Vehicle Graphics and Wraps
What a great way to advertise your business and get your company name in front of 1000’s of people a day. Your company car or truck can advertise for you as your driving on your normal route or while making sales calls.
Many Minnesota companies will put the company name on every vehicle they own because they know that this can literally drive more business to them.
Let’s take a look at the different types of vehicle advertising.
Car Magnets (magnetic signs):
Car magnets are the quickest and cheapest way to get into using your care for advertising. Magnetic signs are just that, Magnets. They come in a variety of sizes, usually 12″x12″, 12″x18″, 18″x24″ and larger. Most sign companies in Minnesota and the US use a white magnet roll that is 24″ tall x 10 yards long. Knowing this your sign company will not be able to make a magnetic sign taller than 24″.
My shop in Ramsey, MN can make magnetic signs from single color text on white all the way to full color with logos. The nice thing about magnets is that they can be cut to a cusom shape so your are not limited to just a white rectangle.
The down side to magnets is that if you don’t take care of them you can lose them or worse cause damage to your vehicle.
Vinyl Lettering:
Vehicle vinyl lettering is lettering directly applied to the surface of your car or truck. This has the highest quality look and makes your company look professional.
Vinyl lettering can be done in single color simple text and up to custom cut logos and full color graphics. Vehicle lettering does require some ability in installing the graphic so it is placed straight. We recommend your let your Minnesota sign company handle the installation.
The cost can be as little as about $125 and go up from there depending on how much coverage you want on your vehicle. Trucks usually get graphics on the two sides plus the tailgate.
The down side is fading of the vehicle. No, the area behind the graphic won’t fade, the rest of the vehicle fades around where the graphic is. This is not as bad as it sounds. In most cases the graphic is removed before any fading occurs. Of course if you have your graphic on for 5 years or more then you will notice the shadowing after the graphic is removed.
Hand Painted Lettering:
Some guys are still hand lettering vehicles with paint. This is still a great option and very nice. This will require a guy with some artistic ability and an eye for design. Don’t leave this for a franchise sign shop. These guys are called letterheads and produce some very cool vehicle graphics.
Vehicle wraps:
Vehicle wraps are sweeeet! This type of advertising has the maximum impact. I recommend this if you do a lot of driving. Your vehicle will get seen.
A vehicle wrap is a digiatally printed vinyl that is full color and then applied to you car or truck creating a look as if the vehicle itself is painted with the graphic. It is like applying a new skin to the vehicle.
wraps can be way cool
Wraps require a designer to create the way cool image, a sign company to print the graphic and then a seasoned installer to make the package complete.
The downside is obvious, it’s pricey. But, when you compare it to other advertising that you do, and that your wrap will last for several years, it turns out to be very affordable. Some companies do no other advertising than their vehicle wrap.
Vehicle graphics & you:
So what should you do? How do you decide which one is for you? Very easily:
- Do you drive very much? If not, don’t bother. If you drive a lot, then get your name of that vehicle today.
- What can you afford to do? If you decide not to spend the money on your vehicle, will you have to spend it on other advertising?
- If you have one of those types of cars that people look at anyway like a beetle, hummer, PT Cruiser or any other high profile car, I recommend you wrap it. People are looking at you anyway, give them something to really look at.
- Do you have a fleet of vhicles that are always out and about? Think of the number of people who would see those trucks and call you.
