Looking to get the most out of your company vehicles? Here’s what you need to know.
When business owners think about signage, they often go straight to the obvious and consider only the sign over their front door.
However, there are many more opportunities for great signage than this. In fact, your signage doesn’t even have to be installed at your business premises at all.
If your company owns and operates one or more vehicles, you could be missing a trick if you haven’t decorated them with branded graphics. After all, a van adorned with your logo and messaging can essentially become a mobile billboard that people can see all over town.
“So how should you go about creating vehicle signage, and how do you do it right? In today’s article, we will look at three top principles to help you make the most of the medium, specifically focusing on vehicle signage in Canberra.”
Make a big impact
One of the main advantages of vehicle signage is that it isn’t tied to any particular location. People might see your van outside a cafe, on a residential street, or going up the motorway.
Because your vehicle can potentially be seen in all sorts of contexts and scenarios, it’s important that your graphics stand out and make a good impression no matter where they end up.
To this end, it’s a good idea to think about impact when designing your vehicle signage. If your van drove past somebody and they only glimpsed it for a few seconds, would they be able to read the message on the side?
Whether or not your signage is truly impactful may to some extent be affected by how you decide to go about applying the graphics. There are several options for adding branded imagery to vehicles:
- Die-cut decals: These are smaller sized graphics and are usually the cheapest option, suitable for a business on a budget. Often, die-cut graphics are used for something simple like a logo or a small amount of text, and while they do the job, they may prove to be less striking than some of the more elaborate options.
- Full body wraps: At the other end of the scale is the full body wrap, which involves fully enveloping the vehicle with stylishly printed vinyl. This creates a stunning and head-turning effect, but can be the most expensive option.
- Partial wraps: If you like the sound of the full body wrap, but find the cost to be prohibitive, you might consider opting for a partial wrap on your vehicles. This means you can wrap some (but not all) key areas of the vehicle, creating an eye-catching look while keeping the costs down.
Of course, whichever option you choose, you still need to devise an eye-catching design.
To do this, you might decide to make use of bright colours, bold typography, startling imagery, large sizes, or other graphical ways of grabbing a viewer’s attention.
Reinforce your brand
Chances are, your business will already have established branding. In many scenarios, your customers will already be comfortable associating certain colours, fonts, and logos with your brand.
Just as it’s a good idea to unify your branding across your physical signage, print advertising, digital channels, and so on, you should also look to ensure that your vehicle graphics are consistent with your wider branding.
By having consistent branding across your entire business, you are much more likely to develop a positive brand association and build an authentic connection with your customer base.
It may also be worth thinking about your competitors. If any of the other businesses in your niche have branded vehicles, it could be a good idea to consider ways to differentiate your own vans from theirs. After all, you want to make sure you’re making a unique impression on the public.
However, the most important thing is to create a good first impression. Since your vehicle graphics will be seen out and about and often travelling to new locations, it’s perfectly possible that your van signage will be the first element of your branding to be seen by some customers – so whatever you do, making sure the brand communicates loud and clear is your number one priority.
Look after your vehicle graphics
Your vehicle signage might look impressive when it’s new, but it’s important to make sure it stays looking nice in the long term.
Fortunately, vinyl decals are generally very durable and tend to last for many years when looked after properly. The key thing is to ensure you treat your vehicle graphics with care, as this will ensure you get the best results possible for as long as possible.
Nevertheless, it’s still a good idea to give them a refresh every now and again. You may find that it’s time to get your van graphics replaced if they are starting to look a bit weathered or if the design just isn’t as suitable as it once was.
The good news is that although vehicle signs are pretty hardy and last for a long time, they are simple enough to remove when it’s time to get them re-done.
And when you take steps to ensure that your van graphics always look good for the long term, the effect on your overall public brand perception is very positive.
After all, when passers-by see your vehicle, you want them to see something clean, current, and well-maintained.
Conclusion
While creating a strong vehicle graphic will take some planning, it doesn’t have to be difficult. With diligent consideration of the three best practices we’ve covered in this post – and the help and expertise of experienced signage professionals – you should have no problem finding a suitable design that fits in with the overall branding of your company.