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Nicole
Posts: 2800
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From: Nambucca / Kempsey, Australia
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Vehicle Advertising - 2/8/2006 17:23:16
It's a nice sunny morning here, and I've just seen one of these cars pull up in my street, needless to say, the bright orange and the striking paint work caught my eye.
Immediately I thought of grabbing a business card and running over there to see the driver, until I realised the website address on the car, but it made me wonder about vehicle advertising and whether anyone here who runs their own web design business advertises (either with a full car paint job, or just their URL on the back window) on their car?
If so, do you get many enquiries from this form of advertising? I for one know that I often memorise websites I've read on vehicles, especially those with promminent colour schemes and look them up when I get home.
Nicole
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BobbyDouglas
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RE: Vehicle Advertising - 2/8/2006 18:59:12
quote:
anyone here who runs their own web design business advertises (either with a full car paint job, or just their URL on the back window) on their car?
- I make a trip from Flagstaff to Gilbert (2.5 hr drive) every couple weeks and usually get 1-2 calls per trip. Also, each person I talked with on the phone ended up being a client.
Something like NixDesign will be pretty easy to remember. Most of the time I have people just jot down my phone number, and then ask about my URL over the phone.
My ad looks like this in big white letters on the back window:
[LOGO] [Company Name]
Design - Hosting - Marketing
[domain]
Phone: [phone]
I keep my truck very clean on the outside, so when I drive by a lot of people look. I paid around $20 to get the lettering printed.
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Nicole
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RE: Vehicle Advertising - 2/8/2006 19:14:19
Bummer!
My husband has taken the car this morning on a 1500km business trip to various towns in country New South Wales! Why didn't I think of this last week?
Seriously though, I thought it was a good idea and you've just proved it!
Y'now I asked about this in my business class a few years ago, the teacher thought it was a good idea but balked at my suggestion that if my car was used for advertising then I could claim 100% of it's costs as a business tax deduction. So did the Tax Department when I called them about it! It still doesn't make sense to me, if I drive to the shops to do the weekly shopping I can't claim it as a tax deduction at all, but what if I picked up a client, or even was just called because of the sign on the car in that trip to the shops?
Interested to hear others.....
p.s. another thought was to sponsor a junior sports team, anyone done that?
Nicole
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traveler98
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RE: Vehicle Advertising - 2/8/2006 19:17:13
quote:
ORIGINAL: BobbyDouglas
I keep my truck very clean on the outside, so when I drive by a lot of people look. I paid around $20 to get the lettering printed.
Those are really good results Bobby. What type of lettering do you have on your car i.e. Is is permanent? What type of company does this kind of work.
I know I always look at cars with advertising on them and often try to write down the name and number if I don't see a web address on them.
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traveler98
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RE: Vehicle Advertising - 2/8/2006 19:20:36
quote:
ORIGINAL: Nicoleoz
p.s. another thought was to sponsor a junior sports team, anyone done that?
Nicole
Haven't done that, but did pay for a poster from the local high school basketball team that has team picture, schedule and local sponsors/merchants that has been pretty successful. The players ask local stores and such to put them on display in window or near counter to show school spirit.
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BobbyDouglas
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RE: Vehicle Advertising - 2/8/2006 21:37:16
quote:
Those are really good results Bobby. What type of lettering do you have on your car i.e. Is is permanent? What type of company does this kind of work.
- I'll take a picture of it tomorrow. I think it was just a wide-bold arial font made from white vinyl. I got it done from a friend who has the vinyl, and a printer. Basically, he creates an outline for the printer to print, and rigged the printer with a sharp knife. Not "professional" but it came out exactly as I wanted it to. I would have paid $500 for it if I knew how good it was going to be.
I got it done the day before I left for an 18 hour drive to Cali. Got around 2 calls that day, but nothing ever happened with them. I drive like I have a place to get to and I am 2 days late. I think most people can't jot down the number in time.
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Tailslide
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RE: Vehicle Advertising - 2/9/2006 2:46:33
Only problem with having advertising on the car is that you really have to keep the car shiny and clean AND if you drive like an idiot they'll know who you are...
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traveler98
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RE: Vehicle Advertising - 2/10/2006 10:47:41
quote:
ORIGINAL: Nicoleoz
Did you ever take that pic of your truck Bobby?
Yeah Bobby
we wanna see, we wanna see!! Seriously am very interested in seeing the pic or pics
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drogers
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RE: Vehicle Advertising - 2/10/2006 10:47:49
My company sponsored a little league team for a cost of a couple hundred dollars and a few boxes of donuts. We've gotten 2 sites directly from that, for a total return on investment of $2600, plus hosting. We have a nice thank you plaque in our office as well and we should have written a press release, but didn't.
You can definately write off the cost of lettering and gas you use while going to/from clients. Just make sure that type of advertising is legal in your area, there are some regulations for non-commercial vehicles.
You can probably also write off for some maintenance and cost of ownership if you track your milage, check with your accountant. Just use the work milage verses overall milage as a percentage of cost of ownership. The next vehicle you buy, have the business pay for it and get commercial plates. You still have to depreciate it over a number of years, though.
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Nicole
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RE: Vehicle Advertising - 2/10/2006 21:09:25
That's a lot better than I expected Bobby. Very neat, looks better with tinted windows too.
Think I'll do some web surfing to find out who can do this in my area!
Nicole
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BobbyDouglas
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RE: Vehicle Advertising - 2/10/2006 21:13:42
My only change would be to put the URL on the very top line of the window and have the characters spaced out a lot more so it would be easier to see.
Take a picture of where you think your ad will go, then play around with some different layouts on your computer. Any vehicle graphics shop should be able to do it. Are you still near/in Sydney?
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Nicole
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RE: Vehicle Advertising - 2/10/2006 21:24:32
Yes I'm in Sydney, I can't do anything until later this week though when my car and camera return home!
I don't have tinted windows either, which may be good or bad? I'm thinking the fern leaf would look good.
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BobbyDouglas
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RE: Vehicle Advertising - 2/10/2006 22:01:32
Tinted windows will for sure look a lot better, especially with a nice green leaf. Expect the price to triple if you plan on printing in multiple colors. Usually you can only do one color per image, so it will cost a LOT to get an actual color image in the window.
There are other options too such as a magnet type ad that sticks to the back of your window. The problem with these is that you can't see out of the back when there is a dark square taking up a huge space in your rear window, the upside is that you can print color for a pretty low cost.
Depending on the sides/height of your car, you might be able to get away with some nice color magnet type ads on the side, and then a simple one liner on the top of your rear window with NixDesign - Phone Number/Website
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Mojo
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RE: Vehicle Advertising - 2/10/2006 22:33:20
I have to agree with Nicoleoz - it's much nicer than I expected. Nice job BD - also, good point about having the URL on top and larger.
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traveler98
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RE: Vehicle Advertising - 2/14/2006 19:14:36
I went by FastSigns today to get some pricing information and discovered with them the price is the same for white or full color on the vinyl that you can see out (forgot what they call that).
His idea was a screen shot of your site or sites you have done with your phone and url. For a car with a back window the size of a Honda Accord with installation was $250.00
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traveler98
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RE: Vehicle Advertising - 2/15/2006 4:56:53
The type of vinyl they quoted me was the type that is "one way" or transparent from the inside.
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BobbyDouglas
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RE: Vehicle Advertising - 2/15/2006 19:04:56
quote:
His idea was a screen shot of your site or sites you have done with your phone and url. For a car with a back window the size of a Honda Accord with installation was $250.00
- If Nicole was to do it, I think a black window with the green leaf (the logo) would look very nice. Some things are better done in color, others are better black/white. My logo wouldn't look good at all in color on my window. The only way mine would work in color is if I did my business card and then had my phone/url somewhere else in larger letters.
Your price for full color, one-way vinyl, at $250 is a great deal. Depending on the amount of driving, you might make your return on that within a week.
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BobbyDouglas
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RE: Vehicle Advertising - 2/28/2006 14:28:32
Oh wow... I really like that. My domain name is most likely too long for that, but I could see that as a great way to grab someone's attention.
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Printable Version 
I have a charming young franchisee from that company here right now doing a lovely job cleaning my poor, neglected car. 
