Truck Wraps- Good Use of your Marketing Dollar?

When I had my roofing company we received more calls from the truck wraps than anything else. Our website/SEO came in a close second, local magazines and direct mail were a distance third- wasted money on radio and television... poor ROI. Removing "Word of mouth" from the cost of customer acquisition, where do you have the most success?

This was my rolling billboard (and coating rig) when not in use we would park it in front...

Just completed a $30,000.00 roofing job, was at the chiropractors office getting tuned up and his buddy was there who needed a roof on his home saw my truck and started enquiring into it and my chiropractor hooked me up!

I am currently looking into getting a few of the work cars done. Maybe not a full wrap but a half might look good and will cost less. I agree that it depends where you live, in a small town it’s probably not worth the cost but the sales rep told me that one vehicle wrap can generate above 20 000 views per day.

Always tried to use that, when the deductions were needed. Going back to when Bush offered it.

But '09-'11 I bought nothing. Just tried to keep the doors open. Usually buy 2 or 3 vehicles per year, so I had some catching up to do. '12 &'13 been good years for us, so putting it back into the fleet.

Just wondering if any of your decisions to buy new truck/equipment was influenced by the accelerated depreciation allowances in the Internal Revenue Code. I think it was section 179 and a $25K allowance per vehicle?

I gotta admit those Roof Medic trucks look pretty darn nice. Right down to the tapered ladder racks with the cab extensions. Been doing that for a little extra class for many years. Our crew trucks are pretty well labeled, logo'd etc, but not on mine.

I've always been real funny about flash. I like nice stuff, and lefty was in my old truck. Wasn't nothing wrong with it at all. I keep them nice. I'd still get "OH, NEW TRUCK..." comments when it was 5-6 years old.

This year I bought a new 20' dump with custom aluminum bed, 2 new crew trucks, 2 new F-150 xlt's for management..... but I had this truck for over 2 weeks before I drove it in to the office. I was that bashful about it. The only thing it doesn't have is the KR saddle leather. I still lock it when it's in the lot so no one can actually open the door and inspect. Weird, I know, it's just daddy raised me, I suppose. I don't often need a ladder with the type of work we do, but I still haven't put a rack on it, just so I have to take an older truck if the customer is going to be going up and down my ladder.

I need to work on my Leftytude.

I was subbing off a contractor. We were going to look at a job and he told me never get a new truck. He said I would loose work because of it. I looked at his new truck and made a decision right there to get a new truck.

It took another 3 years and I had my first new truck. For the next 10 years I bought a new truck every year. Only traded 1 of them in. Had 1 special ordered.

My business has grown a lot since I bought a new truck.

When I made that decision, I thought that anyone that did not want a successful contractor doing their work, I did not want to do theirs. I made a good decision.

Roofguy Said: Nice truck, Mike. And it has a subtle look of distinction and modest professionalism. I like it.

Thank you. That's just what I was looking for. Been buying new vehicles for everyone but me over the years. In the 29 years since buying my first truck at age 19, that's the first new truck I've ever personally driven. I didn't want the outside to be an indicator of the luxuries within. ie: no "King Ranch" labels or paint schemes... From the outside it just looks like a regular ol' F-250 with some chrome highlights. But on the inside.... ;)

Wish I coulda found everything I was looking for without the FX4 package. On the road, I feel ALL the bumps in this one, but it is amazing how smooth it is when you get it off the pavement.

It replaced a 2003 F-250 with a beat up tail gate, 2 fist sized rust holes behind the doors and rust starting in all 4 fenders, that was the last of the 7.3's. My plan is to PIMP it and turn it into a parade truck.

Oh, how I loved that 7.3 engine. ... Until I drove this one. I'd never dreamed diesels had come so far.

My adjusting and inspection truck, first one ever to be plain and simple, no advertising... but it did attract a little friend.

Unmarked trucks here are illegal. You could lose your business lic. Here's mine in front of the competition.

To be honest, person that hires me generally says he's glad to see I'm a roofer, not a salesman. :)

If they're going to be impressed by a truck and that's all they're interested in, I may not be that interested in impressing them with my roofing skills. :)

Not a stitch on mine to indicate who, what, where... and that's how I like it.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/YQHSNbS.jpg[/IMG]

Trucks wraps are always good for PR. We were featured in a local magazine. People saw the magazine article, photos, other advertisements and our trucks. Good exposure, strong marketing message match with a good marketing mix. I think the truck wraps are true "Gorilla Marketing"!

I agree Robert "a traveling billboard"- to me it's the most cost effective marketing ever. They stand out at job sites, people can't help but notice them. They would call the office and say, "We saw one of your trucks and..." EXCELLENT ROI!

$3000,00 is what I paid its a traveling billboard a one time payment I've paid for billboards and realized when I need a motel, gas station place to eat their fantastic. But when I get home a need a plumber or electrician I cant remember one I read about on a billboard. I will eventually wrap all my trucks we cover a large rural area and a few big city's my goal is to brand my company and the wrap does this much better then a magnetic sign. We use yard signs internet yellow pages my customers find me many ways, this is just another tool and really is cheap compared to most other advertising not just highway its in front of jobs and I get a lot of positive reviews from potential customers about looking more professional were are always higher then our competitors but get the jobs anyway because quality rules!

In IL, it's now law that you have to have your license number and associated name on the side of all roofing trucks. I actually like this law, seeing as how we have all those others.

Willie, why not write Willie's roof repairs or something.

When I said I want a wrap, I really just want a lot more information with just a ounce of flash. I get leads from people who say they see our trucks everywhere, but I don't get leads that say "I learned about you guys from your trucks"...but then again I might not want those.