It will soon be that magical time of year, when thoughts turn to Santa Claus leaving gifts under the Christmas tree, gatherings with friends and family in front of a warm fire, and the significance of religious holidays. It’s also a time when business slows down a little for many pumpers.
So why not combine the spirit of Christmas with a feel-good marketing effort for your business by decorating one of your idle vacuum rigs for the holidays? That’s just what Sean Cude, owner of Peninsula Pumping in Soldotna, Alaska, did in 2010, and the effort paid unexpected dividends in good publicity throughout the community.
As you’ll read in our profile story on Peninsula in this issue (“North To Alaska” by Seiche Sanders), Cude for years had wanted to bring a festive twist to his pumping business at Christmastime. So a year ago Peninsula employees spent several days decorating one of the company trucks with 10,000 twinkling lights and parked it at the end of the driveway.
Response to the holiday display was swift and far-reaching. The local newspaper wrote a story and printed a nighttime photo of the truck, prompting the company’s name to be spread across the globe in papers as far away as India. Local TV news coverage brought further attention.
Cude was pleased with the holiday display and the buzz that came along with it. The locals would drive by and take photos of the truck practically every night.
“We got lots of compliments. Everyone was talking about it all over town,” he explains in our feature story. “That was one of the best marketing strategies, because everyone drove by and it was a reminder to get their septic tanks pumped.”
IT’S YOUR TURN
Seeing a photo of the glowing Peninsula rig made me wonder what other pumpers have done to spread holiday cheer. Have you ever decorated a truck for a Fourth of July or Christmas parade? Did the display attract attention for your company and – maybe indirectly – help build revenue over the course of months and years?
I’d like to challenge pumpers everywhere to match the Peninsula Pumping display this season and send me a photo and description of your decorated truck, portable restroom or other equipment. We will run the photos in an upcoming issue of Pumper.
I can’t help but think that many people in Soldotna will remember the glowing Peninsula truck the next time they need their septic tanks pumped. You might find the same success coming from your decorated truck. But on an even broader environmental level, displays like these serve to promote better septic system maintenance in general because they get homeowners making a connection to their septic tank, even during the dead of winter.
And, obviously, a project like this is just plain festive fun for your crew.
Turn inside to read more about Sean Cude and his pumping company. Then dig around in your holiday decorations for all those twinkling lights.
Email your photos and holiday decoration information to me at editor@pumper.com.
