Thinking of kitting out your business vehicles with some branded graphics? Let’s look at some of the advantages.
When it comes to installing signage, there are numerous different options and opportunities for visual branding – and not all of them have to be physically attached to your main place of business.
If your company operates a vehicle, or a fleet of vehicles, these too can be adorned with graphics. This can be a highly effective and valuable marketing strategy – and if your vehicles don’t carry your branding, you could be seriously missing a trick.
But what is it about vehicle signage that makes it such a smart investment? In today’s post, we’re going to look at some of the main reasons to think about getting your vehicles wrapped – and the positive effects this can bring for your business.
Build public recognition and trust in your brand
It’s a commonly accepted tenet of business that it’s much easier to keep an existing happy customer than to make a new one. Once they know your work is good, they’re likely to keep coming back – but getting a prospective client to take the leap in the first instance is often the hardest part.
After all, if the consumer doesn’t know who you are or if you’re any good, why would they pick you over the competition? This is where it can be extremely important to have a good level of brand recognition in your local area.
Studies have shown that when they don’t know which of two otherwise very similar products they should choose, customers are likely to plump for the one they’ve heard of (on the basis that there ‘must be a reason why they know the name’). Of course, this is purely subconscious; most of the time, people aren’t aware why they feel drawn to one choice or another.
Recognising a brand name often goes hand-in-hand with assuming it must be a superior option, even if you haven’t yet tried it yourself. It’s human nature (and mostly common sense) to assume that things are generally famous for a good reason.
As it happens, vehicle graphics are uniquely good at putting your branding and logo in front of a lot of eyeballs. A vinyl wrap on a van means that your marketing goes wherever your driver does – and after the public have seen the branded vehicle a few times out and about, they will start to recognise your business name.
However, something that is unique to vehicle signage is the fact that this is not just an advertisement – it is also an endorsement. If somebody sees your van out on a job, they know that other people have chosen to engage your services. This helps to position your company in the onlooker’s mind as the go-to option for when they need to hire somebody for that same service.
This is related to the psychology concept of ‘social proof’. In a nutshell, this is the tendency of people to assume that if a lot of other people are doing something, it must be good. After all, it makes sense to imagine that if everybody else chooses this one thing, it must be the best one.
This means that the more your branded vehicles are seen around town, the more in-demand you will seem to be – and this is a very powerful branding effect.
An opportunity to impress
For many companies whose business model involves travelling out to client locations to complete jobs, the signage on their van is likely to be the only signage the customer sees. In a way, it doesn’t matter how slick the signage is at your office if customers never go there.
This means that if you want to wow customers with a professional look, you need to make full use of the signage possibilities inherent in your vehicles.
Fortunately, great vehicle signage can make a great first impression. When done well, a full-body wrap can give a very striking effect that customers really appreciate.
After all, why arrive with a plain van if you can turn up in a stylishly adorned vehicle decked out with your colours, logos, and imagery?
They say first impressions last – and vehicle signage is a fantastic way to create a memorable entrance.
A cost-effective marketing tool
We might say that a branded vehicle is in some ways akin to a billboard advertisement on wheels. Your company van can essentially become a big blank canvas for marketing messages – and compared to most forms of outdoor advertising it is very affordable to do this.
Placing an advert in a traditional billboard poster spot means paying a lot of money for not a lot of time in the spotlight. These ad boards are used and fought over by some of the world’s biggest brands, publishers and movie companies – and advertising on this level comes with a big price tag.
Creating your own mobile billboard makes a lot more sense, and what’s more, you’re not just paying for a limited time slot. Good vehicle signage, when well looked-after, should last you for years – meaning you pay for it once at the beginning and then enjoy the benefits for a very long time thereafter.
Despite being a durable, long-term investment, it’s also not a problem to remove and replace vehicle graphics any time you need to rebrand or upgrade your look.
Putting graphics on your business vehicles is far and away one of the most cost-effective things you can do to get your brand name out there – a real no-brainer of a decision that will continue to pay dividends for a long time after.
Adding branded graphics to your vehicles is a smart move all around. It’s relatively inexpensive, boosts your local brand recognition and public presentation, and lets customers know they can trust you.
Here at Medash Signs, we’ve adorned hundreds of vans and other vehicles over the years. Whether you need a small vinyl decal or a full-body wrap, our expert designers can work with you to create the perfect look for your vehicle.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us today to find out how we can help with your vehicle signage project.