How to Become a Household Name without Running Ads

There are two things that I truly hate in this world. 

1. McDonald’s ice cream machine being broken. 
2. Yard signs with only a phone number and not the name of the business.

Exhibit A: the picture of the yard sign above.

If your signs look like this, take a step into my office. 

I used to think yard signs were stupid. And that’s there’s no way they’d actually generate phone calls.

People drive fast by them. Less than 10% of people who drive by are potential customers. I could go on. 

But then I moved and I realized yard signs aren’t about phone calls at all. They’re about becoming a household name.

What changed? 

I drove by about  30 of Zack Attacks All Trades’ yard signs within an 8 mile radius of my house. 

I’m in my car saying to myself “damn everyone is using this guy”. 

Seeing everyone using the same yard sign made me trust Zack Attacks before I even called him. 

So instead of trying to get phone calls from your yard signs, focus on getting people to know your name.

That way when they are in need of your services, you’ll be one of the three companies they call. 

And maybe they’ll go with you even if you have a higher price because you have the community’s trust.

How to get the most out of your yard signs:

1. Double Sided Signs: Yard signs are dumb cheap to make. Don’t skimp and only do one side. 

2. Light or White Background with Dark Font: Make it easy for people to read. Dark backgrounds look cool when designing but they’re hard to read in sunlight. 

3. Include Your Business’ Name: It’s really hard to remember a phone number driving at 30mph. It’s easy to remember a name. 

Most people will look up your name to get your number. Make your name + service you offer the center of attention not your phone number. 

4. Less is more: Don’t over do it and list every service. Keep it short and sweet. Give them the who, what and where and call it a day. (Who We Are. What we do. Where to reach us)

5. Lawns > Intersections: High traffic intersections are great to get eyes on the business but a homeowner vouching for your business by letting you put a sign in their front lawn builds more trust.

Those are the main principles of yard signs. I’ve used Shutterfly to design my yard signs in the past. Their design drag and drop tool is so easy to use my 87 year old Nonna could figure it out. 

If you want me a second opinion of your yard sign before you click order, text me a screenshot at 603-703-2369 and I’ll give you a few pointers for free. 

If you want to become a household name by running FB or Google Ads, I can help you with that too. But that’s gonna cost you haha 

PS - Yard signs aren’t some magical marketing strategy that’s going to take your business from $100k profit to $500k. But it’ll get you closer to that $500k than if you didn’t use any yard signs at all. 

There’s some luck involved. But similar to life, most of business is all about putting yourself in a position to get lucky.