Banners and Vehicle Decals

Did you know that you already own a large sign that can be transported anywhere you have prospects and clients marketing to them every single day? Perhaps you have seen those for other companies as you go through your day, Perhaps you have seen one from . . . a competitor! I’m talking about vehicle wraps, the most cost effective print marketing known to man. According to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA), vehicle graphics reach 95% of Americans. This statistic proves the effectiveness of the “mobile billboard” allowing your ad to be seen by people in areas where static billboards are not.

With commute times on the rise there is a larger captive audience on the roads which allow advertisers to generate between 30 and 70 THOUSAND IMPRESSIONS A DAY depending on location, population density and amount of time on the road. But, you can get visibility even if you’re parked! Think o0f the strategic impressions you can get if you go shopping at a large mall and park in a prominent space. A handyman could get plenty of targeted views when they park at the large home improvement store, while they are shopping for supplies; prospects see them as a resource to help them with their home projects! In fact a recent study indicated that Brands that appeared on vehicle graphics were 15 times more likely to be recalled by consumers compared to Billboard advertising. In the study, respondents claim to have read the content on the vehicle graphics and a full 30% made buying decisions based on the mobile advertisements on the vehicles!

It is generally agreed in the marketing world that the average prospect takes between 7 and 12 exposures to become “comfortable” enough with a business to buy from them. When prospects see this big rolling sign over and over again daily, they soon realize you are here, visible and probably not a fly by night business. In a study by the American Trucking Association, 98% of respondents believe vehicle graphics create a positive brand image. 96% said they noticed ads on vehicles and 96% believed that vehicle wraps are more effective than billboards and 75% of respondents formed impressions about a company and its brand from vehicle and fleet graphics. The end result of each study is that vehicle and fleet graphics are a powerful, influential and cost effective way to market your brand.

Now for the best part, cost. Think for a second on what you pay per square inch for a business card size ad in a publication and how many people see it. Maybe you buy a half page ad in a circular and it hits a population of say 10,000 people. Once it is read and discarded, you will have to spend the same money for your prospect to see it again next month and the next and the next. All of this can be more; much more expensive than putting a nice wrap on a vehicle and when you factor in impressions, your vehicle will always get more views than a mailer in a trash can. You pay for the first day of marketing and every day after that is free of cost, thereby reducing the cost per impression to an incredibly small amount. . Data from the sign industry reveal that even in a small to mid-sized suburban area the average wrapped vehicle would get between 35 and 50,000 exposures PER DAY. That means somewhere between 175 and 250,000 exposures per week and between 9 and 13 million per year. Now depending on where you live, the lifespan of your wrap can be from 2-7 years. I’ll take the low of 2 years which it is in southern California where I live, that would be 18 – 26 MILLION exposures in those 2 years. So if you paid for example $2000 to wrap your vehicle, at the end of day one you will have paid cents per exposure but the wrap has only begun to work. At the end of the first week, your cost per exposure has dropped to 2 cents per, and after year one you are looking at only 4/10,000’s of a cent.

On a side note, a couple months ago I was called in by a friendly sign shop to coordinate on aspects of a job that his type of printer was not capable of. As we were talking outside with the client my phone rang and it was a lady parked down the street that wanted me to come down and give her a quote for signage for her soon to be open business. How did she find me? My wrapped truck was parked next to my friend’s unwrapped truck, I was visible and he was not. . . THEN.