I know people who have been having TREMENDOUS success lately by having car signs on their vehicles. There have always been those who have had their logos and ads on their vehicles – insurance agents, pizza delivery ads, towing services and such. Guess what? They WORK. People driving around from all over see those signs and an idea pops into mind that they can use the service or product, but now no need to shop the yellow pages to look for it.
These signs work best when positioned prominently on both sides and the back. Sometimes the front may work, if done in “mirror” style so it can be read by the rear view mirror of a car in front of you – but this doesn’t seem to be worth it. People are too busy driving and dealing with traffic to try to read what’s in their mirror.
You need to have either a descriptive URL or in the least an explanation of some sort about what people can expect when they land on your site. Is the product or service clearly stated? Is the URL something easy to remember or to write down quickly? If it’s a long URL – you’re better to get your own domain that reflects your product or service, or in the least, go to a site like www.tinyurl.com to make the URL short and easier to remember (but it won’t be reflective of what you are offering). You want people to remember the URL in their head – not everyone drives around with a pad of paper and a pen.
The signs that seem to work best are of wide exposure – large and usually with a logo or picture. They take up a large portion of the side or back. Magnetic signs are good – but they can be stolen, and you need to take some care with them. There are vinyl cling signs, bumper stickers, URL plates, declas, and even static cling bags that you insert your message into and it’s on your inside window.
If you do advertise on your vehicle, make sure to carry business cards and other promotional items, such as brochures, samples and such. People are likely to stop and ask you about something while you are parked somewhere.
You can reach a huge audience with this type of advertising, going to your normal places. Do venture out of your comfort zone, however, so you increase your exposure to more people. If you are marketing kid’s or mom’s products, head to grocery stores, day cares, schools, dance classes, etc. If you are marketing pet products, drive around grocery stores, groomers, pet shops (but don’t be too obvious with competition – it might be best to not be parked at a pet store, unless it’s NOT in direct competition).
If you can hand out clever bumper stickers to people for free, with a catchy logo or picture, you can get other people to drive around and take your message with them everywhere. Think how easy it can be to get people to find your site who need not search on the Internet. You might want to start out with small advertising at first until you refine it. Once you can afford it, get the bigger (and yes, more costly) advertising. The small ads may or may not work. They need to be big enough to be seen, and clear enough to understand. Promote only ONE business on your car. Don’t give choices.
Now that you can get the word out, as long as the ad is good and clear (and shows a need that people will understand), you should get more site visitors. This means your site needs to be good and keep people there – prompting them to buy or in the least, to bookmark the site for later. With all these things in place, you should be a driving success.
P. Roe does website optimization work, and is working on her sites all the time – many are in number 1-10 ranking on Google and Yahoo! Subscribe to “Wise Little Tidbits” for more optimization tips. mailto:ezineshere@aol.com?WLT http://doubleii.com/webservices.htm
