All HVAC contractors are trying to stand out from the competition. Many attempt to use their trucks as a way to market their business to homeowners.

Preferred Home Services in Charleston, South Carolina did just that by taking mask wearing to a new level during this COVID-19 pandemic. They did this in the form of giant masks adorning the front of 10 vehicles in their fleet.

“It actually wasn’t an original idea,” co-owner Chris DiCampli said. “I actually saw it on Facebook from a police force from my hometown. I just thought it was really cool.”

Without the masks, the trucks from Preferred Home Services still stand out with their bright lime green color. This, of course, did not happen by accident.

“We want to be seen and we want to stand out. To this day, they are one of our greatest branding points. People know us as the company with the green trucks. We use that a lot in our advertising,” DiCampli said.

The company added the masks to have a little bit of fun but also make a point.

“In this very uncertain year, we wanted to remind our customers and the people around us that we are being safe and it is a good idea to be safe as well. We are all in this situation together,” DiCampli said.

They have a fleet of 55 trucks and 10 have masks on them. They simply ordered them from a local vendor. One of the biggest concerns was to make sure they were secured and would not fly off while the technician was driving, but they figured out a system with some heavy duty zip ties.

The truck masks were a big hit with both employees and the public. They had an article written about them in the local paper. Also, a local television station that they do a lot of advertising with had their meteorologist on-site to interview the owners with the masked trucks in the background.

Business has been good for Preferred Home Services in 2020. While they did not specifically market IAQ during the pandemic, they certainly increased their marketing budget.

“We just continued to market that we're going to do everything to keep you safe,” marketing manager Katie Sullivan said. “We adopted a tagline of ‘open staff that is here for you’ and we used that across every platform within 48 hours. We have that message out on digital, television, and social media. We really increased our social media presence and really upped what we were doing on Google My Business. The key was we did not take our foot off the gas.”