BY Joe Lapekas (bio)
Owner, TruckSkin

Is your RTO delivery or work truck invisible? Blending into the streets, not being noticed? Have you realized the potential of your vehicle, the EARNING potential? Imagine the impact of a billboard, for a fraction of the cost, selling YOU at every street corner, in customers’ driveways, down highways, and in parking lots. Your vehicle can easily be transformed into a rolling billboard and you’ll benefit from increased exposure, which means more business.

Gizmos Rents & Sells delivery truck; Graphics by TruckSkin

Using the latest in digital imaging technology, van boxes become the framework for larger than life, eye level graphics. You have the ability to create and display some of the most efficient and inexpensive advertising your ad dollars can buy. One of the little known facts of the fleet graphics industry is the value of your truck sides in relation to your advertising dollars.

Typically a billboard in a metro area costs in the neighborhood of $1200 to $10,000 per month plus production costs. If you assume your delivery truck is equal to 2.5 billboards in that you have two sides each equivalent to a billboard in sq. ft and a back door roughly equal to half a billboard, then you have an asset value of approximately $3000 to $25,000 each month in advertising space that is currently going unused. Likewise the CPM of your typical TV ad is $15 per point. Translating to $15 per thousand viewers, the CPM of a typical truck side ad is in the neighborhood of $.17 cents per thousand viewers; a substantial cost reduction and a very economical method of putting your name in the front of literally millions of viewers when you consider that the typical truck is seen by 3 million viewers each year.

When it comes to illustrating the different services and products you offer and to present that message down the roads you’re already traveling, the possibilities are nearly endless. How many times do you travel into the neighborhoods that your are selling and servicing each day or week without being noticed? Now you can have a billboard, a rolling billboard, in that neighborhood.

How do you best use your vehicle? The different types and uses of vehicle graphics are:

• Branding: the method of choice for many years in most industries. Branding is the use of your company name, logo, or image consistently to build brand awareness. (Think of the Coke logo or the Chevy bow tie.) This is a very important type of advertising when you want to make sure your name is top of mind and in the consumers’ brain.

• Promotion: advertising a special sale or theme. This style is what the newspapers, TV, radio, and nearly every company on earth does to promote the latest style, model, or, well, you name it. Promotion does the job.

• Promotional Branding: this is the combination of both methods. This involves using your logo consistently across the board and combining it with the promotional product of the day, week, month, season, or year.

Different ways to image your vehicle

Cut vinyl letters and/or logo: this has been the type of graphics most commonly used for store or business name and location, or federally mandated DOT numbers currently in use. A combination of cut vinyl letters, logo, and digitally printed promotional or product photos, this method is very effective and economical for vans and box trucks for long this product allows the use of full color, bigger than life size photographic images on your delivery trucks and vans. It is not a changeable system in that once applied it is semi permanent. It is very similar in cost to a changeable system for the first application, but loses its cost effectiveness when it comes time to change because the identification cost associated with this is similar to the initial installation charges. However, it is very effective and virtually maintenance free for the long-term use it is intended for (5-7 years). The downfall for the small business owner is that not many stores use the same newspaper ad or TV ad for 7 years.

Reusable graphics: a fairly new option from the digital graphics industry, reusable graphics involve a full color digital image that uses a changeable banner sleeve mounted to a permanent frame system. Large banners slide into preinstalled framework and they become interchangeable, allowing you to keep the selling message/image current with the seasonal or product promotions at much less cost. Banners are reusable and your advertising dollars go further. The frame system allows the individual storeowner the opportunity to have full-size billboards on their trucks and to be able to change them cost effectively throughout the life of the truck. It also allows them to put those same billboards in customers’ driveways and in neighborhoods where the exposure can be maximized. Additionally, many of your vendors have coop money available for billboard and signage usage, allowing you to take advantage of additional funding to offset the cost of your rolling billboards.

So how do you access this valuable asset for your vehicles?

1. Obtain the services of a qualified graphics producer, design studio, and installation service provider. Very similar to the way your consumers use your services.

2. Use a one stop service provider that provides all aspects you might utilize are volunteering the use of your trucks for local charity functions (i.e., Boy Scout can drives, church functions). There are so many ways to spread the word using your rolling billboards. Drive them during the local sport events or festivals and park them in the mall parking lot or shopping centers while shopping.

Of course, you should always keep your rolling billboard in front of your store to increase exposure. Site signs are another cost effective way to put your name in the local spotlight. These lend a touch of professionalism to your company and your staff and often your graphics provider can produce these for you very economically. Your staff will benefit from this in company awareness and company pride, as a fresh image or idea is always appealing.

The TruckSkin graphics system will enhance your advertising dollars and increase your exposure in markets close to home. It’s a smart way to enhance the life of your vehicles while creating a dynamic presence.