If you have a company specific vehicle that is used only for business, you should spend the money to brand it with your company name and information. I owned a dry cleaning delivery company and the van that I used for the business was colored green and there was branding all over the vehicle. The front hood had the business name and the logo, both sides and the rear of the vehicle had the business name, logo, tagline, website address as well as the phone number. All the branding made the van a rolling billboard that marketed my company wherever it was driven.

The benefits of driving around town in a branded vehicle were two-fold:

1. It reinforced our company in the minds of current customers. Whenever a customer saw our vehicle pull up to their office tower or home, they knew who it was and what we were there for. When combined with the quality of the cleaning and the commitment to customer service, the branding helped us keep our customers using our company instead of the competition.

2. It exposed our business to other potential clients in the surrounding areas. I can not count the numbers of calls we received that asked for information about our business because they had seen the van driving around their area. It also worked for neighbors of current customers who wanted to keep up with the Jones’.

If our same delivery vehicle was colored white and had no branding on it, would we have achieved the same benefits? The answer is absolutely not.

What about vehicles that can’t be splashed with branding all over? A vehicle is an extension of yourself and the type of business that you run. You always want to go to meetings with a clean and clutter free car because it shows you are a professional who takes their job seriously – a clean clutter free car can brand your business when stickers and colors are not appropriate. It is not just about buying the latest new top-of-the-line vehicle either. Your modest vehicle can still create a positive branding image in the mind of your clients when it is recently washed and doesn’t have junk all over the interior.

Your vehicle can say a lot about you. A vehicle that is branded for your business can send a message even when you’re not there. I recently walked by a truck parked at a home for a fire damage specialist. I would have never known what type of business that vehicle serviced without the branding on the vehicle. It is not all about having a BMW, Lexus, or Mercedes - though in the right type of businesses these luxury vehicles can help to reinforce your personal brand - but it is about putting out the appropriate branding message when driving your vehicle for business purposes.