Great Naming/Branding trick for local businesses

Yesterday I learned a great way to help position and brand a small local business. Not often a plumbing company can teach this old namiac such a trick – but look closely at this picture of All Star Plumbing’s old van.

Notice all the locations served across the bottom? It says Fresno, Madera, Clovis, Visalia each with a long phone number. Far too much to read and absorb as the truck drives by, even if it is going slowly. The magic comes from the area codes in these numbers. They are all 559.

I wish I had a picture of their new trucks to show here but suffice to say it now says in big letters “559 Plumbing” instead of all the specific locations. For most of the world that means nothing, but for everyone who lives in telephone area code 559 it is magic. And that is all a local company cares about. It is the only area they serve and even though they are on the web and Facebook, they only need to create awareness for customers in the 559 area. It also tells everyone that they serve the full area which smaller plumbers cannot claim.

In fact, I thought it said 559Plumbing.com but I can’t find any such website. Wouldn’t that be clever? Sure is a lot shorter and easier to type and remember than www.AllStarPlumbing.com. Plumbers have to paint their trucks so people recognize them when they show up, so why not make the most of that free billboard on wheels.

Do you know any other such local tricks or ideas? I would love to hear from you – together we can help small businesses with their marketing on a shoestring budget.

#naming #branding #positioning #startups #taglines #slogans

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See his industry naming commentary (where he takes a critical look at names) via the blog on this site