High Yield Contractors Recognize Fleet Value for Cost-effective Advertising

Visibility is crucial to marketing effectiveness and one of the most cost-effective ways to maximize your visibility is by using your vehicles as moving billboards to brand your company.

Your vehicle fleet provides a cost-effective opportunity to make an impression on thousands of home-owners and building-owners – potential customers for your HVAC services and products. Consider how many people see your vehicle(s) in traffic, in parking lots, or on a job site, every day.

According to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA), the average American travels more than 300 miles each week and sees an average of 20,000 unique vehicles during that time. In that competitive environment, you need to be extraordinary if you want to stand out and get noticed. Standard lettering with only a company name, simple logo and phone number won’t cut it. 

A Sensible Solution: The Wrap Revolution

Several years ago, vehicle wraps began to revolutionize the outdoor advertising industry, paving the way for an explosion in fleet graphics design and mobile advertising. Vehicle wraps can be applied on all vehicle surfaces and any vehicle body type to transform trucks, vans, buses, cars and other vehicles into splashy, eye-catching mobile billboards that attract attention and generate business.

Vehicle wraps are a powerful, dynamic marketing tool. They can’t be turned off or “zapped”, so they are always at work, promoting your company and service. In fact, studies show that vehicle wraps are a highly effective way to increase company awareness, create a positive perception, increase recall seeing rates and boost sales leads – all at a minimal cost per thousand impressions (CPM).

A recent study done by the OAAA confirmed the effectiveness of vehicle wrap advertising.

• Depending on the size of the city, a single vehicle wrap can generate 30,000 to 70,000 impressions daily
• Fleet vehicle advertising boosts name recognition 15 times greater than any other form of advertising
• 80 percent of participants could recall certain aspects about vehicle wrap advertisements seen once and 91 percent could recall significant portions of vehicle wrap advertisements when viewed several times a week through normal commuting
• 90 percent of participants felt vehicle wrap advertisements had a positive effect on the brand and the product presented
• 96 percent of participants felt vehicle wraps were more effective than billboard ads

According to OAAA data, vehicle wraps are more cost-effective as an advertising choice than any other media. In fact, it’s not even close.

An Affordable, Cost-Effective Advertising Choice

Vehicle wraps may be more affordable than you think. Though cost varies based on the square footage and complexity of the vehicle, the material used, window and roof coverage and other factors, the cost of a typical single full vehicle wrap runs between $2,000 and $5,000, or about $3,000-$3,500 on average.

Considering that a vehicle wrap works whenever your fleet is on the road or on a job site and can last up to five years, that investment amortizes to just a few dollars per day, making vehicle wraps affordable for most small businesses. Using partial wraps can significantly decrease those costs.

A few things to remember about vehicle wraps:

• Vehicle wraps should be an essential part of your overall marketing strategy and compliment other advertising: business cards, letterhead, website, brochures, sales promotions, etc.
• There are no continuous costs: once a vehicle wrap has been applied, there are no additional costs other than regular vehicle maintenance
• The vehicle will ultimately become a moving billboard transforming your company vehicles into the most cost-effective advertisement
• Vehicle wraps work non-stop, generating thousands of impressions daily
• Vehicle wraps last as long as seven years with minimal maintenance such as washing with mild detergent and soft brushes
• You get what you pay for, so don’t go cheap. Companies offering low-cost vehicle wraps often use substandard materials and inferior application methods. 

Greg Smith is the former editor of HVACR Business magazine and theAhead of the Curve enewsletter, as well as web content editor for www.hvacrbusiness.com. He has been involved in B2B publishing for more than 30 years as an editor and marketing specialist and has more than a decade of experience covering the mechanical systems market.