Signs Now Mill Creek (425-481-4900 18002 Bothell-Everett Hwy). Whether you wish to define your personal identity through unique custom graphics like the cars on the franchise series “Fast and Furious” starring Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, or whether you are a business that wishes to define your brand identity, vehicle graphics are an excellent means to promote yourself.
The kind of vehicle graphics discussed herein are applied using vinyl. The graphic can be simple text lettering or it can be a full wrap covering the entire vehicle using a combination of text lettering and imagery. Furthermore, you need not wrap your entire vehicle and instead opt for a partial wrap. A partial wrap can cover as little as 20% of your vehicle or as much as 80% of your vehicle and it is entirely up to your own discretion and budget.
The other alternative to using vinyl is to use paint. Paint is something that I would avoid using. We do not use paint. Vinyl can be removed, but paint is permanent. If you do decide to use paint, then make sure that you understand that once you have decided to sell your vehicle most buyers will not like the idea of permanent paint. Paint also fades. Vinyl fades too though if you look after the vinyl it will look more vibrant than paint over a longer period of time thereby giving you greater mileage and bang for the buck. You also have a great deal of flexibility with vinyl. Whether its time to redo faded vinyl or whether you’ve decided to change up the graphic design, you can more readily accommodate updates and changes using vinyl. Simply have a professional remove the vinyl and put down new vinyl with an updated look. Try that with paint!
Always make sure that you have a specialist apply your graphics. Be wary of brokers who sell wraps, but do not install or service them themselves.
When applied to your own personal vehicle it is similar to the process of getting a tattoo. You have a concept in mind and you want to define it through expert consultation so you go to a professional tattoo shop and consult with the graphic artist. The graphic artist takes your vision and guides you through a process that further defines the message and identity that you are looking for. Once settled upon, then the rest is simply the process of application. The same process is true of personalized vehicle graphics.
Businesses are also well served using the same process to promote their brand. Brand reinforcement is all about market penetration, awareness, positioning and repetition. Vehicle wraps are an excellent method that can be used to achieve all of this. The building that you use to house your company is a static object that you cannot take with you. People who are passing by your business may or may not look at it. If they do glance at it, then are you sure that they have understood your brand? Will they know what you do? Will they understand your business purpose and meaning? In the three to five seconds that they glanced at your building will they understand how your business can serve them? Will they remember your company logo and name?
The challenge that most business owners have is getting the brand identity into the minds of others and positioning it so that the purpose is understood. Once positioned, then reinforcing it with repetition so that the message saturates the mind and ultimately the market. A vehicle wrap is an excellent way to do just that. For that matter, you can wrap just about anything. Let me give you an example of a very simple wrap that caught my attention and manipulated me into a buying decision.
One day I was shopping in Safeway for some groceries. I was in the beverage isle looking for juice when I noticed the section that contained the health drink called V8. If you have not heard of that drink before, it is a mixture of various vegetable juices. There were a variety of other drinks above, beneath, to the left of and to the right of this drink. As a matter of fact, there were also a variety of different types of V8. One packaging caught my attention. It was a six pack of V8 that was fully wrapped in colorful plastic packaging. Because it was fully wrapped it drew my attention to it like a magnet. My eyes were compelled to view it because of the colorful packaging and the words on the packaging that was used to reinforce the brand. It was a masterful stroke of graphic and text well balanced that caused me to purchase that product. There are six pack cans of V8 held together by the same plastic that is used to hold beer cans together, but I bypassed those in favor of the V8 in wrap packaging. Since then, I have purchased the same product with the same wrap packaging many times. That’s the power of a well wrapped product that has great brand imagery and supporting text!
Here is another creative example of a wrap. One day I was driving through a town outside of my own city when I stopped at a crossroad. As I was looking around I noticed that in one corner of the intersection there were a number of electrical boxes that were probably used to house the wiring and circuit boards for the traffic signals. The electrical boxes were at ground level and in the center of a flower garden. Normally if someone wants to hide an ugly electrical box from view they will plant a few shrubs in front of it to serve as a screen. But, in this case, the local county government decided to wrap them! The electrical boxes were wrapped with garden imagery so that they blended into the garden itself. Moreover, they wrapped the boxes with very interesting garden imagery using the images of very interesting plants and it looked outstanding! Kudos to the Department of Transportation and Highways!
Here is an idea. What about interior or exterior wall space? Every building has unused wall space whether its an exterior wall or a wall inside your foyer, why not wrap it with your brand identity? A wall mural of some exciting imagery that enhances your brand and your message will serve to separate you from your competitors in the minds of your customers. In marketing jargon, you are brand positioning yourself. Inspire your clients by prompting them to think of why they need you for something specific that you offer. If they see something specific, then there is a greater likelihood that something might occur to them as a trigger point. By doing so, you are creating a niche in the mind of your client that separates you from other choices and gives them the belief that they are best served only through your brand. In other words, you are defining your corporate identity.
Vehicle wraps do even more because they are mobile. They serve as one big mobile billboard. You can wrap your car, truck, van, bus or trailer. As a matter of fact, people have even wrapped their motorbikes and snowmobiles. When wrapping a vehicle for the purpose of brand identity, use specific text and clearly tell your market what you do in terms of products or services that you provide. Do not be generic and be specific! Especially for things that you specialize in that separate you from most others. For example, if you have a vehicle repair shop, then say more than simply “Car Repairs”. That is far too vague and generic. That certainly will not suffice in separating you from your competition. Perhaps you can be specific by suggesting that you are specialists in a particular make or model. Furthermore, you could separate yourself by suggesting that you perform specialty fuel injection work that increases mileage. Be creative and think about two or three things that you do really well and create a brand identity around that theme. That will get your brand noticed!
The fact that your vehicle is mobile means that you will be taking your message to geographies that the Yellow Pages or Internet could never penetrate. Penetrate a market by simply driving to it! It is a competitive advantage that will differentiate you from your competition. It is precisely that brand differentiation that will transform your company into a brand that is coveted by consumers in your market. It is a fact that you will receive more impressions from people looking at your vehicle than through the Yellow Pages. Statistics show that within a day you will receive hundreds or thousands of impressions. Within a month you will receive tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. Within a year you will receive hundreds of thousands to millions of impressions.
With respect to cost advantage, a wrap has the Yellow Pages beat! You can get a half page Yellow Pages ad and easily spend several thousand dollars per year. Or, you can spend the money one time on a full wrap and expect it to last many years provided you look after it using proper care techniques. Also, check with your tax adviser to see if you can write off some portion of your roaming sign.
When you park your vehicle do so strategically. Park it in a location that is highly visible and frequented by people who are in your target audience so that they are forced to see it. If you are nearby and happen to notice a potential customer looking at your vehicle, then use your wrap as a talking point. How many times have you been caught off guard by a potential customer who walked away and you forgot to tell them about some important product or service? Mental paralysis happens to the best of us, but if your products and services are listed on your wrap then that will prompt both you and your potential customer to talk more. A client engagement with greater depth and breadth will lead to a better understanding of your brand and ultimately to sales.
Because your market will constantly see your brand as you drive around, this achieves repetition. The more often a consumer sees your brand the more likely he will remember your brand when a need arises. Also, the more often he sees your brand the perceived value and confidence in your brand increases because he will tie greater visibility to higher stability in your company. That differentiates you from your competition!
For fleet vehicles that do a lot of night time driving, think about adding reflective vinyl so that other drivers can see your fleet vehicles better. That may help defray insurance costs and reduce the number of times your vehicles go to the body shop. Also, reflective vinyl can be used strategically in your brand imagery so that your brand identity pops out in the dark. If you have a fleet of vehicles, then line them up in front of your building or drive them single file as a caravan down the road. There is nothing more eye catching than seeing a row of vehicles with the same brand imagery going down the road. That gives your market the perception that you are big and it is a powerful psychological tool!
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