You Guys Are Everywhere...!

“How many trucks do you guys have? Like 50? I see you everywhere!” exclaimed the customer. This was the first time my client had ever heard a comment like this. Up until a few months ago he and his brand were suffering from the plain-white-trucks (or in this case, vans) syndrome. He was a local carpet cleaning company with a steady book of regular customers and a great reputation for quality and customer satisfaction. He had the same plain white problem that many businesses do. They are great at what they do, their customers love them, but they really don’t have a brand. Did the own any equity in name or recognition that tied them to their stellar reputation? The answer was no. But wait, they were still successful… so why would the owner come to me for branding advice?

“I just feel like no matter how long I’ve been in business in this town, I still have to fight for recognition. If it isn’t a referral, I feel like I am starting from square one with every potential customer,” he said. “I’ve got to do something.” In this client’s case, he already had a logo, he just wasn’t really using it. We went through the normal laundry list of marketing materials that he wanted to roll out over the next few months and decided that the quickest way to jump start his brand was to “logo-up” his work vans. We wrapped his vans with HUGE logos and a phone number. You could see these things coming from over a mile away!

What did it do for him? In a matter of six months customers were asking how many trucks he had because they were seeing them and I quote, “everywhere.” He went from nobody ever having seen or heard of him unless it was a referral to, “you guys are everywhere, you must be huge!” So how many work trucks did his company have on the road in the Phoenix and surrounding area? 40? 50? No… the answer was six. How in the world do six branded vehicles make a noticeable, memorable impact on a valley with three million residents? Visual images, once noticed, tend to multiply in our minds. A great example of this is when you buy a new car. You see a variety of vehicles on the road everyday and give them little thought. But now that you are driving a silver Honda minivan… you seem to see them everywhere! You never noticed them before, where did they all come from?

We’ve all experienced this phenomenon. Now get out there and do it with your brand. Get noticed and let the public start to multiply images of your brand in their minds. There’s no sweeter sound when meeting a new client than these words… “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of you guys.”

Brand multiplication happens…