It’s all about the advertising…

Here’s the first draft of our new billboard. If you scroll down a post or two you’ll see the current one;  what you can’t see is that the weather has taken a toll on the paint. The general rules of wisdom for a billboard are that they are read in 30 seconds or less, most people only read eight words and retain three and red and yellow are the colors that the human eye picks up first.

If you haven’t been the Searsport Shores before, you don’t know that when your on Route One, you can’t see the amazing view we have of the Bay or our quarter mile of beach frontage. All you see are wildflower meadows and old growth white pines.

Because of the number of times we’ve heard “we had no idea it was this beautiful down here!” we though maybe we should just have a giant photograph of the ocean dotted with sailboats, looking across the Bay…we could do that with a vinyl image.

Actually, we’ve been talking for several years about using a vinyl billboard like those you see on most of the highways in the US. Finally we ruled this out because in the end, we don’t feel that vinyl and small town Maine are a good fit…so we’re sticking to what we believe is more authentic.  We can have a sign maker paint a wooden one in the tradition of small wooden boats and support the local economy.

I’m posting this draft because we really want your opinion before we invest several thousand dollars. When you look at this sign, who do you think will find it appealing? Does it appeal to a certain age group and look unappealing to another? What does it tell you about the park? Is there something obvious that I’ve left out? If you’ve stayed here before…does it say enough? If you’ve never stayed here, does it tell you enough to make you want to drive in? From the icons on the sign, do you understand that we can accommodate everything from small tents to large RV’s? Is it too boring…should I try for more humor or to be more cutting edge?

Generally speaking our guests are either staying with us because a friend made a recommendation or because they’ve stayed here before. While the majority of our guests have a reservation, we certainly have enough sites to accommodate almost anyone who drives in unannounced. We want you to enjoy the area and be relaxed s0 our intent isn’t to pull you in for one night and then wave good bye the next morning…that’s why we haven’t put all of the stars and guidebook recommendations on the billboard…as a camper outside of our little mindset, does this seem logical to you?

Yes America (and I include Canada in that thought), we’d love to hear your opinions…if you’re not comfortable posting a comment, then just e-mail me privately at [email protected].

Thanks in advance,

Astrig and family