I am constantly amazed by the pace of technological development in our industry and its immense creative and revenue generating potential. If you are a sign-buyer the choices for bringing ideas into reality are simply astonishing—really they are spoilt for choice. A message I am hearing back from many readers though is, ‘how am I supposed to start new products and services with limited manpower and investment budget?’.

The answer is simpler than many think. The demand is out there for complex, engaging and creative projects, but many customers need to be sold to and made aware of just what is possible. Once the demand avenues have been established, then almost all media suppliers are normally happy to supply sizeable free tester samples so you can get all the techniques right before taking on a commission. On the machine side of things, there is a lot of help out there from a competitive market place, with every reputable supplier willing to provide finance, business consultancy and advice on how to get the very best out of their kit in terms of efficiency and the quality of output—even down to recommending substrates and providing insider information on their capabilities.

If you read our Floor Graphics feature (p35) in SignLink July, you will see that this sector is an ideal diversification avenue for your business. This is essentially because there is a building fashion among buyers for, in this case, literally ‘off-the-wall’ creative solutions to engage an increasingly advertising desensitised consumer public. There are also still relatively few sign-makers who can  create the type of work shown on our cover and in the feature—meaning the sector is still wide open in terms of competition.

On another issue, I just want to say thank you again for all those who got in touch with me this month and told me about your news, projects and personal experiences of our amazing industry—without you, SignLink would be all the poorer.