Realtors, local sales reps and small businesses can turn their cars and delivery vehicles into attention-grabbing mobile billboards with vehicle wraps, graphics or decals to make memorable advertising and branding impressions throughout their local market territory
A vehicle marketing strategy for your local business could be as simple as using inexpensive door magnets and decals, or as specialized and elaborate as fulling wrapping your car with graphics. The main objective with car graphics and messaging is to maximize the ongoing branding exposure your local business gets while driving throughout a market territory. Vehicle marketing can become a mobile billboard for your local business and transform your company car into a lead generation machine.
The concept of vehicle marketing has grown significantly in recent years and there are many branded cars competing for attention on the road with bold car decals and graphics. Local businesses need to come up with new creative ideas that not only grab attention on the road, but are also memorable enough to produce results in terms of more inquiries, referrals or sales.
Creative Messaging Ideas for Car Wraps, Graphics and Decals
Simply using a company logo along with a tagline, website address and phone number may not be enough to turn heads on the road these days – or be memorable enough for potential customers to take action after the initial marketing impression. Good creative messaging on car graphics can help ignite buzz in your local market and generate valuable (and free!) word of mouth advertising.
Creating a catchy slogan or unique messaging that is memorable is one way businesses can stand out while their company cars are driving around in their local market territory. Think about what makes your business unique, or what you want potential customers to think about your business. Then, capture this idea in your graphics and messaging on your car or delivery vans.
Using humor in a slogan is one creative idea that usually makes a lasting impression in vehicle marketing. If you can get people to stop and laugh or giggle at a slogan or tagline they will usually remember it (and may even share the humorous slogan with others, therefore generating additional word of mouth advertising).
In this example, Pennsylvania realtor Donna Godfrey wants you to “Bug Her About Real Estate”. The bold red VW Beetle “bug” car, along with the fun and catchy slogan encouraging people to contact her anytime about real estate, definitely turns heads in her local market. The strategy includes a nice combination of a unique car type and color, a catchy and humorous slogan and graphic images (real estate company logo and realtor headshot photo) that help to identify the realtor in her local market territory.
In a business where word of mouth advertising and referral marketing is critical for success, making memorable impressions on the road with this bold vehicle marketing tactic is sure to get noticed and remembered.
Some other creative messaging and marketing ideas for local businesses using vehicle branding include:
Use special messaging or call to action. Track the effectiveness of your vehicle marketing by using a special call to action using the car graphics as the referral mechanism, such as “Mention you saw this car and save 20% with us”. Your call to action will give potential customers more reason to remember your graphics to take advantage of a special promotion while giving your company a way to track the return on investment for the vehicle wrap or graphics expense.
Add QR codes to your car graphics. When your company car is stopped in traffic or parked in an area within your local market, having a smartphone QR scan code on your car graphics is a great way to take advantage of mobile phones with your mobile advertising and branding. Have the QR code link back to your company website with special exclusive offers only available from your vehicle marketing efforts. You can even change your special offers frequently by simply having the same QR code on your vehicle but change the URL link attached to it (or update a landing page). Keep it fresh by saying “Scan for our Weekly Specials” or similar call to action.
Make your vehicle marketing highly visible. For optimum exposure to your vehicle messaging, take advantage of highly visible roads and traffic routes. Also consider parking your branded vehicle closer to the road in parking lots with the back of the car facing toward the road (or a section of the vehicle with the most graphics or messaging).
Choosing Cars that Maximize Branding and Advertising Exposure with Vehicle Marketing
Which car model is best for promoting small local businesses with car wraps or graphics? The choice you make with the car or vehicle you use may be as important as the actual messaging and graphics used.
Here are some things to consider when choosing a car to use in your vehicle marketing efforts to maximize the creativity potential in your efforts.
Vehicle model or brand – Many businesses opt to choose a vehicle model that is eye-catching and unique. Some of the latest “concept cars” with innovative designs and curves make the best car models for vehicle marketing because the style of the car is attention-grabbing in itself. Popular car models that are good for mobile advertising graphics and vehicle wraps include VW Bug, PT Cruiser, Smart Car, Mini Cooper, Honda Element and Scion.
Vehicle color – The color you choose for your car has the ability to turn a lot of heads before you even apply vehicle graphics. Or if you plan to use a lot of vehicle graphics you may want to choose a basic white or black car. Also consider how your company’s brand colors or logo will look against the car color you choose.
Vehicle type – Choose a type of car that is a good fit for your type of business or the brand personality you want to reinforce while on the road. It may be more appropriate for your sales reps to drive more luxury vehicles if driving clients often, or an SUV for carrying around real estate lawn signs most practical for realtors. And of course larger SUVs or vans would be a more practical choice for delivery services.
Vehicle fuel efficiency – Choosing a hybrid or fuel-efficient car that gets high mileage is a smart economical choice for small businesses with tight operating budgets. Sometimes a fuel-efficient car can also make a statement about your company brand or environmental concerns.
Most importantly, be sure to strike a balance between creative messaging and necessary contact information for your business to maximize potential for your car wrap, decal or graphics. Include your website address, phone number, local area served, business tagline and mention of what your company offers in a prominent positioning on the car. The font, type size and colors should be easy to read at a reasonable distance on the road so that your vehicle marketing grabs attention and produces actionable results for your business.
