Long Island sign maker’s business lights up, thanks to new digital marketing strategies

Ron Fisher’s passion for sign making comes from helping other business owners’ inspiration come to fruition. “I get to bring their vision to life and then see how happy they are with the finished product,” Fisher says.

Fisher’s entrepreneurial journey began nearly a decade ago when he and his former business partner took over an existing sign business to launch Fisher Signs & Shirts in Southampton, NY. They produce storefront signs, vehicle lettering and banners as well as printed flyers, business cards, stationery, custom T-shirts, laser-engraved products and company uniforms. Today, Fisher Signs & Shirts has two locations and has grown to 12 employees, including current co-owner and business partner Jerry Smith.

Skills that Fisher learned from Verizon Small Business Digital Ready have been an essential part of the company’s success in digital marketing. He first learned of the Verizon program through a partnership with the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce. “They had sent an email out to business owners that identify as gay, lesbian and transgender, that Verizon was making an investment in our community and offering this content at no charge,” Fisher explains.

The course offerings, he says, immediately resonated. “I knew that social media marketing was really important for my business, but I didn't know where to go to learn it,” Fisher explains. “When I found Verizon Small Business Digital Ready, I saw courses that really spoke to me, that were titled [with] exactly the information I was missing.”

The Basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) taught Fisher that he might need to hire an outside vendor to help strategize for SEO. "When I was meeting with potential vendors to offer that service to my business, I knew what to ask for, I knew what to look for,” Fisher says. “And I printed out the [Verizon] course guide, and had it right there as a resource.”

He also redesigned the company website and learned how to use free analytics tools from search engines and social media platforms. “It allows us to tailor our content to what’s working, what's impactful and what inspires people to reach out to us,” he says.

The results have been clear: “Since initiating SEO and the website revamp, we have seen a 25% increase in customers taking action by emailing or calling. Our web traffic is up 57% and we’ve passed one of our competitors in [search engine results] ranking,” Fisher says.

One very tangible reminder of how learnings from Verizon Small Business Digital Ready impacted the business is the showroom in Southampton. Customers are greeted upon entry with the business’s story, written out to cover an entire wall. Fisher was inspired by a Verizon course on how to use storytelling to sell your product. He said it encouraged business owners to put their story front and center.

Fisher also capitalizes on the creativity of his whole team to put into action the knowledge he gleans from Verizon courses. The Creating Content That Matters course, for example, taught the team to create video content and post photos that speak to their audience. “The creativity among my team is what drives our content creation,” Fisher says. “And then we're rewarded with the metrics of knowing that people are responding and liking it.”

Verizon Small Business Digital Ready is part of Verizon’s goal to support 1 million small businesses by 2030 with the resources to thrive in the digital economy. Visit CitizenVerizon.com to learn more about the company’s responsible business efforts. To sign up for Verizon Small Business Digital Ready, visit digitalready.verizonwireless.com. An individual user's experience may vary and results are not guaranteed.