Posts tagged los angeles

Increase Your Business's Visibility with Car Signage

Do you have a local business and need to reach more people? Why not consider using vehicle wraps to promote your local business? Visually engaging vehicle wraps can turn the heads of both pedestrians and drivers, gaining your business visibility and exposure.

Vehicle wraps can be not only exciting and colorful, but they also provide an easy way to promote your brand regularly, within areas where you conduct business. Since reaching your ideal customers requires a strategic approach, vehicle wraps work to get your company noticed in high-traffic areas.

As you will soon discover, vehicle signage is one of the most effective marketing strategies readily available, yielding returns that will have you asking yourself why you did not implement it sooner.

No. 1

An effective marketing strategy

Utilizing car signage is a highly effective and cost-efficient method to grow your business. By placing your brand message, logo, and contact information on your company vehicles, you can significantly increase your business’s overall reach.

Regardless of where you are located, be it in metropolitan areas and cities like Los Angeles and Las Vegas, or the suburbs where mobile services are becoming more readily available, car signage provides a versatile marketing tool to business owners looking for easy implementation and functionality.

By implementing a vehicle signage strategy, business owners can promote their brands successfully and get exposure for their businesses every time their vehicle is on the road. This acts as a moving billboard, attracting attention and generating interest in a company’s products and services while operating on auto-pilot.

As a supplement to your current marketing efforts, taking advantage of multiple advertising strategies and mediums like car signage has the power to create a memorable and lasting impression on potential customers, as it displays professionalism and reinforces a company's branding.

While vehicle signage is not a new concept by any means; in the past, it is best referred to as car logos or vehicle stickers. Today, however, they are more commonly called decals or vehicle wrapping.

So, how do business owners use these graphics to grow their brands? Where do they start? To begin with, they can hire a professional vehicle wrapping company to design the artwork and install the vinyl stickers onto the company vehicles—usually a fleet of them.

If you would like to consider wrapping your company vehicles, one idea to think about is that your employee already drives the company vehicle everywhere in your local town or city. So, why not display your logo and brand and gain more exposure for your business in the process?

No. 2

Reach a broader audience

Vehicle wraps are one of the most popular marketing strategies being used today. Almost all tour and city buses utilize vehicle wraps. Third-party companies pay them to promote their brands on their largest buses while they are driven around the city and seen by thousands of people daily.

Having a high-quality vehicle wrap design made that communicates your company’s message effectively creates strong brand awareness. You have the flexibility to design your company’s vehicle wraps the way you would like as well, so you do not have to worry about over-committing to something you can change out.

It is, however, very important to hire a good vehicle wrap company to do the installation. The company must have the skills and tools to install graphics on your vehicle correctly and ensure that the graphics are installed perfectly and look great.

Vehicle wraps allow you to reach a broader audience within the specific area that you are targeting which would otherwise not likely be exposed to your brand through traditional marketing efforts.

If you have several vehicles, you will increase your reach even more. Additionally, if you want to promote your small business in conjunction with this, you can use local advertising to promote your brand and grow your business faster.

No. 3

Showcase Your Promotions

You most likely hold promotions for a specific period. Use vehicle signage to showcase these limited-time promotions so you can get your promotions noticed quickly. If you can use vehicle signage to promote a special discount or a seasonal sale, you will likely reach more people.

Since they can be changed out as well, you can create different wraps for seasonal promotions. Incorporate your company’s design elements, logo, and tagline to attract the attention of existing or potential customers.

While your company drivers are more likely to commute around the local area, your message will, therefore, reach the local neighborhoods. The reality is, some people may not use common marketing mediums like magazines, TV, or the Internet. They will see your vehicle signage while walking down the street, and your message will reach them.

Passerbys may even share your promotions with their family and friends by word-of-mouth. If they are already searching for the products or services you are offering, they are more likely to contact you. This is why adding your company’s contact information in a prominent location is imperative. You must make it easy for people to reach you.

No. 4

Build Customer Trust

If your brand is more visible in your local community, many people may recognize it. People do business with brands that they know and trust.

Fortunately, you can use vehicle signage to build brand awareness and customer trust simultaneously. With effective vehicle signage, you can display professionalism to your potential customers.

You will, therefore, build customer trust in the process and foster customer retention because they will be used to seeing your business within the community. In short, building customer trust can help you attain loyal customers in the long run.

No. 5

Promote Your Business Locally

Would you like to target the local market? It is helpful to use vehicle signage for this. It is the same concept as using local SEO to promote a local business. Using vehicle signage to target local residents will allow your business to be prominently seen within your target market areas.

Using vehicle graphics is essential in local areas because your drivers are already regularly making rounds around the local streets and neighborhoods, thereby increasing the probability that you will reach those looking for your service.

Local residents will see your vehicle graphics, and if they see your vehicles regularly, they will remember your brand. In fact, planning your routes carefully can expose your message in particular regions, neighborhoods, alleys, and streets.

No. 6

Protect your company vehicles

Not only does vehicle wrapping promote your brand, but it keeps your vehicles in great condition. The wrap itself acts as a protective layer, preventing unsightly chips and scratches that may occur when going about your business. As you would protect your interior with car mats, you can also protect your exterior with this method.

No. 7

a Cost-Efficient marketing solution

If you are a new business owner or have an established business, you can use vehicle wraps to promote your business at a fraction of the cost of what it would be for a billboard or commercial.

It is inexpensive to install vehicle signage on your vehicles. On the contrary, it is costly to use printed ads, magazines, and TV to promote your business. By using this marketing strategy, you do not need to spend as much money to promote your business and build your brand.

The most successful brands spend more money on prime billboard spots at train stations and bus stops. As a small business, you can not compete with these companies. So, alternatives such as this are there to help you stay within budget while meeting your marketing goals.

Takeaways

Avoid competing with large companies with your marketing efforts. Instead, use vehicle signage to advertise your small business. It is inexpensive to design and create vehicle graphics, and you can customize it to your liking. You can even change your vehicle signage anytime you want. If you do not need to change your vehicle signage regularly, it can also last for a very long time with proper maintenance. So, consider this investment to launch your business further and gain the visibility your business needs with the use of vehicle signage.

businessHLL x EditorJune 21, 2023business, business growth, los angeles, vehicle

Guest Post | Design Matters: An interview with branding expert Debbie Millman

I’m back with another post, and today we’re talking about a few important tips to creating a brand presence that is authentic to you. On this blog, I love to discuss topics that are real and often vulnerable, and in this article, we reinforce the idea of getting outside of our comfort zones.

I often work with women that are starting a brand new blog or website, and if there’s any advice that I try to share with them from the get-go, it is exactly the advice that you will read in this article. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope it inspires you to just get out there are share your story (struggles and all), be yourself, and be confident in it all.

We recently got the opportunity to sit down with Debbie Millman: author, educator, curator, and host of the podcast Design Matters, one of the world's first and longest-running podcasts.

As the host of Design Matters, Millman has interviewed over 400 artists, designers, and cultural commentators. In the 13 years since its inception, the show has garnered over five million downloads per year, honored with a Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, and designated one of the best overall podcasts by iTunes.

Debbie is the author of six books and President Emeritus of AIGA, one of five women to hold the position in the organization’s 100-year history. She's a frequent speaker on design and branding and has been a juror for competitions including Cannes Lions, The Clio’s, the One Club and many, many more.

Here, she shares her thoughts on authenticity and vulnerability in branding and life.

Debbie, tell us a little bit about yourself.

I am a designer, an author, and an educator at the School of Visual Arts. I co-founded and run a graduate program in branding. I'm also the host of a podcast called Design Matters.

What tips can you offer to someone who wants to create a new brand presence for themselves?

Well, I wouldn't recommend that someone ever recreate themselves; I would recommend that they feature who they are on their best day, in a way that feels very authentic and true to their soul and being. People tend to respond more favorably to people that are being themselves, and, in many ways, holding that "freak" flag really high, because they can then relate and be able to connect with them in a much more visceral manner.

So, my recommendation would be to celebrate who you are on your best day, speak from the heart, and offer an opportunity for people to get to know who you really are.

A lot of people are hesitant to really put themselves out there. What would you say to them?

Watch Brené Brown's TED Talk about vulnerability. I really, truly believe that vulnerability is the birthplace of creativity, and you can't be creative and say something that is going to touch or reach other people unless you are doing it with your own open heart. So there really is no choice. If you're not comfortable with being vulnerable, my strong recommendation would be to get comfortable being vulnerable, because why else would anybody want to get to know you or pay attention to what you have to say? What are they getting to know, then? Some false friend?

How can people get out of their comfort zone and become more authentic?

Take small steps, small moves. You don't have to reveal everything about your childhood in your first email, but if you can share some part of yourself that you feel is worthy of connecting with other people, and people will feel is honest, then why wouldn't you want to do that?

That's what people want to know about you. They don't want to know all of the successes and all of the amazing things you're doing. They want to know how you've struggled, or how you've overcome an obstacle, or what lesson you learned in the process of doing something. And the more you can share that, I think the more value it has, both to yourself and to others.

Specifically, what kind of value does sharing your failures provide?

Well, everybody has experienced failure. And if you aren't able or capable of sharing what you've done wrong, why would anybody care if you're sharing what you've done right? And I feel that if we're putting a face forward that's only positive and only impressive, then we're manufacturing our meaning, because that's only one small part of what it means to be human, and strive, and long for things, and create things, and make things. And there is none of that without failure, rejection, vulnerability, fear. All of those things are just part of the process of being a maker.

Are there any particular failures or struggles that you can recount from your professional career that helped you become who you are today?

Well, almost anything I've done has been fueled by an enormous amount of rejection, whether it be book ideas, business ideas, or new pitches. My past is riddled and littered with rejections and failures. But, there are very few that I can actually look back on now and say, "I didn't either learn something, or overcome something to get to a better place, or create something out of that failure, that then became successful."

And, of course, it's easy to look back on it and say in hindsight, "Well, if that hadn't happened, then that wouldn't have happened, and then that wouldn't have happened, and I wouldn't be sitting right here," but I can tell you that it's really true.

Are there any other places that you turn to for inspiration in your career?

Well, I love to read. I love to learn, so for me, some of the people that I'm either mentored by or inspired by are people like Seth Godin, who is one of the most generous, smartest, kindest people on the planet. And he does a daily blog, seven days a week, and so you can get daily morning inspiration from him. Also, Steven Heller. He's somebody that has also been enormously supportive and helpful to me, and mentored me, and inspired me, and educated me in ways that I could never have imagined. So those are two people, on a daily basis, that I turn to, both personally and professionally, online and offline.

Finally: What's your number one tip for brands who want to create a better connection with their audience?

Think about the benefit you can provide your audience. People aren't really interested in another form, or another flavor. They're interested in what kind of difference you can make in their lives. So, what can you offer your audience that will help them grow, help them become more successful, help them learn something that they wouldn't have expected or had the opportunity to do? What can you offer your audience that no one else can?

Interested in hearing more from Debbie? Check out her podcast, Design Matters!

I hope you enjoyed that short inspirational post. I know how hard it is to be vulnerable, especially in this online space. I can personally say that I have shrunk back a little just due to a lot that has happened within the past couple years within my personal life. I feel like I have a lot to share, but I don’t know where to start. It can be overwhelming. It IS tough to share our struggles, but at the end of the day, that is what helps us get through them.

Lately I’ve just been feeling the pressure to have it all together. Perhaps this opens a new chapter for me to share more struggles that I’ve been through. This interview really brought me back to why I’m here in the first place. I want to continue to create a space that is inspiring and real. This may be the start for more sharing and being confident in my imperfect story.

A special thank you to Emma for this guest post. They have many amazing marketing resources to help you with your online business. I especially enjoy their Email Showdown series where they compare the email marketing of two brands. I highly recommend their resources, so do check them out if you are needing help with email marketing and want marketing tips from the pros!

In addition, if you are needing help developing your brand, I am here to help you from start to finish. Get in touch with me here for a free consultation.

is being vulnerable something that you struggle with and how? i’d love to have a discussion below.

inspiration, businessStina XDecember 13, 2018los angeles

The Never-Ending Weekend

I am a firm believer in gaining freedom over your life. Society has the ability to pressure us into believing that there is a certain way to do things, and to ultimately live. In this short post, I want to inspire you to get out of your routine and set your weekends on your own terms.

I remember when I was working over 120 hours every two weeks at my full-time day job. I was so exhausted. It took a huge toll on me mentally and physically. I literally did not have any time for myself. A part of me was screaming inside, wanting to end the cycle and regain control over my life.

This is why, today, I feel so passionately about spreading the message of living life on your own terms and creating the life you want and pursuing work that you love. It's not even about the money for me because freedom, to me, is priceless.

No one has the luxury to change things overnight, which is why I always encourage people to start out small. What if I told you that the first thing you had to do was change your mentality? Well, if there were one piece of advice that would lead you on that path toward independence, that is exactly the first thing I would tell you. It sounds simple, but it simply isn't.

Changing your mentality is something that could take years to accomplish, so let's start out small. Let's carve out days during the week where you feel like you are rebelling against the "norm". Instead of waiting until the weekend to do things that you love to do, why not try to incorporate those activities into your weekly schedule?

I am going to be sharing three ways of how I create a never-ending weekend in my daily life or how I carry my weekend into the work week. What may seem a joyous activity to me, may not be the same for you, so I would like you to start thinking about what makes you happy and use this as inspiration.

How

I create my never-ending weekend

Working at my passion

Believe it or not, I love working on the weekends, which is why I put less pressure on myself during the week and just see every day as an opportunity to pursue what makes me happy. A lot of us wait until the weekends to do what we love, which is why I believe we should be carrying that into the week. Don't wait until the weekend to pursue your side-hustle or something that you're curious about pursuing or learning about. Get at it during the week, even if you have to stay up late or set aside a few hours toward it. It will all add up, so don't think that your efforts are too small to see any results.

Doing spontaneous activities

If you follow me anywhere on social media, you'll know that the beach is one of my most favorite places to be. With that being said, I actually like to go to the beach during the week because it is a lot less busy, and I feel like I am taking a mini-vacation. When you do things that you would ordinarily reserve for the weekend, It feels so freeing and liberating, kinda like when you wear a bra that feels like it's not even there, am I right?! It makes me feel so grateful for the life that I live despite the challenges I face and makes me appreciate the day so much more, which fuels me to continue on this path. I also love to explore Los Angeles or Orange County whenever I feel like I'm craving a new experience. Not only does it expose me to different things that I wouldn't normally have done, it inspires me to keep creating even more new experiences.

Enjoying my favorite foods and drinks

I don't know about you, but food and drinks can make me so happy and get me excited about my day. I take special care to think about what it is that I could eat or drink that would make me happy. Instead of having pancakes only on the weekends, I literally will have it every day if that's what I feel would make me happy. I can be a little extreme when it comes to food, so if I feel like eating something, in particular, I don't care how long it will take me to make it; I make it! It feels so great to listen to your body and feed it what it wants no matter what day of the week it is.

So, ladies and gents, that is my never-ending weekend. I know, I'm a rebel. Nothing new to see here haha. I mix work with play, do spontaneous activities, and eat whatever I want! Sounds like a good plan, 'ey? I hope you enjoyed this! I am all for supporting companies that share the same philosophy as me such as helping women feel empowered. True & Co. strives to create products that empower women to embrace comfort and luxury every day of the week.

What does your never-ending weekend look like?

A special thank you to True&Co for partnering with me on this post. Be sure to check them out for more ways to mix comfort + luxury into your life!

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my privacy policy for a complete disclosure.