Personality Marketing Get more business, more easily, with more fun, by being 100% YOU!

A blogger and entrepreneur I follow called Jeff Chavez of NorthStar Think Tank referenced a truck he’d seen recently:

I was driving next to a truck that was transporting some portable bathrooms. The company was called “Port-O-John.” On the door of the truck were these words, “The Number One Company in a Number Two Business!”

Now, if you needed portable toilets, I think this would stick in your mind!  It fulfils the criteria of:

• Describing what the business does
• Being memorable
• Being relevant to the product or service
• Providing a reason to call

That last point is slightly debatable since they haven’t ‘proved’ if or why they’re number one, but all-in-all, it’s a hell of a lot better than the kind of thing most businesses choose to put on their vans e.g.:

AJ Smith Sanitary Solutions
Tel: 01234 567890
Email: ajsss@yahoo.co.uk

If you have a van, take a look at it now.  Then ask yourself if it meets the criteria above.

If you’ve seen particularly good or particularly bad examples of van sign-writing, please leave me a comment below - I’m looking for examples for a special report I’m creating.

Thanks!

Posted under Marketing

I was driving down the M1 this morning (my usual route), and I saw two more examples of the sorts of stupidity I talked about in this post.

The two companies/vans in question were for:

1. InSpace
2. Best-One

Can you spot the problem already?

InSpace was by far the worst offender.  Logos on all sides of the van, but:

1. The company name doesn’t give the first clue what the company does or what problems it solves
2. There was no tagline or mission statement to give any hints
3. There were no contact details anywhere on the van!

Yes, another example like my favourite ‘bunch of noddies’ Reality Group.

Best-One were only marginally better:

1. Again, company name gives no clue to what they do, or the problems they solve.  Best One of what?
2. They did have a tagline.  Hallelujah, you might think?  HONK! Wrong!  The tagline was this “Serving the local community”.   AAARGH!  Serving them by doing WHAT?!?!  Picking up litter?  Working at the local soup kitchen? Giving the local residents a headache by trying to figure out what “Best-One” does?
3. Yet again, no contact details anywhere on the van!

Here’s a clue guys (if you’re reading) - if your tagline could apply to any company, not just yours, and even worse, if it could apply to a completely different industry, then it’s POINTLESS. 

Get rid of it immediately, and think of something that expresses your USP (Unique Selling Point) and, since this is Personality Marketing, preferably your UPT (Unique Personality Trait) as well.

In my case, my tagline is currently “Get more business, more easily, with more fun, by being 100% you”.

And just for completeness, I saw several examples of another idiotic way of doing sign-writing on your van - making it so damn small that you need to be 3 feet from the back of the van to read it!

Just remember - I’m doing 70MPH (well, 70-ish ;-)) down the M1 - I do not want to get 3 feet from your bumper to find out if your company might be able to help me. 

Make it big - make it simple - make it memorable

Oh, and one final thing.

If you’re reading this and thinking “I don’t have company vehicles, so this doesn’t apply to me” - WRONG.  Unless you take public transport everywhere, there are several ways you can promote your business on your vehicle, even if it’s your own car, without wrecking the paintwork.

Here’s a few quick suggestions:

1. Magnetic vehicle signs.  You often see them on private cabs, but they work just as well on private cars, and just as well on the tailgate as on the side doors.
2. Custom printed sun shades.  One I often see (and they make good giveaways for some firms) is advertising Kiddicare.
3. If you drive a 4×4 with an external spare wheel, try a spare wheel cover sign.

But whatever you choose, remember: Make it big - make it simple - make it memorable

Two essential components:

1. Your contact details (phone, web address or both)
2. A compelling reason to call you

What can you do to create some free or low cost mobile advertising?

Posted under Marketing

I was motoring along the A45 this morning and spotted a red van that caught my attention.  Unfortunately, being a responsible driver (honest!) I couldn’t take a picture, but I noted the web address:

http://www.007licence2chill.co.uk/

One of my (many!) hobby horses is companies who spend serious amounts of money having their vans sign-written, and in some cases fully vinyl wrapped, but just put the company name, logo and phone number, with absolutely NO information about what they do, or any reason why you should call them!

AAARGH! What a wasted opportunity!  You’ve got a whacking great van or even articulated lorry, driving about on the roads every day like a mobile billboard, and you’re NOT USING IT!

I have to say, I think there could have been more ‘reasons to call us’ on the red van I saw from 007 Refrigeration & Air Conditioning, but I bet you that if I ever needed someone for air conditioning for The Nightingale Clinic, I’ll remember “Licence To Chill“!

Some other good examples of memorable business names and sign writing on vans and commercial vehicles include:

• A cesspit emptying service called, simply, SuckCess
• The Flat Roof Company (from memory, the van was covered in a picture of a leaking roof, with the question “Got a leaky flat roof?  Call The Flat Roof Company” - perfect!)

Here’s your question for today - if you’ve got a company vehicle of any description:

1. Is it signwritten?  If not, why not?
2. If yes, does it actually tell people what you do? (Hint: a company name like “ABC Plastering” doesn’t count!)
3. Does it give people a compelling reason to call you?  (Another hint: ”Established whenever“, “The solution for whatever“, “Your complete answer to whatever” don’t count either!)
4. Does it convey professional contact information? (Yet another hint: email addresses like plastering1969@yahoo.com absolutely scream “AMATEUR!” - register a domain name and get a proper email address!)

If you can’t answer YES to all four questions above, you are throwing away money and business. 

I’ve lost count of the number of vans, lorries, etc. I’ve driven behind that might have been for a business that did something I might have desperately needed, or been interested in, but because of the lack, or poor quality, of the sign writing, they missed out. 

One of my particular bug bears is a bunch of vans all over the UK for Reality Group.  I have several problems:

1. The company name gives no indication what they do, and there’s no other text
2. The logo is meaningless colours - no clue there
3. There is absolutely no contact information anywhere on the van!

Mind you, on the basis of this post, it sounds like they don’t want anyone to be able to talk to them anyway…

So, back to the main question.  It’s simply this - is your business missing a massive mobile opportunity to get more business?

Look at your vehicles today (like right now - look out of the window if you need to!) and ask yourself: If I needed what our company has to offer, but didn’t know anything about the company, would I:

1. Know what our company does?
2. See a compelling reason to call the company?
3. Remember the company name, phone number or web address well enough to look it up later?

That’s all for now!

Posted under Marketing