Modern-day businesses need to think outside of the box when it comes to marketing what they do. And when that business has motor vehicles on its books, there is no reason that those cars, vans and lorries can’t become an integral part of an overall marketing strategy.
Promoting what you do while your drivers are on the go is an easy and effective way of grabbing attention and raising brand awareness so, whether you are a huge multinational or a small, local business, it may be time to start considering personalised registration plates for your work vehicles.
Personalised reg plates are an option for any business that wants to engage in more innovative offline marketing. In combination with other, more conventional ways of promoting a business, these number plates will attract the attention of your customers and make your brand really stand out. What’s more, it’s a one-off payment that can serve your company for years to come.
How to use personalised number plates in a business
Two popular approaches for using personalised number plates for business are:
- Buying single registration plates for individual vehicles that reflect the company, brand, ethos or product.
- Buying matching plates for a fleet of vehicles in a theme, for instance [company initials] 1, [company initials] 2, [company initials] 3, etc.
Private number plates can raise awareness about a company. If your brand name does not always make it clear what exactly you do, a personalised plate can play a role in helping the public to associate a word or a theme with your brand name. They can also make your vehicles, and brand, really stand out in photographs, especially in awareness-raising newspaper articles, annual reports or newsletters.
Personalised number plates also help a business to create a strong corporate identity. Consistent branding is a highly effective way of establishing a brand in a customer’s mind, and when private plates match a company’s brand name or the product or service it offers, this can consolidate the brand for its customers and potential customers.
Choosing the right number plate can also lead to a product with great investment potential. Although there are never any guarantees that any product will be worth more in the future than an investor paid for it, many private registration plates are valued at a much higher price now than the purchaser paid for them 10 or 20 years ago. Lots of people and businesses buy number plates for this purpose, and many have made back the money they invested, and more.
If you are considering buying private registration plates with investment value in mind, bear in mind that plates that resemble names or words tend to do well, and the shortest number and letter sequences are often the most popular. Plates that match a brand’s initials may not be as successful as a long-term investment, unless those initials match the initials of a football club or highly popular person or product.
Many consumers look beyond corporate identities and want to see a personality in the brands they love and buy. These people want more than a sleek logo and a sharp business suit, and many look for ways a business offers personalised service or goes above and beyond the call of duty to make its customers happy.
As well as having serious marketing potential, private number plates also offer a way for a brand to show that it has a sense of humour. The plumbing company, Pimlico Plumbers, that owns DRA 1N (drain) for one of its vans, the celebrity hairdresser, Nicky Clarke, who displays H41 RDO (hairdo) on his car, and Chanel, the luxury perfume company that has a delivery van with the plate No 5, after its most famous product, are clear demonstrations that a bit of fun can combine with a strong brand identity to give any business a boost.
People appreciate this level of creative thinking, and you want your number plate to be the one that sticks out to a prospect who is behind your company vehicle while they are in a traffic jam on their way home from the office.
Private number plates are memorable, not just for customers but also for the people you employ. When drivers need to report on their journeys or fill out logs, having an easy-to-remember, recognisable registration plate will simplify and speed up administration time.
It is against the law to use a personalised number plate to make a vehicle look younger than it is. So, if you have a van that was built in 2009, you can’t put plates on it that suggest that it was registered in 2014.
However, as long as this rule is followed, the world is your oyster if you want to put registration plates on your company cars, vans or lorries that disguise the age of a vehicle, because many private plates are not made with the year of registration in mind. Shortened letter and number combinations, or newer chronological plates that make up a word or name, can spruce up your company vehicles in a way that’s far more cost effective than buying a new car or van!
This wide range of ways a business can use private registration plates to help to brand and market their business demonstrates a real creativity in the way that modern companies are trying to get the word out. With a bit of thoughtfulness and innovative thinking, clever registration plates can be bought that will enhance a company’s brand identity and provide a memorable and interesting way to promote your business.
Personalised plates also show the human, humorous side of a brand and can provide a great investment potential for the business in the future. Consider the long-term popularity of any plates you want to buy, if you have a return on financial investment in mind.
