IF THEY DON'T KNOW YOU EXIST ... THEN YOU DON'T

IF THEY DON'T KNOW YOU EXIST ... THEN YOU DON'T

Let me tell you a real-ish story.

We’ll call her Rachel.

Rachel opened a hair salon last year. She’d dreamed about it for years — picked out the perfect space, spent weeks painting it that expensive kind of white that only comes in names like “Morning Oat Foam” and “Anxiety Cloud.” She got the chairs, the ring lights, even a coffee bar that cost more than my first car.

And then she opened.

No signage. No branding. No flyers. Just… vibes.

Her storefront looked like an abandoned yoga studio and a tax office had a baby. People walked past it like it was invisible. And the few who did notice it thought it was “appointment only” because, quote: “It looked too fancy and quiet to be for walk-ins.”

Yikes.

 

 

Here’s the Thing: If They Don’t Know You Exist, You Don’t.

📊 A FedEx Office survey found that 76% of consumers have entered a store they’ve never visited before based just on its sign.

Let that sink in. Seventy-six percent. That’s three out of four people saying, “Huh, that looks legit — let’s check it out.”

(Source: FedEx Office “What’s Your Sign?” survey)

Now imagine your business is the one with a piece of paper Scotch-taped to the window. In comic sans.

You’re not attracting customers — you’re repelling them. Like off-brand bug spray.

 

 

And It’s Not Just About Signage.

It’s everything you hand to people or leave behind.

📊 According to the Data & Marketing Association, direct mail has a response rate of 4.4%, compared to email’s 0.12%.

(Source: DMA Response Rate Report)

That business card you give someone? It’s not “just a card.” It’s a little billboard in their wallet.

That branded folder you leave behind after a meeting? It’s what gets pulled out when they’re choosing between you and “Dave’s Discount Plumbing & Salsa Lessons.”

That flyer? That’s how you convince someone who wasn’t looking for you that maybe they should be.

 

 

Back to Rachel…

Rachel finally came to us after three months of hearing, “Oh, you’re open? I thought this was appointment only.”

We set her up with:

  • A proper exterior sign (with her actual logo, not a blurry Instagram screenshot).
  • Branded gift cards and appointment cards.
  • Business cards that didn’t look like they came free with a printer.
  • A sidewalk A-frame with cheeky sayings like “Bad hair day? We fix those.”

Guess what?

People started coming in. They tagged her on social media. A local influencer filmed a “hair glow-up” reel that hit 30k views. She started booking out two weeks in advance.

All because she went from looking like a mystery door to looking like a real business.

 

 

Let’s Make Sure You Don’t End Up Like Early Rachel.

You don’t get a second chance at a first impression — and that impression happens in about 50 milliseconds.

(Source: Behaviour & Information Technology Journal)

Your signage, your cards, your print stuff — it’s all part of the “do I trust this?” checklist that people run in their heads before they buy from you.

And look, we’re not saying you need to spend a million bucks. That’s the beauty of working with us. We know how to get you looking top-tier on a startup budget — no jargon, no fluff, no stress.

We call it the Startup Essentials Package. Think of it like the “shower, shave, and ironed shirt” version of launching your brand.

 

 

TL;DR:

  • Your sign is your first hello. Don’t make it a weird whisper from behind tinted glass.
  • Business cards, flyers, and print materials work — when they don’t look like a school project.
  • Stats back it up. (And you can quote them. We did.)
  • Don’t make people guess what you do. They won’t.
  • Come see us before you go full “invisible yoga tax office.”

 

 

Got a business dream? We’ll help you launch it like a pro — not like someone who just learned Canva yesterday.

📞 [Let’s talk] — and if you come in person, we’ll probably offer you coffee and pretend it wasn’t our fifth cup that day.

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