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Local businesses are the heartbeat of Canada’s economy, fostering job creation, community development, and economic resilience. They provide personalised services, support local causes, and contribute to cultural diversity. In today’s globalised world, it’s vital to recognize and appreciate the value that local businesses bring to our communities and the economy as a whole.
However, in order to maintain their relevance and gain a competitive advantage, local businesses have to engage in advertising endeavours that give them the edge. For local business owners, truck advertising has been gaining popularity for its versatility and overall return on investment. While digital advertising continues to grow, so too does truck advertising, incorporating both digital elements and tracking technology. This dynamic and eye-catching approach can give your local business a significant boost.
In this blog, we’ll explore the advantages of truck advertising for local businesses and why it’s a strategy worth considering.
What is truck advertising?
Think of truck advertising as the rolling billboards of the marketing world. Just like the traditional billboards dotting highways and byways, these mobile counterparts are hard to miss. However, there’s a crucial difference: truck advertising is not confined to a single location. It’s as though your billboard grew wheels, sprouted wings, and decided to go on a tour of your target market.
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Instead of hoping that potential customers drive past a static billboard, your business takes the message directly to them. It’s like having your own parade float but without the need for a parade. This mobility, combined with the size and impact of a truck, turns heads, sparks conversations, and ensures that your brand message isn’t just seen but remembered.
At its core, truck advertising involves adorning a vehicle with graphics, images, and text that promote your business. This can range from a simple logo and contact information to full vehicle wraps that turn your truck into a rolling work of art. The design possibilities are limited only by your imagination and budget.
These advertising trucks then hit the road, driving predetermined routes through your target area. They become part of the local scenery, weaving through busy streets, residential neighbourhoods, and commercial districts. As they go about their routes, they expose your brand to a diverse cross-section of potential customers. On a psychological level, your business is building a strong familiarity with the minds of your potential consumers. The more they see your business on the side of a truck, the better the chances of customer conversion.
Maximum Advertising Reach and Exposure
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Truck advertising offers local businesses the opportunity for maximum exposure. Unlike traditional stationary billboards or online ads that depend on potential customers coming to you, truck advertising brings your message directly to them. Your business can reach a wide audience as the truck traverses busy streets, highways, and neighbourhoods, ensuring that your message is seen by people from all walks of life.
Fun fact: people need to see a specific advert at least 10 times before they decide to take action. Because of the wide impression reach that truck advertising offers, businesses can enable a message to be viewed multiple times in many areas.
Truck advertising essentially transforms your vehicle into a mobile billboard. You’re not restricted to one location, and you can strategically position your message in various parts of your target area. This flexibility allows you to adapt to changing circumstances or events, such as local festivals, sporting events, or seasonal promotions.
Did we mention truck ads offer continuous brand exposure? Day or night, your truck ad has the flexibility to run for as long as you need it to.. Even when your business is closed, your truck is still out there, working for you. This round-the-clock visibility can help reinforce your brand and message, making it more likely that potential customers will remember your business when they need your products or services.
Targeting the Local Audience
Local event-based advertising through OOH channels presents an incredible opportunity for businesses to connect with their target audience in a memorable and impactful way. Canada experienced a record-breaking attendance for in-person events in 2022, with concert bookings alone increasing 30% in comparison to 2019. By capitalising on both mega events and smaller scale occasions, brands can tap into the excitement and enthusiasm of attendees and potential target audiences, driving brand awareness and engagement.
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Trucks are constantly on the move, covering a wide range of areas in your local community. This means your message can reach potential customers in various neighbourhoods, business districts, and high-traffic areas.Unlike static billboards that drivers may pass without noticing, truck advertisements are hard to miss. Their size and prominence on the road make them attention-grabbing, ensuring that your message gets noticed.
You have control over where your truck advertisement goes. You can strategically plan routes that pass through neighbourhoods where your target audience lives or works, ensuring that your message reaches the right people.
Cost-Effective Advertising for Local Businesses
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Truck advertising is not only highly effective but also budget-friendly, making it an attractive choice for businesses of all sizes, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. In comparison to some other forms of advertising, such as television or radio commercials, truck advertising offers competitive pricing. The initial setup cost covers designing and installing your truck advertisement, with no recurring expenses like monthly advertising fees. This budget-friendly nature allows businesses with limited marketing budgets to access a broader local audience.
Power Of Truck Advertising With Data Driven Success
We are all aware that advertising plays a pivotal role in branding. And these days, several brands are looking for innovative ways to promote their products. Truck advertising is one of the popular cultures that attracts a large audience, and that too at a lower cost. No big billboards, hoardings, etc., just a moveable truck with the company’s logo and the banner that portrays the message.
And for local businesses, truck advertising can be a game changer. One of the main reasons after budget considerations and visibility, is the collection of data and analytics.
In today’s time, the collection of data is the supreme manner of success, as numbers rule you in the game and even make you a top player if played right. Similarly, for truck advertising too, the collection of data is an easier process thanks to newer technology such as Beacon. Movia also uses beacon technology which allows it to track the truck’s route, duration of exposure in different locations, and demographics of people.
Once the data is collected, it is then organised in a manner where the analytical part can be proved useful as to what trick is working for the business and what is not. Businesses get insight from the collected data and use it for their campaigns. With the data collected, several businesses know how to deliver the right content for their audience and engage with them simultaneously. Once the targeted message is received by the audience, converting the targeted audience into potential consumers becomes an easy process.
The ability to collect and share data insights directly allow local businesses to benefit from their return on investment. It is important because the goal is to engage as many audiences and convert them into potential customers with strategic spending on brand marketing. That’s where truck advertising plays an important role for local businesses.
Last but not least, the amount of exposure truck advertising gets is growing every day. The number of impressions it gets along with getting potential leads is inevitable. It is not stationary in one place but moves all around the city, wherever the location is required. With the data collected, businesses can analyse the effectiveness of the campaign based on the date and time. And with that, they can make adjustments and set locations of the truck to tap into new audiences or re-target audiences with conversion potential.
Truck Advertising Real-Life Success Stories: PetSmart and Coca-Cola Campaigns
While the advantages of truck advertising for local businesses are now known, the story is always incomplete without a good example of it. We at Movia always strive for results-oriented, profitable actions with learning, and one of the truck advertising examples we pulled out was for the Pet Smart company. The American Pet Shop superstore sells products, services, and small pets. The store sells pet food and toys and also provides services like dog daycare, dog and cat grooming, training, and more.
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When this company was opening its new store in Cochrane, Alberta, it was vital to let the neighbours know that a new store was opening close by. So a delivery truck and van were designed and wrapped with ads sharing messages of ‘Now Open’ as big as possible on the vehicles. This was to inform the 32,000 residents of the city that their daily pet needs will now be a headache for the Pet Smart company. From grooming to daycare and medical facilities for your pet, the owners have it all covered under one roof for their lovely pets. The location was set at the shopping plaza and nearby businesses, and this strategy allowed for more than three million impressions after eight weeks. The campaign lasted in the market for 8 weeks, from August to September.
Another great example of truck advertising is the Coca-Cola ‘Share a Bottle campaign’. Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign, with its ingenious use of truck advertising, stands as a testament to the brand’s ability to innovate and connect with consumers in meaningful ways. By turning their delivery trucks into mobile billboards bearing personalised messages, Coca-Cola transformed the everyday commute into a personalised brand experience. This campaign not only increased sales but also left a lasting impact on the advertising world, showcasing the power of creative thinking and out-of-the-box strategies in capturing the hearts and minds of consumers.
Imagine a giant company coming to your location and handing out Coke bottles with your name on them. But there’s a twist. Rather than handing out the exact bottles with your name on them, you have to search for them.
Image source: cocacola.com
The campaign’s tagline, “Share a Coke,” was reinforced by the trucks themselves. The sight of a truck bearing a personalised message naturally prompted passersby to snap photos and share them on social media. This user-generated content became a powerful extension of the campaign, generating buzz and excitement organically.
Coca-Cola strategically deployed the trucks in areas where they wanted to boost awareness and engagement. Whether it was a bustling urban centre or a small suburban town, the trucks ensured that the campaign reached a diverse audience.
The company customised bottles and cans with people’s names and used trucks to deliver Coke to several locations. This led to excitement in people’s minds, and they began searching for customised Coke bottles with their names on them. Result? Well, the sales of Coke shot up, It reinvigorated interest in the brand and strengthened consumer loyalty.
Why Truck Advertising Works
Truck advertising works on multiple levels. First, it’s impossible to ignore. The sheer size and creativity of a well-designed truck draws attention like a magnet. Secondly, it’s non-intrusive. Unlike a sales call or a pop-up ad, people can choose to engage with the message or simply let it pass by, making it more likely to be well-received. Additionally, it’s cost-effective, providing a high return on investment for local businesses with limited budgets. The continuous brand exposure, versatility, and hyper-local targeting make it a potent tool in your marketing arsenal.
In essence, truck advertising is the ultimate blend of creativity, mobility, and impact. It takes your brand on a journey through your community, creating a visual spectacle that turns heads and builds brand recognition. So, if you’re looking to make your business stand out in the crowd, consider the power of truck advertising – where your brand becomes a rolling work of art and a mobile conversation starter.
Conclusion
In conclusion, truck advertising is a dynamic and cost-effective way to target local audiences and promote your business. Its high visibility, wide geographic coverage, and budget-friendly nature make it a valuable addition to your marketing toolkit. By designing compelling advertisements and tracking campaign performance, you can harness the power of truck advertising to drive local business growth and connect with your community.
