🪨 Marketing Strategies - BRANDING · The Dumpster Runners Network

Aug 25 (edited) • Marketing Tips and Tricks

🪨 Marketing Strategies - BRANDING

Finding ways to get your name out there is KEY. We live in a new world with social media. Never before have you been able to get your brand in front of so many people for $0 - but sometimes free comes at a cost.

When something is free it by definition is also less valuable. Your competitors are probably posting in the same places. Doing mostly the same thing. Remember - while there is a skill and difference between drivers and companies, if your potential customer ONLY sees a picture of a dumpster in the driveway, then there is 0 difference between what you do from the next guy.

That is where BRAND comes in to play.

Lets imagine 2 separate companies competing for attention in the same market. Company A and B both post a picture of the dumpster they just dropped every day. What sets them apart? Does one have a generic white truck and the other has a highly branded wrapped one? Does one wear uniforms and the other doesn't? Does one have a driver with a huge smile having fun while he works while the other is a heavy set grumpy looking man with ketchup in his beard?

The answer is obvious - you can compete on PRICE or you can compete on VALUE. If it's price then you can be the generic truck, non uniformed, heavy set grumpy man with ketchup in his beard and it won't matter. If on the other hand you want to make a PROFIT, then I would highly suggest you focus on the brand differentiator.

BRAND is the thing that can 2x, 3x, 4, 5x, your ad spend.

BRAND is the thing that changes your phone calls from "How much?" to "When can you be here?"

I good brand does the heavy lifting for you. Once it's well established everything becomes a bit easier.

So what is BRAND? How does one create a brand? Is it colors on a uniform? Is it stickers on a truck?

The word brand comes from the cattle industry. It is the hot iron seared into the skin of cattle to identify which ranch they belong to. I can't speak from everyone, but I am grateful that I don't need a hot iron pressed into my skin to do "branding" for my company in 2025.

Branding can be as simple as a good logo in combination with quality work and repetition. What people don't realize often when we talk about brand is that colors, logos, and wraps don't MAKE a brand. They simply draw attention to it. Brand is made upon the foundation of good business practices. Only after you establish yourself as competent and credible does the fancy stuff start pulling weight.

Now that we have the concept laid out I have a mini formula for how i see the visual side of brand.

A good brand is unique, clean, and comprised of a couple pieces of the puzzle. When you get to be the size of a company like Nike you can throw the rule book out the window. They sell so many damn shoes that a check mark in white is enough to be globally recognized, BUT you are not Nike.

So what can you do? For this example let me use our friend John Cook with Same Day Dumpster

Focus on a clean, simple, and understandable name. Ideally one what explains WHAT you do or even HOW you do it. Case in point: "Same Day Dumpster." The WHAT is Dumpsters. The HOW is Same Day. This relays to your customer exactly what to expect before they even reach out to you. Its short, sweet, and to the point.
Decide a Primary and Secondary color. In his case his Primary is Orange and Secondary is a vibrant Blue. For MAXCO I actually have a three color pallet brand. Green is my primary, with black and white both being my secondaries. I even have what I consider a third tier color, which is red. It's not a color i use often, but when I really want to drive attention to something on my marketing materials or website, it is the color I use.
Make a logo that stands out amongst the crowd. I'll lean into my own brand for this one. MAXCO has two primary logos which is something I like to recommend for people with MASCOTS, but I'll circle back to those in a minute. Your logo should be easily understandable, easily recognizable, and unique enough that it doesn't blend in with the others out there. For me the word MAXCO is already relatively unique, but the big separator is that I do an exaggerated X, which is both balanced (central in the design) and attention grabbing.
Personally I love mascots. They are a great way to bring more fans to your brand because people connect with them in a different way. I have people who LOVE raccoons, and don't even know me personally, but constantly comment on my posts because the raccoon gives us a connection. I would recommend you play with the idea. It can give you a separate logo to use for different marketing materials and makes a FANTASTIC icon for your vehicle wraps. I know a pool servicing company who's mascot is a drop of water. I know a roofing company who's mascot is a Flamingo. I know lawn company who's mascot is a leaf. There is no rule on WHAT the mascot should be... just find one that resonates with you and your area and run with it.

Then just tie it all together with EXCEPTIONAL service, and eventually you may just find your way to the top of the pack. JUST REMEMBER - THE FOUNDATION STARTS WITH DOING GOOD WORK. No brand can make up for a shady owner over the span of years. The bad business models and owners will ALWAYS get shown out the door. Start with the foundation, and expand upon it with a GREAT BRAND.

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