have a project that has over 80 thousand square feet of materials to install and a mixture of signs to place at multiple locations, maybe a larger company will handle this.
However, larger companies take longer to start a project when the consumer wants. So, you will need to fit it into their schedule. Also, larger companies tend to be more expensive. Smaller companies may be able to handle the workload and it can be cheaper to produce the product. Do your research or you can get the information from https://dew.com.co We can guide you in every aspect of the process.
Value does not Equal Cost
Look at this graph:
This graph is a perfect example of value vs cost, it illustrates the more bang for your buck. Let’s break it down. You can see it is more cost-effective to have a car wrap as opposed to having a television ad or magazine spread or a newspaper article vs radio and outdoor advertising. Why you may ask. Well, a vehicle wrap is like a moving billboard, no matter if you are driving or if it is parked, the impressions per day alone well outperform any advertising aids I’ve just mentioned in this graph. Television ads are only aired on certain stations and for a limited time. Not all viewers will see this ad, same with magazines, newspapers, radio the list goes on.
The 800.00$ to 5,000.00$ you would have spent on one vehicle to advertise your company with a vehicle wrap, you would have potentially made that money back within a few weeks of driving around. This is valuable more valuable than the initial cost of the vehicle wrap. The value you gain from a vehicle wrap will exceed your expectations and continue to bring you revenue for years to come free of charge. I only say free because you would have made your money back within one month and everything after that is free advertising. Unlike those other advertisements mentioned above, you will have to continue to pay to reach your target audience.
Rally the Troops
Gather around, gather around this is the ending of this article. If you enjoyed this article, please check out the links to other great articles I have written. Here: 1. The Art of Pricing in The Signage and Wrap Industry (dew.com.co) 2. How To Be A Wrap Installer: A Day In The Life Of A Wrap Installer – DEW – Vinyl Installs and Signage
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