Marketing can require a significant investment, but it’s worth the cost when the right message reaches the right audience to generate leads. However, what happens when that message is confusing, inaccurate or potentially illegal? To avoid losing money and time, watch out for these two marketing pitfalls:
- Vehicle wraps are a common way to turn company vehicles into rolling billboards. A well-designed vehicle wrap can put your information in front of many potential customers as you travel between job sites. Be sure to obtain approval before including third party logos in your design. Energy Trust doesn’t permit logo use on vehicles. We appreciate trade allies displaying our logo, but we must pre-approve all use of our logo and we limit some uses for liability reasons. Placing our logo on vehicles is one such limitation. If our logo is displayed on your vehicle, we’ll ask you to remove it—which may lead to additional costs. Please check with your trade ally coordinator if you have questions about using the Energy Trust logo.
- Third-party sales vendors can be a great way to obtain qualified leads. The sales vendor markets your services and you only need to pay for the leads they send you. Instead of sales calls, you can focus on providing high-quality work for your customers. Third-party sales organizations can help grow your business, but be sure to review all messaging and sales materials before they go out. Remember, these sales organizations represent your company to your customers. If their messaging is confusing, misleading or creates distrust, it will reflect negatively on your business. If you learn that a sales organization’s latest marketing piece is confusing and potentially illegal, you may need to spend time correcting the confusion, or worse—dealing with legal issues.
Energy Trust can help you with marketing. We provide business development funds for approved marketing efforts. We can reimburse a portion of approved marketing and training costs to help you do more with your budget.
Learn more about logo use guidelines in the resources section of Insider, under ‘logos’. For help with business development funds, contact your trade ally coordinator.