– By Marc Sibbald –
Fleet branding has changed in recent years. The ability to quickly create unique designs that match your other marketing collateral at a reasonable cost, when marketing budgets are shrinking, has seen an explosion of fleets marked with company logos.
It still may not be accepted by all fleet drivers but here’s five good reasons why you should consider branding your company cars.
1) People will talk about your brand
Pat Barallon, national sales manager at Fleet Branding Solutions, says branding can make a fleet standout and is a great use of the marketing budget. “When you brand a vehicle the attitude towards it changes. Customers, family members and friends of the employee will refer to the vehicle as the Brand X car instead of the company car. Which is the objective of branding a vehicle – people will talk about your brand!”.
2) Cheap, quick and easy
Prices have come down as technology has improved. So a complete vehicle wrap is now the price of simple sign writing ten years ago. Technology has also improved the colours and quality of vinyl stickers. And the time from design approval to vehicle application can be a matter of hours with the large format printers that most sign shops now operate.
3) You are already paying for the billboard
Whether you brand your vehicles or not your fleet will be driving on the roads, normally in peak traffic times, and passing potential customers. So why not use this mobile billboard to its full potential?
4) Attract new customers
There is a difference in the way B2B and B2C businesses reach their customers. But both can benefit from vehicle branding but not necessarily the same way. For a B2C fleet it may seem obvious – you want retail consumers and they are everywhere. But there risks in getting the image wrong if the vehicle doesn’t match your other collateral. For example, a Toyota Camry with advertising for a high end luxury product.
A B2B fleet still needs to promote it’s brand because decision makers do spend time on the roads as well. Even if you have a limited or small market the customers of your customers will see your company logo.
5) Credibility
Its amazing how a brand can develop credibility from people seeing it. You may not have a big marketing budget but if you have a fleet you can get your name out there quickly and easily with some vehicle signage.
Obviously there a range of other things to consider when looking at signage on your fleet such as repair costs and end of life rectification. But if you want to win points with your marketing manager this is a good place to start.
