Last week, I ran home for lunch. I’m not often home during the day in the early afternoon so the afternoon sun reminded me that the window on the west side of my dining room has gotten really foggy.
You know what really triggered that to do list? I saw a window cleaning truck at my neighbor’s house. The truck was bright orange and green with a cartoon bird waving at me on the side. I can still visualize it and I even remembered to look up their phone number and call the business on my way back to work. It was so memorable.
I have seen that truck around town for years. Can’t tell you it’s the exact same truck. The business owner could have replaced or duplicated the vehicle 10 times. I wouldn’t know! But I do remember the branding.
You know what that business owner had to do to get my call last week? Show up for the job at my neighbor’s house. You wouldn’t think that showing up is above and beyond their usual activity, but the strategic decision to wrap that vehicle years ago is still driving leads for the business today.
For small businesses that build their client base in their local market, outdoor visual marketing is a key aspect of a marketing plan. Every new business knows they need to make their storefront eye-catching and get visibility on Main Street. If your goal is to stretch your start-up dollars, optimize visibility in your local market, and build a memorable local brand, your best bet is a branding your mobile units. If you’re really smart about your branding, you’ll find a repeatable process that helps drive business growth.
AFFORDABLE
Unlike most marketing spend in our digital world, branded vehicle wraps only require a one-time investment and then continues to drive leads for 7-10 years. This is especially important for new business owners as you’re carefully tracking your revenue and learning the trends and cycles. It is so much easier to budget for a one-time cost than for a recurring charge when you’re still building your local market.
Branded vehicle wraps have some of the highest marketing ROI of all the options available to a small business owner. Based on a three-month study conducted in San Francisco, a vehicle wrap will cost 77 cents per 1000 impressions (Automotive Fleet). Compare this to a typical $2 cost per thousand for digital advertising (Investopedia). and you’ll double your investment by focusing on mobile branding in your market.
Just like television and radio advertising, outdoor advertising reaches over 90% of the US adult population. For brands that build their audience primarily in a local market, outdoor advertising is the best way to reach your target market (Arbitron report). Bonus: by targeting drivers in your local market with vehicle marketing, your audience is most likely to be employed commuters, who are a perfect market for home services brands.
VISIBLE
Studies show that 90% of drivers notice the images and branding on a vehicle. Those same studies show that those vehicle graphics create a positive image for the brand the vast majority of the time (3M Vehicle Graphics). That waving bird I saw on lunch last week is a positive memory and influenced me to call up the vendor. I also automatically know that my neighbor trusts them with work similar to mine. Talk about social proof! I can walk right over to the neighbor’s house and get a review on the spot from someone I know and trust.
The positive influence of vehicle graphics is amplified by placement in a residential area. In my cities, municipal codes limit commercial branding in residential areas. Branded vehicles provide visibility in places that commercial storefront graphics and billboards can’t be placed.
Mobile advertising attracts customers on their own doorsteps with no additional effort by your home services technicians. Mobile also allows you to adapt your ad targeting on the fly. Using the route planning you are already doing for your technicians, you can also optimize visibility of your mobile marketing in specific neighborhoods that you want to develop.
Mobile marketing helps home services brands increase market saturation, which increases the value and opportunity in a designated territory. Vehicle marketing puts your brands in front of your target audience’s eyes in the easiest way possible.
MEMORABLE
You might not think it is a big deal that I remembered to call the window cleaning company I saw on lunch last week, but let me tell you that I have been able to put that foggy window out of my mind for 7 months straight. Every single time I walk out of my house, that window doesn’t even exist in my head. The fact that I remembered the branding long enough to make the call is a testament to the impact of vehicle graphics.
Drivers report that they recall the branding on a vehicle 97% of the time, but billboard messaging is only memorable about 20% of the time (3M Vehicle Graphics). Your organization has probably spent a lot of time and consideration choosing your brand colors and design style. Luckily, many of the design elements that you use in online advertising can be effective in vehicle branding as well.
Digital printing technology on vinyl products make it possible to repurpose those same standards on the side of a vehicle or a storefront. You could even feature photos of your team or your work in large format! Friendly characters, quick catch phrases, and bright colors are memorable when scrolling online and when driving down the road.
REPEATABLE
Cleverly applying your unique color scheme and branding standards adds consistency to your fleet, regardless of how many vehicle types you have.
This is especially true in franchise systems. We are proud to promote our Lowen Franchise Solutions to guide franchisors and franchisees through the vehicle branding process. Franchise systems are uniquely national and local, at the same time. Franchisors face challenges of maintaining brand consistency while supporting each franchisee building a local business.
Just like a franchise, Lowen Franchise Solutions thrive on frameworks and systems. Our systems are designed to increase speed to implementation and make any vehicle a striking testament to your brand. Whether your brand is focused on scaling up existing territories or adding new franchisees, our team asks the right questions at the right time to execute your vehicle branding campaign.
Home services franchise systems are designed to optimize routes and drive activity and any down time for technician’s vehicles is lost revenue. The window cleaning truck I saw at my neighbor’s house last week doesn’t have to add any activity to get the branding in front of their ideal customer, but the owner did spend time and money to wrap that vehicle before putting it on the road.
Wrapping a vehicle has no ongoing marketing costs, which is a huge benefit, but it also means that wrapping a vehicle is an infrequent activity for most franchisees. Your franchisees can’t afford lost time in trying to figure out how to navigate the ordering process every time it comes across their desks. This is where Lowen Franchise Solutions can help you shine. Our systems build the bridge between your brand standards and execution in every local market. We help you navigate the “figuring it out” so your franchisee can use a plug-and-play solution for vehicle branding.
Thinking about how branding your vehicles could be easier? Give us a call!