Five tips for branding your vehicle

Vehicle branding can be an effective way to promote a business.

Adding text and/or graphics to your company vehicle/s will provide you with a form of advertising that is mobile. If you get it right, the vehicle will carry the advertising message for your business far and wide, reaching vast numbers of people for a small cost.

You’ll need to get the design and creation of the branding right for it to work at optimal performance though. This is something that we specialise in, and we have provided a list of top tips for branding your company vehicles, to give you a good idea of where to start.

Consider your message

What exactly do you want to say with your vehicle branding? In some cases, the main message is about the service or product. At other times, it focuses on contact details, such as an emergency telephone number.

Before you actually add any branding to the vehicles, you should consider carefully what message about your company you wish to convey. This will be the central focus of the finished design, so it needs to be right.

Decide on the style

There is more than one choice available when it comes to vehicle branding. Three of the most common types are lettering, wraps and decals. Let’s take a look at each of them in turn.

Lettering

This is the simplest form of vehicle branding and it involves adding a text-based message.

Vehicle lettering prioritises the written message – whether it is your company name, slogan or contact information. It is a good choice if you want to present a direct image to the public.

Wraps

These are a more ambitious type of vehicle branding. As the name implies, they generally cover the entire body of the vehicle, apart from the windows. Wraps can be a bold and eye-catching way of promoting your company. They can incorporate photographs, your logo and colour scheme as well as written information.

A vehicle wrap must be carefully designed to ensure the colours match those of your company’s overall brand. It must also ensure that the imagery does not distract from the text messaging.

Wraps are a great choice for new companies that need to make a big impression.

Decals

These are graphics printed onto vinyl and applied to the vehicles. They are one of the most cost-effective ways of getting vehicle branding.

Another point in favour of them is that they can be added very quickly after design, so your company vehicles will not be out of action for long.

Decals are especially effective for advertising temporary promotional campaigns, as they can easily be removed and replaced when a campaign is over.

Consider what makes effective vehicle branding

There are certain factors that make vehicle branding work well.

The first is high visibility. The graphics must be easy for people to see and read when they are some distance away, which means you should opt for a dynamic colour scheme and bold font style.

The second key consideration is readability. There is no point in covering your vehicles with messaging if the design makes it difficult for people to read. This will be a particularly relevant point if you choose to apply wraps to your vehicles. Make sure that the writing can be seen from different angles and is not obscured by other graphics.

The last point to remember is that the branding needs to stand out after dark as well as in the daytime. Select a graphic and font style that is sharp enough to achieve that.

Keep it consistent

If you have more than one company vehicle, the branding should maintain a level of consistency across all of them. This means your logo should be front and centre.

Keeping it consistent does not mean you have to use exactly the same style for each vehicle – it’s just that certain elements should remain the same on all of them. This usually relates to your company name; the brand’s logo and contact details must always be present, too. The colour schemes used should be broadly the same too – even if the actual graphics differ.

Choose a professional

While it is possible to add some types of branding to the vehicles yourself, it is better to get a professional to do the job. That way, you are guaranteed a design that will maximise the impact.

The design stage of vehicle branding is an important one, as badly designed graphics will create a poor impression of your company.

At Ainsley Signs, we are experienced in the creation of vehicle livery in Manchester. Contact us today to place your order.