Boosting business using branded van wraps
Richard Clark, director of vehicle wrapping and livery specialist Raccoon, describes how van graphics can bolster brand awareness
With a staggering 4 million vans on Britain’s roads today, many don’t consider the potential for each to become a billboard on wheels, advertising the business they serve and attracting as many as 16 million views each year. So why aren’t more businesses and brands putting the prime real estate they already own to good use as a marketing tool?
There are two reasons. One is that it often simply isn’t considered: vehicles are thought of as a mode of transport, not an offline advertising opportunity. The other is that building an online presence often takes priority over other effective forms of offline marketing.
According to research from signage solution company, 3M, branded vehicles in built up areas get seen as many as 3,000 times an hour. What’s more, 96 percent of surveyed respondents said they thought fleet graphics had more impact than a billboard.
One of our clients, JB Sales, an independent supplier of safety and survey equipment in the construction sector, realised that making a statement on the road with eye-catching van wraps could be a good way to complement its existing digital marketing initiatives.
Since sending out the two beautifully branded vans, Janine Blackburn, director of JB Sales says, “The number of phone calls has increased, more people now directly approach the drivers to get information about us, and we’ve had to recruit two new staff members to cope with the extra work. All of this in the middle of a pandemic-led recession.”
Deciding on your messaging before you take the leap is business critical. Consider the history and origin story of your brand – how can it be translated to an eye-catching vehicle wrap that gets people talking?
Another of our clients, Westerham Brewery, created a bespoke, eye-catching and highly detailed Spitfire livery for its delivery vans, to celebrate its 15th anniversary and commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
If you need some advice before taking the leap into vehicle wrapping, consult a reputable vehicle-wrapping firm with at least 10 years’ experience, and they’ll walk you through the process and provide some design tips.
If you are diverting your marketing budget into a new channel like a vehicle wrap, you’ll want to be able to measure its success and compare against other marketing channels.
Methods of finding out whether your design is working as a lead magnet include tracking the number of calls coming in from your vehicles, by issuing each with a specific phone number. By numerically tagging your vans according to geographic location (to give one example) you can see which are generating the most leads.
If you have an online store where people can order your products or services, you could consider adding a discount or free shipping code to your vehicle design to drive more traffic to your site and give your sales an extra boost.
By putting page-specific QR codes on your vehicles, passers-by need only scan them and—hey presto—they’re right where you want them to be. Just remember to ensure your website is set up to capture that all-important lead data with downloadable offers or a ‘contact us’ form.
As well as links to your website, phone numbers and QR codes, consider incorporating your Instagram or Twitter handles into your wrap design to boost your following. Remember to include a simple call to action alongside your social media handles to encourage people to engage and connect.
This article is based on a blog piece from the Raccoon website
