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Hey, it's Joe Crump. The next comment I've got is from Thomas Deedle. Thomas says,
"Nix the video - it's the content that's important, not the format that's important."
I sent out some videos asking if people were interested. That's how I got all of these
questions, by the way. Thomas I'm going to answer your question on video anyway because
you've got some good questions here. "Give us some ideas on how to deal with a
city that has a strict sign ordinance." One of the things that I teach is to use 'bandit
signs'. There's a reason they call them bandit signs. The reason is because they defy sign
ordinances. If you're in a city that automatically plucks them up, and around the areas that
I work, there are certain areas that I know if I put out a sign, it's going to be gone
tomorrow. They've got sign police that are out and they take them and pull them up.
There's other places that I put them up where they'll call me and they'll try to find me,
and that happens, too so you've got to be aware of the type of neighborhood that you're
working in. If you call the city, they'll tell you there's
a sign ordinance, but that doesn't mean that they're going to enforce the sign ordinance.
So test it. Sometimes it's better to ask forgiveness than
it is to ask permission. Most of the time, I've seen that if they're going to give you
a hard time about the signs, they're going to call you up. You're going to get a call
from the police, saying, 'Please come and take down your signs or we're going to fine
you.' If you saturate an area - I had one guy in
Wisconsin that put 100 signs up in a very small town and he got fined. But they only
charged him for one sign. It cost him $60 and he had to go down and take down the rest
of them. If he had left them up, they could have fined him for every single sign, and
they could have done that anyway. But most cities aren't going to do that type of thing.
What they're going to do instead is ask you to come and take them down.
But also, most cities have ordinances that allow you to put signs up during specific
times. If you look at a new area, and you look at new construction signs, and you've
got new construction in your area at all, look for homes that point you or directional
signs to new construction. You're going to see these signs on the weekend, the little
signs that are sticking next to the stop lights. Look for those on the weekend.
Take a little piece of paper and write on the back of it there, 'Hey, Mister Sign-man:
I'm looking for somebody to put signs out for me.' Stick it to the back of one of those
signs or to a dozen of those signs and you're going to get a call from the guy who does
it, and he's going to tell you, 'I charge a dollar to put these signs out and to pick
them back up.' I'm paying a buck fifty right now. I've heard
of people paying as much as $2.50 to put those signs out and take them down. They put them
up on Friday night, take them down on Sunday night and you're able to get calls during
the weekend. It's a very effective way to do it.
Now, if you put out 100 signs, and it's costing you $1.50 a week that means it's costing you
$150 a week to put out those 100 signs. You're also going to lose a certain percentage of
those signs even though you've got people picking them up and you're following the ordinances,
so be prepared for that expense. Still, that's not a bad advertising cost compared
to what it could be if you were doing classified ads. So, use that technique. It works really
well. Good luck, Thomas. I hope you enjoy the videos. Take care.