The Ultimate in Mobile Branding: Turning a Commercial Fleet into a Marketing Tool

When the terms mobile branding is used, the majority of people think about marketing a business through an app, website or smartphone. This stands to reason, especially with the rise of consumer technology meaning that the average time on a smartphone each day recently rose to three hours and 14 minutes.

While the importance of traditional mobile branding cannot be underestimated, however, there are other ways in which you can effectively drive the reach of your company, products and services. Branding your fleet of commercial vehicles provides a relevant case in point, as this provides the ultimate in mobile messaging and an innovative extension of your visual brand.

How to turn your Commercial Fleet into a Mobile Marketing Tool

While this may sound relatively simple, achieving this in an effective and cohesive manner requires a great deal of work. So before you invest in this practice, you should go through the following processes and considerations: -

Plot your mobile Branding as part of a Cohesive and Integrated Marketing Plan

You may well have heard of integrated marketing strategies, but how do they benefit your business? Crucially, these strategies combine a host of disparate entities together to create a cohesive business identity, maintaining a familiar tone of voice and recognisable visual icons.

This holistic approach to marketing should include both on and offline aspects of a campaign, especially the development of your vehicle fleet as a mobile branding tool. One of the most common mistakes that marketers make is to brand their vehicles in isolation, or as an after-thought to support other digital and social activity. This not only creates segregation between separate elements of your commercial branding, but it may also create sub-standard workmanship and a poor finish.

With this in mind, the first step is to create a creative brief that incorporates the key elements of your integrated campaign. This should form the basis of your vehicle branding design, and one that extends the visual representation of your business in a consistent and familiar manner.

Pay Attention to Technical Elements when Bringing your Design to Life

The devil is in the detail when it comes to branding, especially when revolutionising your commercial fleet as a mobile tool. From the type of vehicle that you choose to the way in which your implement your design plans, every practical step must be planned in accurate detail.

Firstly, there are a large number of design options when adding colour and branding to a vehicle. While in the 1990’s brands used basic, hand painted livery to decorate their cars and vans, they now have access to modern alternatives such as vehicle wraps and the addition of colourful logos and self-coloured graphics to spray painted surfaces. With such a wide range of choice, however, you will need to select wisely and execute your plans precisely.

If you choose vehicle wrapping, for example, you should make sure that you use vinyl and create a sleek, visually appealing surface. The use of this material helps to optimise the quality of the finish, while also creating a mobile billboard that is easily visible from a distance. If you decide to spray-paint your vehicle, be sure to use a clean spray gun and distribute the colours evenly across the surface. Along with a well-considered design, this will deliver a genuinely purposeful and attractive finish.

Integrate a relevant CTA and Effective Messaging

While it is important to execute a carefully planned and technically adept design, you should not lose sight of the importance of messaging. While you will have limited room to use text, it is crucial that you at least integrate a primary message and a prominent CTA (call to action) into the design.

The psychology of a CTA is important, although it is needs to be done in an organic and natural manner. Customers are increasingly knowledgeable in the modern age, and capable of deciphering overly promotional sales copy. To negate this, it is wise to drive customers to an informative blog page or resource on your website, or using social media hashtags to generate online interaction.

Above all else, refrain from using overt text to direct customers to a sales-heavy or product page, as this alienates individuals and tends to leave an unpleasant taste in their minds.