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Promote Your Blog Via License Plate

Promote Your Blog Via License Plate

As you learned from my Myers-Briggs self-assessment, I’m the kind of guy that rather blend in than stand out in a crowd. That means I can produce killer content, but don’t get a gold medal when it comes to self-promotion.

As I was sitting in traffic this morning thinking up ways to promote my blog offline, it occurred to me that a great opportunity could be staring me right in the face…literally.

What about a vanity license plate?

PROS

Promotion: For a $50 fee and $31.25 annually, my blog’s name will be visible to everyone who spots my car. In this day and age of “Googling” everything that strikes an interest, I’m sure the name might stick with a few people who will search it at a later date.

Forced promotion: Growing up my dad had a vanity plate at one point, it was an acronym comprised of our family member’s first initials. I can recall several times when he was questioned on the plate’s meaning. Every query is a chance to promote my blog to a stranger.

Brand awareness: It also helps raise general brand awareness. When driving 12k miles a year, someone is bound to notice the name. If they happen to see it again down the road, the seeds have already been planted.

CONS

Drivers can “find” me: Anyone who has driven a vehicle knows how a perceived action can turn a mild-mannered individual into a raging lunatic. If that guy thinks I cut him off on Broadway and is pissed off, he might end up slamming my blog – or worse yet – combing through domain records and associations to track me down.

See Also

Anonymity shattered: As much as I strive for world blog domination, I don’t want everyone to know what I do in my spare time. A license plate would make it difficult to hide the blog from work colleagues, friends, neighbors, etc. Vanity plates also are easier to remember than random plates, therefore they are more likely to get tied to the scene of an accident – even if you were not involved.

I’ve been going back and forth on the idea. I feel fortunate that my blog name is short and available in my state, but am unsure that I want to take on that level of transparency.

What do you think? Is a vanity license plate a worthwhile vehicle to promote your blog or business?

View Comments (11)
  • My first thought when I see a vanity plate is I hope they don’t rob a bank because it’ll be easy track them down. I think I saw it on When Dumb Criminals Attack or some show like it.

    I wouldn’t get one because I’m cheap. If you stop blogging you’ll have to pay to get a new one or keep explaining why you have a blog plate but no blog. I would stick to business cards.

  • I have been considering to get a vanity plate with the name of my company, but how to fit it into 7 characters? I think it is an excellent idea and I am glad I am in good company.

  • I got a vanity plate for my blue Vespa ET-4. Since “Volare” was already taken, I chose NEL BLU. Have had no problems with the plate, mainly because it’s the rare person these days who gets the reference.

    I have thought about getting a vanity plate for the car with a variation on my blog’s name. It would not necessarily be obvious what it referred to, has other meanings besides my blog title, and a check at the DMV shows the plate is available. At this point, though, I am not jumping at the chance to spend the money.

  • I agree that using a vanity plate is a good idea. I also think that for us who don’t own cars, printing nice shirts or creating pins containing the name of your blog would be equally effective. Just my opinion :)

  • Although I cringe at the thought of vanity license plates, I have to admit that they are memorable, and I’ve seen a few good ones. Like URLs, however, it would seem that most of the actually decent plates have been snapped up, and only the dorky or overly-ingenious spellings are left — there’s only so many 7-letter variations, after all.

    For every funny vanity plate I’ve seen, there are hundreds of really dumb ones. How many blog-related plates could be left?

    Who has Blawger? That’s the only one I’d really be interested in.

  • I agree with the previous comment…most of our blog titles wouldn’t fit on a license plate. So I suggest bumperstickers! Yes! However, that would only promote in your own hometown. Is that really what we want? We really want our url visibly online.

    Your blog is fun, Mr. Andrew!

    Thinking and painting,
    Candylei

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