Marketing a website on a car?

I haven't done it but have seen it done on other cars.

This is my own personal opinion: I think that for it to work well you need to have a 'nice' car.

If it is a beat up old banger or even quite a modest, nothing flash type of car I personally wouldn't look at the site if it was aimed at improving my business because I would think that it obviously isn't working for you so how could you help me.

But then I would not want to ruin my 'nice' car by sticking ads all over it either lol

G

Gary makes a good point here. You definitely don't want to have your website on a car that is all beat up. Think about it in your own shoes. If you see a nice BMW 7-series with a website would you be more likely to check it out rather than a 2002 Dodge Neon with a website?

I personally think it might be hard to get an answer for your question on how much traffic exactly this brings in because of a couple things. Some people might visit your site directly while others will type in the url to either Google or they'll type in the works in your url to Google. Plus, this would have to be the ONLY form as advertising you do in order to get such a measurement. Of course, if you made the URL www.mydomain.com/car, then you could track it better. However, doing this makes it harder for someone to remember the URL to type in when they go home.

If you do try it out make sure you share your results with the group!

Sean

This works great if you have an attractive car that gets peoples positive attention. They may remember the website listed on the car and eventually surf the location, which will give you a small bit of traffic. People want to be part of success and are very materialistic, so they associate a nice car bearing an advertisement with something positive. Obviously, working trucks and to a certain extent vans get more responses based on the fact that people already associated those with work and therefore a fairly positive thing. Out where I live, signs on cars are very, very common and I have talked to many people about this before and they all say the same thing more or less; " Make sure that your sign doesn't over promise and the car it's on under deliver".

If the car attracts negative attention, you will get a lot less traffic and the traffic may come from people who are only surfing to your location to be hypercritical about it, because they were already turned off by the car and have already made some pre-conception about anything or anyone associated with the car. I have even done this myself from time to time and sometimes will not park next to a car that doesn't look well maintained, this is because I think for a second that if the owner doesn't care about the car then they will not care to door ding mine. Now, that is just an example but I think it may illustrates to some extent the mentality of some people when looking at a car. The second thing they will notice, is the sign.

good luck,

-h

As others pointed out your car and URL have to promote a message that makes them want to go to the site.

I have a Corvette so I know I could do this. But would I want to slaughter my car with a URL?

Work trucks and vans seem to be the exception to this as we expect the company using them to do branding.

hey guys...i agree with all of you ... but...i have my web site url + phone number on my rear window (its a Hyundai i30 2008)...
i get a lot of phone calls ---> that convert to "free traffic"-->and then to SALES
so if you have a "normal/ordinary" car in good condition i recomend doing that...

My cousin uses this and I can say it is quite effective. Traffic to their website has been boosted to a degree and conversion rates have gone up as well.

Alright. So maybe I ought to do it.

Like any marketing tactic, just about anything you could do is worth testing to see how it works for you.

I've seen nice chrome like lettering you can buy online to turn your URL into an emblem that looks like it belongs on the back of your car, and if you have a large rear window, you can convey more of a sales message with some nice vinyl lettering.

Cheers

Just to add to what every other person has said, the idea is to have something that will attract peopeople's attention to you and your car because that's the only way to drive traffic with your car.

I drive a 2012 amg cls63 and got 2 high end clients from a small sticker on my rear window. It works for me.

Its a good strategy..More over you can also use this technique to advertise on Autos in your town..Which is not only cheap but offer more coverage...
Few entrepreneurs have done it already and here is one such success story:
Business Model 101: How the Auto Rickshaw may just change your marketing budgets

I see a lot of real estate investors and real estate agents in my area doing this, the wrap definitely gets a lot of attention...it can't hurt to try out a cheaper option (just the website name) but you definitely want a way to track your results. Also make sure it's parked in a high-visibility area.

I'm actually working out a deal with a local dealer in my town. Barter agreement.. Online advertising package for a 2012 Lease vehicle. Will be an annual contract and the dealership will have a wrap created and put on the back gate of the vehicle advertising both the dealership and our daily news website. Win-Win

It is an effective way to get a targeted traffic from a specific place but it is not that much effective way like online marketing of a website.

Made me think of these:


Saw a few back in Vancouver, but none since I left 3 years ago. Maybe they never took off. I thought they were a good idea because at a light stop you had time to see the message a few times.

Sorry to bring this back from the dead, but what about wrapping just the entire rear window? This thread went form just a url on the rear window to wrapping the entire vehicle; just the rear window could be an affordable compromise between the two. I saw a car the other day with just a very nice wrap taking up the entire rear window. It had the logo, slogan, url, phone number. It was also easy to see through when looking at it backwards from the perspective of the driver. Anybody try this yet?

I just did a little searching. It's called rear window graphics. There are even websites that ask for your car year/make/model(in order to get the correct size), then you upload your logo/url or use one of their templates to build off and then they will ship it to you to stick on yourself. It is less than $150. It is a one direction graphic meaning you can see thru it when looking at the back of it and it takes up the entire rear window. I'm seriously considering it.

What I have seen that was novel was the url on the door and above that the words "Please take our card" then they had magnetic business cards stuck on the panel just below the windows, not sure if it worked but it was novel

My wife and I have cars that are not flashy or crappy. Acura mdx and infIniti g37. Neither are brand-new, but they are latest body style. I drive a lot.

Of course it works but that doesn't mean it will work for everyone.

This depends a lot on how you do it, and your specific niche.
One thing I can tell you for sure, I've never seen a web design company advertise on a car. At least not in my area.

I mostly see contractors doing this tbo.

We were using magnets on our pickups, about 2'X3' feet on both sides, and after the hurricane we must have got over 100 leads through those magnets. Several times we were actually chased down by people AS we were were driving. And that was something I've never seen before in my life. They'd honk and wave so we'd pull over so they could right down the number. Then we'd roll the window down and get their address, and drive straight to their home for an inspection.

However, before the hurricane, I don't remember getting 1 call through these magnets.

So that tells me it depends a lot on 2 things.

1) Demand.
2) How much you actually drive.

Because we knew there was such a high demand, on slow days we'd get in our trucks and literally just drive around. We actually still do this thats how much work there is.

Also, some people are very intelligent. They paint their entire vans/trucks, then park them by major highways in lots. Or on top of bridges that cross over the parkway.

Thats a brilliant way to get business, using your van as a billboard. If you drive down my some of the hardest hit areas, thats all you see are vans parked everywhere advertising contracting work.

So yes signs work. Will they work for you? In your area?
Do you drive around enough? Are your signs easy enough to read?
How many trucks do you have?
Do they stick out?

These are all questions that will effect your response imo.

-Red

Makes sense; it probably wouldn't work well if you only drove around a poor area and were advertising a high end memory foam mattress etc, etc. There are definitely a lot of factors that go into it. But considering that the ad is on a decent car or work vehicle and being driven around in areas that make sense, it would be interesting to see how it worked out. Again, as already mentioned it still probably is dependent on niche, etc. For under $150, I think I'm going to try it out and see.