Sign Tips & Solutions Blog

9 Steps to Successful Vehicle Wraps

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So you’re considering a vehicle wrap to enhance your marketing program, build brand awareness, or possibly just personalize your ride? The proven statistics are amazing! There really is no lower cost per impression available in outdoor advertising.

At Signs for Success we work extremely hard to make sure you get the results you are looking for. It’s an investment in both the short- and long-term success of your business. After printing and installing literally hundreds of full and partial wraps we have refined the process to a proven formula that allows us to guarantee our product and your satisfaction!

• Step 1 - Deposit.  For us, this is a big one.  It’s simple, and as you can understand, no money, no wrap!  Our pricing is competitive and our skill has been hard won.  Once we agree on a price for your wrap or partial wrap, a 50% deposit is required. We understand this may be a substantial investment, and we have financing opportunities available that will allow you to amortize your investment to a monthly payment over the life of the wrap.  Odds are this monthly investment will be less than a small Yellow Pages ad, and unlike the yellow pages, your wrap will never be seen in your competitor’s parking lot.

• Step 2 - Design begins utilizing a template for your vehicle.  We will need the make, model & year of your vehicle, as well as special identifiers:  short bed, long bed, extended cab, crew cab, wheelbase, cargo van, passenger van, types of doors, etc.   We can email the template to your own design team for a fee, or we can set up the design here at Signs for Success.

• Step 3 - Gather all the design components.  This will include deciding on a background image or pattern, as well as getting high resolution photos, fonts, desired wording, etc. for the layout.  We have a number of sources for high resolution photos or wrap skins already designed.  These have costs involved, but are much less than starting from scratch.  Our experienced design professionals can work with you or your art department to ensure all the components will come together to produce a successful vehicle wrap.

• Step 4 - Actually see the vehicle and get exact measurements & pictures.  This is very important so that we can see where NOT to put text. We want to make sure that text & logos don’t run into the wheel wells or thru handles, where they will be cut off. Templates are great for preliminary conceptual development but once that is done, it’s time to measure, measure, and........ measure a little more to make sure we get the graphics on the vehicle in reality, the same as we did in the computer virtually.

• Step 5 - Design/Setup:  You can have your own design team upload artwork or we can design it at our design rates here at Signs for Success.  If you are providing finished artwork, we will compare it to the actual template & measurements of the vehicle and let you know where it needs to be adjusted. This step can take the longest.  We do require at least 6 inches of bleed for the background image/pattern for length & width of car.  Only a few inches of bleed for height. At this stage we will also discuss how the graphics will be installed. Variables include vertical or horizontal panels. We may need to remove vehicle components like lights, bumpers, mirrors, emblems, light lenses etc. to get the best results. These decisions will affect the amount of time installation will take.

• Step 6 Test print – It's true, color is probably the most important thing. The RGB (Red Green Blue) color spectrum on the computer monitor produced with light is not going to be the same as that produced with the limitations of ink’s CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) color spectrum. We print with a 6 color machine that utilizes CMYK + Light Cyan and Light Magenta. Even though this gives us the opportunity to hit a very large color gamut, we want your approval on the final color. We will have an intimate relationship with your vehicle for a few days, but for the next several years you will see it and be in it daily. Your friends, colleagues, clients, prospects and family are going to be staring at it.  Color is important!  We want you to be satisfied with your investment every time someone’s head turns as you drive by.

• Step 7 - Print & Laminate.  At Signs for Success, we print our own graphics here in our state of the art production facility.  We exclusively print on 3M ControlTac high performance vinyl that is conformable for wrapping and laminate with a 3M 8519 UV satin finish. This matched combination of materials along with the 3M approved ink, used by our HP Designjet 9000 64” large format printer is what qualifies Signs for Success for the 3M ScotchCal warrantee full coverage of your vehicle and yet allows 360 degree visibility. Your vehicle is going to look good and you will have no compromise of visibility or safety!   

• Step 8 - Receive & prep the vehicle: Please take it through the car wash before bringing it to us.  We will detail clean the body & edges for the wrap, but we do need the big dirt & debris knocked off first.  We can always run it down to the car wash if we must, but then you are paying for our time as well as the car wash. We will also at this time do a vehicle inspection and take pictures of any potential problem areas. Our inspection form will note any pre-existing damage, rust, etc. that may cause future problems. We are willing to wrap high mileage vehicles with pre-existing problems; we just need to both understand that in those areas, results may be less than we or 3M are willing to warranty.  Signs for Success does carry a “Garage Keepers” insurance policy, so you can rest assured that if we have care, custody and control of your vehicle and our installation facility burns down during the installation process, we are fully covered. It’s important that you have this protection from any vendor you entrust your vehicle to.

• Step 9 - Wrap. Finally!!!  It's time for the fun part.  Like many processes we encounter in our daily lives, skill and training is required, and once this skill is acquired we must be vigilant to not become complacent.  Many vehicles can take 24 – 40+ man hours to wrap.  It is very labor intensive to get around all the contours of a car/truck/van/semi, trailer, go kart, scooter (bring it on). Rivets take a lot of time in the cleaning, as well as the installation process. We have the experience to give you a realistic time frame in which we will need your vehicle to do a great job. While we always try to under-promise and over-deliver, rest assured that if we run into any problems you will be the first phone call we make. We will ensure that you are informed about any problems, any schedule changes, or any decisions that we may need your input on to successfully complete the project.

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Let Signs for Success help you with your next wrap!

Signs for Success - Custom Wraps and Graphics is located in Spokane, WA and services Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, Airway Heights, Cheney and Deer Park, pointing coast to coast wherever successful signs are needed.