How Vehicle Wraps Rev Up Small-Business Marketing

Posted on the 10 April 2013 by Marketingtango @marketingtango

Savvy marketers are always looking for ways to outpace the competition—without necessarily outspending them.

One proven but often overlooked tactic is vehicle wraps—adorning service, delivery, maintenance or other company vehicles with eye-catching, professionally designed graphics that brand and promote your business as drivers tool around town.

High Awareness, Low Cost
Unlike more costly media, vehicle wraps work for you 24/7, 365 days per year, for up to five years, making the actual amortized investment manageable for most small businesses—a few dollars per day, by some estimates.

According to stats from the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA), vehicle wraps offer the lowest cost-per-impression of any form of advertising. Depending on city and population size, a single vehicle wrap can generate between 30,000 and 70,000 daily impressions.  Other marketing benefits include:

  • Strategic and creative versatility—vehicle wraps can be used for long-term advertising or short-term product or event promotions—plus, you control the style (full or partial wrap), the design, and when wraps are updated or replaced.
  • Local targeting—driving (and parking) a wrapped vehicle around your local service area can dramatically increase awareness among those who live, work or attend school nearby; parked vehicles attract the attention of pedestrians, especially in a busy urban setting, but also at local sporting or cultural events, colleges, conventions and tradeshows.
  • Brand consistency—wraps help unify a campaign’s look and feel because they incorporate the same branding elements from your other marketing channels.

Non-marketing benefits include providing a predictable fixed-advertising cost, and preserving vehicle resale value by protecting paint from weather damage.

Who Uses Vehicle-Wrap Marketing?
With a little imagination and the right creative services provider, many local businesses could easily integrate vehicle-wraps into their marketing mix. Examples include:

  • Grills, bars, restaurants and salons
  • Specialty retail shops, such as florists, clothiers and pet groomers
  • Consultants, real estate firms, attorneys and other service professionals
  • Healthcare clinics, hospitals, and private medical/dental practices

Right Tactic, Right Time
Unlike Yellow Page and newspaper ads, whose returns have declined, vehicle wraps’ broad reach and low cost-per-impression, can add horsepower to your mix and shift sales growth into high gear.