Driving School Brand Marketing

I had a telephone call recently which reminded me of how important driving school car advertising is to the success of an instructor's business strategy.

I was called by the proprietor of an organisation that was prepared to offer me a driving school franchise for a weekly fee of just under £10, and that included the supply of pupils (headboard franchise). For a moment, it sounded like something I would be interested in (the owner apparently liked how I marketed myself on the internet, and thus was willing to give me such a good deal), after all while I know that NO franchise can guarantee pupil supply, but £10 a week was worth a risk taking, then the penny dropped, I'm going to have to use HIS roof sign on my car! Not another one of the those 5 lessons for £49 deals!

In effect I'm going to be advertising his school during every driving lesson and also paying him a fee for the privilege! It was now no longer looking like a good deal, especially when I looked up the school and noticed they had no presence in my local areas. So basically what the owner wanted was to build up a brand presence, and craftily wanted me to pay him at the same time.

This actually made me think of how important my brand was to me, especially as it is unique and I daily get hits on my website from people searching for the brand name on the internet.

So as a driving school owner do you have a unique brand name (John school of motoring is too common) and will someone seeing your car on the road unable to write down your number be able to find you on the internet, or will the business be picked up by a more established John or a more advertising savvy instructor? Food for though, maybe some of those funny driving school names do have a purpose after all.