In my workshop, Market Your Business Without Spending a Cent, the one form of advertising that I do refer to that does require expenditure is vehicle signage.  I have to admit to being slightly ambivalent about vehicle signage for a couple of reasons:

1.  It takes away your anonymity, and you can’t sneak around town on your way to the gym with no make-up on (if you’re of the fairer sex):

2.  If you drive like a maniac and consistently break the spead limit, the rules of the road and park illegally, this IS NOT FOR YOU!

3.  You need to weigh up what your car says about your corporate brand (I’ll be quite honest here and admit that I’m not defined by my car.  I’ve got a little car that is cheap to run, easy to manoevre, leaves a low carbon footprint, tyres cost nothing to replace and it costs very little to insure – I’d rather put my money elsewhere).

So, back to vehicle signage.  Does it work?  About 6 weeks ago, I called a company to give me a quote on something at home.  I waited to receive their quote via email, but it never arrived.  I suspected that there was a mix up with my email address but was simply too busy to give them a call to chase them up – besides, shouldn’t they be chasing me for the business?!?  Anyway, earlier this week, on my way to a meeting, I happened to drive behind one of their vehicles which had their company name and telephone number on it.  Quick as a flash, I dialed the number (yes, my cell was on hands-free!) and followed up on the quotation.  They had indeed written my email address down wrong.

Branding your vehicle does a couple of things:

1.  It works like outdoor signage, but the best thing about it is that it is mobile.  Make sure, though, that your mobile outdoor signage appears at great addresses – you’ve heard the saying: Location, location, location!  It works for property as much as it works for signage.

2.  Keep what you want to say as short and simple as possible.  Generally speaking, people only have a limited amount of time to absorb your message and the single most important thing you want them to get is your contact details.

3.  Use upper and lower case letters for maximum legibility, and try to ensure that your wording is on a background that gives the maximum contract to make it as easy as possible to read.  Don’t be too precious about what looks good – your number one priority is to get your message across.

I’ve resisted branding my car all these years, but have finally decided to take the leap.  So watch out for my logo around town, and if you do see it, please call me – I’ll be including my number in the signage!  Also, let me know if you decide to take this step and how it works for you.