While traveling Eagle Mountain, residents may notice ladder signs advertising local businesses.
These signs provide the local economy with accessible advertising in key locations to bring awareness and potentially boost revenue generation.
For several years, about 20 signs were operated within Eagle Mountain city limits, according to Melissa Clark, president of the Eagle Mountain Chamber of Commerce.
“Within the last year, there was a big demand,” says Clark. “A lot of small businesses are trying to make their mark in the community and help other people know that their business exists.”
To keep up with rising demand for the signs, the Chamber of Commerce is undertaking a ladder sign improvement project. This includes repair and maintenance of ladder signs that have become faded or signs that are out of working order.
In addition, the Chamber plans to construct new signs as part of the improvement project.
“[Small businesses] have gotten additional business from having these signs up,” says Clark. “And for those family-run businesses where the bottom line is really tight, that advertising, that chance to get their name out, means life or death sometimes for the success of that business.”
While the signs were previously constructed and maintained by vendors based out of other Utah cities, Clark says the Chamber is proud to be working solely with Eagle Mountain-based businesses.
These include a local contractor to construct and install the sign structures and a local printing company to print and install the sign faces.
The signs are constructed out of boards wrapped in aluminum, which makes them better able to withstand inclement weather and potential rock-chip damage, according to Clark.
In addition to ensuring the signs are durable and properly maintained, Clark says the Chamber has made a greater investment in environmentally-conscious solutions.
“When [the board wraps] need to be changed out from one business to another, they just get rewrapped, which means way less waste,” Clark says.
The Chamber expects to have completed all 60 signs within the next two months.
Once the signs have been installed, they will be inspected semi-annually and assessed for needed repairs.
For Clark, who comes from a family-owned business background, the ladder sign project is a “labor of love.”
She says that all revenue generated by the signs is directed back to Eagle Mountain’s small businesses in the form of supportive programming through the Chamber, such as business boot camps. These courses help business owners learn about commercial financing or small business tax strategies.
Clark says that of all the businesses advertised on the ladder signs, more than 70% are owned and operated in Eagle Mountain.
“My dad was an HVAC guy, and my grandpa and grandma owned a small hardware store in a small rural town,” says Clark. “And I just know that as our world gets bigger and our community gets bigger and more populated…for those small businesses, those signs mean everything.”
Business owners who are interested in learning more about the ladder signs may do so by visiting www.eaglemountainchamber.com/signs.
