Advertising your business is an essential, but costly, fact of life and there seem to be an ever increasing number of ways in which to advertise. However, as so often in life, some of the old tricks can be the best. For any size of firm, using your car as a mobile advertising billboard is one of those old tricks and it can still be incredibly effective.
Today there are a number of ways of doing this but the two most popular include a standard vehicle wrap, or the more simple use of a vehicle magnet. The latter has more flexibility than the former and is also probably the most cost effective for small firms. With logo car magnets there is a small outlay purchasing the magnets themselves, however, this need only be a onetime only cost. Magnets have the advantage that they can be removed when not required, or when you change vehicles and you can also order magnets to market specific campaigns or sales. Of course, designing an advertising logo magnet requires some skill and there are a few important details to consider.
Creating Effective Advertising
Clarity is really important with vehicle magnets (as with any vehicle advertising). People will generally see the car when it’s driving around which means that the clarity of your message is crucial. Your business name and logo should be the most obvious part of the design. If your firm’s name doesn’t give away a clue as to what you do, then this should also be made very clear on the vehicle magnet.
If you have a brand message you want to communicate this should also be made clear on the magnet. The balance here is between too much information and too little; brand messages should be kept short and to the point and not mean that the magnet becomes cluttered or difficult to read.
Important information (contact details in particular) should be very clearly highlighted. Your website details or phone number should be presented in a larger font than other details. Again, as people will only see your vehicle in passing this information should be clear and easy to see.
As people will only have a short time to read your vehicle magnet (although on occasion, when you’re parked up, they’ll have longer) larger letters and clear, short phrases work best.
Colours for your vehicle magnet should be matched to your other marketing material or brand identity; this makes your vehicle advertising match up neatly with any other promotional material and fixes the brand in peoples’ minds. Use a clear border in your design as posters, fliers and magnets are all easier to read contained in a border.
Colour choices matter when designing your magnets as with any effective design and as mentioned above, these should match your branding. However, it’s important to note that bold colours catch attention and also light (white preferably) lettering on darker backgrounds not only stands out, but is easier to read. If you’re branding is determinedly pastel, try using darker tones of your main branding to achieve the right affect.
Choose your manufacturer carefully. Vehicle magnets should be robust, hardwearing and resistant to fading. Businesses that print directly onto the magnetic material use UV resistant inks and offer a guarantee that the magnets won’t fade, should be your first choice. Obviously firms that allow you to submit your own design (or can help you to design a magnet) should also be considered.
The Advantages of Passing Trade (In Your Car)
Logo and promotional vehicle magnets work well for any size of firm but are most flexible for smaller firms. Branding and adding logos to your vehicle is a simple and affordable route to gaining new business. The simple reason that they work so well is that they allow you to increase your firm’s visibility in your local (or even the wider) area without the repeated cost of advertising. In addition, the response to vehicle based advertising is positive in terms of results. Visibility is all important when it comes to generating income (ask any SEO expert) and in the less virtual-world simply jogging people’s memories about a service (or goods) that they require can be a highly successful technique. Passing trade has long been a staple income provider for many high street firms and for those without high street premises vehicle magnets offer a simple way to access this valuable source of income.
About the author: Alan Rosinski works as freelance marketing writer and in this post looks at how old advertising methods can still work wonders for modern, small firms.
Photo credit: Daniel Oines
