How Using Vehicle Graphics Can Be The Most Productive Marketing Strategy
Since the dawn of the money-driven society there has always been the quest to outperform the competition, and centuries ago trading companies' merchants discovered the benefits of spreading the information about their enterprises by using the written word. Gutenberg's invention not only introduced the knowledge to the larger masses, but also marked the beginnings of advertising by uncovering a previously unknown business potential, the fast and widespread propagation of business communication.
Businesses of the modern times have had multiple marketing avenues to choose from.
In the 20th century, advertising as a business tool has evolved from artistic productions bound to etiquette, to an industrial, non-conformist aggression on the conscious and subconscious, and the purpose has stayed the same: to generate profit. In the last two decades, the marketing spectrum has gone through further evolutionary changes: if prior to the late 90's businesses in Canada were listing their core competencies and promoting their products and services offered in the Yellow Pages big volumes, nowadays all that information is available at the click of a button, or - more recently - the swipe of a hand-held screen.
Enterprises use vehicles for transportation, and work hard to have more business exposure, so combining the two needs is the obvious solution.
All big businesses have started small. For those who are at the beginnings of their entrepreneurial journey, and especially if they are in the high-competition service arena, advertising on a work vehicle is by far the marketing expenditure that generates the best ROI. This type of advertising has everything: it has high visibility, it is mobile, does not incur too many maintenance costs (good care and .. regular washing perhaps?), and it is fairly inexpensive (for basic lettering, logo vinyl graphics, other, more sophisticated projects like full vehicle wraps can pinch the budget sensibly).
Vehicle graphics types are: 1) vinyl cut lettering and decals, 2) printed stickers, 3) partial vehicle wraps, and 4) complete (full) vehicle wraps.
Companies need to consider the following before proceeding with getting vehicle graphics:
• Simple vinyl graphics on doors and rear window start at only $300 Canadian dollars.
• The cost for a single month of Google Adwords advertising with a few competitive keywords can cost more than C$300 (i.e. the one-time cost for a lifetime* car decal) *car decals can deteriorate with aging, rough weather, vandalism, accidents, etc.
• The cost for a single edition (i.e. showing only one day, there is hardly anyone who keeps old newspapers after reading) of a decent size ad published in a newspaper can cost more.
• The cost for a single broadcasting of a radio ad can be more.
• As with the TV ads - not even comparing.
• For someone having a larger vehicle, like a delivery truck or even a cube van, cost to do a full sides and back custom printed vinyl graphic advertising can be - however - as high as C$5,000, but considering this is not something done every month, or every year even, many consider it is still the best spend money for advertising.
At this moment, it seems that most companies have embraced the vehicle graphic advertising strategy because of the net benefits. Larger companies have entire fleets decorated with at least their name if not a recognizable design addition to it. It is also true that, like everything else, not all car / truck / van vinyl materials are created equal, with some manufacturers offering new features like air-free technology (also referred to as air egress technology, or bubble-free application feature), which consists of fine channels added on the back of the vinyl (on the glue layer) to allow for the air to escape when applied onto a surface with basic squeegeeing technique.
In Calgary, Alberta there are many sign shops offering printing and application of insignia and designs for vehicles. Our company, Calgary Signs & Banners aka CSB, provide complete services: design, manufacturing, and installation of such vehicle graphics as described above. For those who want to get more information, they can find on our website costs and read more about Vehicle Graphics Types.
And who knows what the future will bring: maybe the vehicles of the coming years will have nano technology adapting skins, or intelligent user controlled LED coatings with changing advertisement, replacing the current printed adhesive vinyl films printed applied manually? Peeking into the future of vehicle advertisements would be so exciting!