Thread: Truck Advertising

Just wondering what you guys use for truck advertising. We used to paint our logo and phone number on. But, now vinyl lettering is relatively cheap and after getting it cut we can put it on ourselves.

So, what do you use?

-Matt

Vinyl now, and just on the back, which is the most important when traveling down the road.

I wish I had photos of my last pickup that I started business with.

All handpainted and Airbrushed.

A big lily on the corner of the hood.

Red & blue pinstriping.

A blue atlas cedar branch with foliage and cone across the entire tailgate.

A small gold maple leaf with 14K gold foil on the driver door.

"M. D. Vaden" was done in OLD ENGLISH manuscript letters, but the lower part of the letters was swooshed and curved.

"Pruning Specialist was doubled in cursive. Magenta and pink cursive in a neon tube look over a burgundy cursive.

The painter specialized in street machines and motorcycles.

It really got noticed and I think a lot of work came from it. But I just decided to go contemporary the past 10 years.

Vinyl is the way to go. I also have magnetic signs so I can switch to another vehicle. Careful with these though. If you leave them on too long the magnets react with the paint and they tend to fuse together. Pull them off and the paint comes with.

I did some barter work for a sign maker and he is going to make me proffesional signs to replace my stick on letter junk. I just have to settle on a company name I wan tto stick with from now on.
I have [had] a few of the ISA signs but they keep flying off. I figure next time I will mark my name and phone on them so perhaps some one will call me if they are found.

I have a 1 ton van with lettering and phone numbers on both sides and the back. Nothing on the chip truck but we have a sign on a panel that we put in the chipper chute to hold gear in the chute. Since we're not in the phone book I always ask people where they heard of us and the past couple of years only one person has said they got our number from the signs. Kind of curious as to why that is.
Phil

Originally Posted by Small Wood

Since we're not in the phone book I always ask people where they heard of us and the past couple of years only one person has said they got our number from the signs. Kind of curious as to why that is.
Phil

Dude that's crazy!! I track every single call also and we get lots of calls from our VINYL logos, not to mention many people say, "we see your trucks everywhere." Even when I only had one. Guess we drive a lot. The recognition is great too. People have told me they've seen our trucks and will seek us out in the phone book and the more trucks I get the more calls we get from the stickers. A photo should be attached. . .
I can imagine that a full body wrapped vehicle would stand out a lot more than my little door logos, but my sign guy quoted $2,500 for a pickup truck. My current sticker scheme only costs about $120 per vehicle and man, one call will pay for that.

Mike Cross

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...3/IMG_0477.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...3/IMG_0455.jpg

Mike:

My compliments on your equipment and your logo. Everything looks nice and clean and the logo looks good and looks like it can be read from a distance. I think that people see the name on my truck but don't bother to get the phone number and since we're not in the phone book they don't know how to reach us. It's not that I'm looking for more work, I just found it strange that only one guy actually got the phone number from the signage.
Phil

I don't have any trucks with names, numbers or logos on them so I will weigh in as a consumer.....Nobody pays attention to the trucks running up and down the road with business names on them......there are just too many.....I think that if somebody sees your number on your truck its because it was parked at a job and they rubber necked to see what was going on......I think your equipment should really pop......Wrap them with this new auto wrap....like a full graphic of what you do....It costs more, but you can offset the cost by selling space on the grapic to other businesses like the shop that you buy your saws from etc.......If your trucks really stand out and somebody suddenly needs a tree taken out when they hit the internet or yellowpages they will remember your trucks and call you first. Plus people like stuff that looks really good so they would rather have this eye catching wraped truck in there yard than a plain white one with a number on the door.

I agree with people getting the number while parked vs on the road.

Eye catching logos go a long ways too, but "font size" is important too. If they cannot read it from across the street, then it is a waste of money.

For travel, the most important sign will be on the gate of your chipper.

On one lane, people can't get beside you, and on two lanes, its dangerous. From behind, they can stare for a long time.

Someone wrote "we see your trucks everywhere". My friend was told the same thing. Either they remembered the name, or called.

He lettered the sides.

I've gotten few calls off my truck sign on the rear window that I can pinpoint. But what it does, is name recognition.

I had a sign at the end of our lane for 10 years with no phone because the city would not allow the business contact at that location. But my name was allowed.

A lot of people said they knew the name when they saw my ad, due to the sign, and that's why they called.

John had a good idea about the letter size. And that's why the letters on sides are good for the work location.

I own a Sign Company. I would say that 90% of the Identified vehicles, trailers etc. that you see on the road today are Vinyl Lettering and 4-color digital print graphics (on vinyl media) Ambulances, Police Cars, and other emergency related vehicles are almost always Reflective lettering.

One of my clients is Russ' Tree Service (Hi Terry, if you're lurking again!) and his tag line is Trees R Russ. Yesterday I was running a lead for him (closed it on site too) and the lady said she could not find his add, she was looking for the "Trees R Russ" he has cut into the plate steel on the back of his bucket truck, not Russ' Tree

Originally Posted by John Paul Sanborn

I agree with people getting the number while parked vs on the road.

Eye catching logos go a long ways too, but "font size" is important too. If they cannot read it from across the street, then it is a waste of money.

is this big enough

Originally Posted by ASD

is this big enough

Big enough, now you need some eyecatching grafix, like a chipper eating a whole tree with some little guys standing buy

haha

i like the way that truck looks...its bold straight foward and simple

i agree a chipper would be cool...but on that truck there atleast...where would you put it with out decreasing the font by a ton or over crowding it???