Years ago, public transportation officials got the great idea to start wrapping their buses with colorful advertisements for national and local businesses, and it's now rare to see a bus without an advertisement. A car is prime advertising real estate for many companies, especially ones in the same city as the car.
Instructions
1. Buy a new or gently used car that has a good amount of surface area to display your advertisement. Newer, sleeker cars (such as Mustangs, Civics, Altimas and Solaras) work best for advertising cars because they offer your targeted viewers a more professional, attractive and modern presentation. An old, beat-up car holding a sign or wrapped up in an advertisement may reduce the credibility of your advertising message. Since this new car will be used for advertisement 24 hours a day, you should be able to write off the majority of the expense on your taxes under "advertisement" and "business mileage."
You can also rent or lease a vehicle for this specific purpose, but make sure there are no specific terms in your car lease that prohibit you from modifying the car with vehicle advertisements.
2. Contact an outdoor printing company in your area (see Resources for some links) to ask for quotes on vehicle wraps. Keep in mind that vehicle wrapping is quite expensive---it can run as much as $5,000 to wrap one car, and more for a truck due to the increased surface area. The outdoor printing company will charge you for the setup, the printing of the wrap and the installation of the wrap onto the car. If the budget for your advertisement car is significantly lower, consider buying a magnetic sign for the side of your car. While not as eye-catching, magnetic signs can be purchased for as little as $70 for a pair.
3. If you plan to sell advertising on the car as a business in itself, put a small promotional package together about your business, including pictures of wrapped cars, your pricing (including the custom wrap or sign and the time spent driving the advertisement car) and a sales sheet giving your potential customers a rundown of why they should use car advertisements. Advertise your services in local newspapers, on your local Craigslist site and by making cold calls to small businesses in your area with your promotional package in hand.
4. Identify the towns and cities that you want to canvass with your advertisement car. Before you start driving, plan out a route in the areas of each town that get the most pedestrian and slow vehicle traffic. You will also want to hit a few highways, because while the traffic moves quickly, highway drivers have a tendency to look at advertisement cars at least briefly before passing.
5. When driving in the city or a town, stay in the right-hand lane of traffic and travel about 5 to 10 miles per hour under the limit. Take every opportunity to stop at a red light, as this is prime time for your advertisement car. Follow the route of your city buses and travel behind them to get the same exposure they do.
6. Drive your advertisement car to an area of town that has conspicuous parking spaces or find a very public place to legally stop for an hour or more. Drive in the right-hand lane on highways. Drive behind trucks in the right lane in order to keep their pace.
If you notice a large group of people standing in one place, such as in line at a club, waiting for the bus or getting food from a lunch truck, circle the block and pass them slowly at least three times to make sure they can fully digest the advertising message. Honk your horn a couple of times to get the attention of bystanders, but don't do it to the point where it becomes an annoyance. Your goal is to maximize the exposure of the advertisement.
Tags: your advertisement, advertising message, make sure, outdoor printing, outdoor printing company