How to Make Your Trailer Ads Stand Out in 2026 | Use AI?

Justin discusses the impact of AI on trailer business marketing, focusing on logo design, advertising quality, and the importance of authenticity. He emphasizes the need for realistic content and proper use of AI tools like Canva to stand out in a crowded market.

• AI's impact on trailer business marketing
• The pitfalls of generic logos created with AI
• How to create authentic and effective ads
• Using Canva and other tools for DIY marketing
• The importance of realism and quality in advertising

AI marketing, trailer business, logo design, advertising tips, Canva, real content, business branding, AI tools, trailer industry, marketing strategy, Trailer Rental

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

What's up, guys? Welcome back to the Trailer Hustle Podcast. My name is Justin, and this is the Trailer Owners Network. I'm really glad you guys are here with me today. And in today's episode, we were talking about something that got brought up yesterday in the group by a community member of the Trailer Hustle Facebook group. If you're not already in the Trailer Hustle Facebook group, guys, please join it. It is free to join. There's no purchase necessary to get in there and network with people. You do have to answer the security questions, or not security questions, I guess the um, yeah, I guess the security question, whatever. The group questions to enter the group as well as the group rules must be approved that you agree to, rather. Um, agree to them, rather, I should say. Um, and anyway, in the group, guys, we talk all kinds of stuff. We talk everything about customer interactions. We talk about, hey, what products y'all recommend for this why this or that or XYZ? Um, you know, what's the best trailer to run on this type of specific circumstance? Whatever it is. Think of a question, it's probably been asked. I mean, we have tens of thousands of conversation threads that are live in the group right now from the past two and a half years since it's been a thing. And there's a new one that's coming out, and I understand why this conversation is starting to be had, and it makes total sense, and we're gonna dissect that in this video, and that is about AI. And AI, of course, if you're not using it right now, your business is pretty much dead. It's gonna be dead. Um, AI has its place for sure. But in this specific topic we were talking about, it was um in this discussion that was had rather, is it was talking about the logos. And I've had kind of a beef with logos for a while because of everybody's logo looks the same. Everybody's logo looks the same. And you guys know what I'm talking about junk removal, hotshot, trailer dealerships, um, you know, trailer rental companies, whatever. All of y'all's logos look the same, guys, because everybody went on Fiverr.com and they hired the same five or six people to make them that have these templates that they follow. Maybe they changed the colors, they did this, they did that. But they're all using the same clip art, they're all using the same stuff. And that's actually okay because usually for your rental company, you're not advertising it to uh, you're not advertising it in an area where there's 10,000 people doing the same thing as you. So it's a little different when I see it online and I see all you guys in the group or on you know on TikTok or whatever, and all your logos look the same, then it's like, oh my God, they all look the same. If you're advertising to a local market, it's really not that big a deal. Now, here's the problem with AI advertisements and AI logos and the stuff that's happening there, and I'll get into this post. The problem with that is every industry, not just trailers, is starting to do the same thing, which means if you go online and you look up companies or you look up whatever, you're on Facebook scrolling, that roofing company that you see, that electrical company, that plumbing company, the electric, you know, the door and window company, the trailer rental guys, um the garbage can cleaner people, um the who think uh guitar builders, I don't care, just think of whoever. They all are using AI to make their flyers and make their logos and all that, and they all look the same. Okay, it's really, really, really bad. And we're not even talking yet about the primary issues at hand in this post. So let me get into that post really quick. And uh, this came from a guy named Garrett in the group. And uh uh shout out, appreciate you making this comment, honestly. Um, but this is what it says it says, can we please stop making sloppy ads with AI? Hear me out. I'm really not trying to stir the pot or insult anyone, but I think we've all seen some of the ads posted on this page by our peers and other businesses. The trailers with three tires, the trucks with four mirrors, the tongue jacks coming out of the receiver hitch, the two trailers that merge into one with a random car bumper in the middle. Can we it's so it's so true I've seen so many of these things. Can we not just put in a little bit of effort into making a real ad with a real picture? Don't get me wrong, AI has its place and can be a great tool for our businesses. I use it to spell and grammar check my ads from time to time and remove unwanted objects or like a license plate from a customer's vehicle, um, whatever it is. But to picture, but excuse me, but to spend 30 seconds on an ad without realizing how bad it looks seems lazy to me. Not trying to insult these businesses. I'm sure there are great people that are passionate. I just feel like a little effort would go a long way when promoting your business. Am I the only one that gets frustrated when I see sloppy AI ads? Um, and there was a little bit of a conversation about this, but Garrett, no, you're not alone in that. Um, it frustrates me as well. And, you know, I understand why people would use it. Okay. I completely get why AI ads will say um are exploding right now. Because it's cheap, it's fast, it's accessible. Um, you know, somebody with zero graphic design experience can now um, you know, generate what looks like something professional in 30 seconds. You know what I mean? So you don't have to hire a photographer, an editor, or anything like that kind of stuff, and then you can finally feel like you have that big company marketing power without hiring it out and doing it, you know, so you're you're doing it. But the problem is a lot of people, like you said, and like he said in this um this post, is people aren't giving it the amount of time it deserves, the amount of revisions that it deserves, um, and probably not scrapping it and starting from scratch when you need to. So they'll generate this ad, get excited because like, oh man, look at this. My company has this thing. Look at that, that's awesome. Print, right? Save. And they don't catch it, they don't realize that there's all these things happening. You know, major flaws slip by people because they get excited when they when they look at it for a second or two. And if you slow down and you really look at it, you'll realize a lot of these trailers have like impossible geometry, all right? It's just it doesn't make sense at all. Um, you know, the layout really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's got three jacks on it, um, floating tires and bent axles and all kinds of weird stuff that AI likes to do and put in there. And, you know, it takes just a couple of seconds to really look at that and and do a revision and kind of type in what you want to uh, you know, what you want to change. Now, these are great things to do. I think these are these are great things to have for your company. And honestly, I use it. I used AI for my product images on trailerhustle.com. Um, you know, it made it made it super easy. I did, of course, if you look at it, you know what's funny is I I had some that I had designed just with like um clip art and stuff like that. They did okay, had no issues. When I changed it to a completely AI design where it had like a picture of a trailer and like a sunset and all this kind of stuff, whatever, um, I noticed that people didn't didn't stay a stick around on the pages long. Like when I look at all the analytics behind the scene, so I changed it to their AI, but they're you can't really tell their AI, you know, they're they're really basic. And there's a lot of folks that are doing similar things like that and starting to notice issues. And I think it's because consumers are already, already be beginning to become numb to AI images and that sort of thing. And it's because it's exploding and every industry's doing it now. Like if it was just our industry doing it, it probably wouldn't be that big of a deal. But every industry's doing it, and it's starting to look everything's starting to look the same, you know? Like it looks the same. You've got ultra-dramatic lighting, right? You've got actually I made a note here. You've got perfect sunsets, um, you've got these overly cinematic like camera angles for everything. Um, you've got you've got unrealistic, like clean job sites. And the average consumer may not immediately say, hey, that's AI, but everybody has that thing in their stomach where they're like, this feels a little off, right? Like you some you pick up on something about it, and it's like, man, something's like subconsciously, it feels like it's manufactured in a weird way or something like that. I don't know. So uh the more polished and artificial the internet gets, uh, the more people crave realness, I think. And that's the stuff that I think over the coming years, as AI continues to do what it currently does, I think the the ads and the flyers and the business cards and the things that are really going to stand out to people are the things that are the most real, that have real images, that have real life scenario scenarios or situations in them, versus this perfect polished AI stuff. You know, um, you know, again, AI is an incredible tool um for brainstorming ideas and um helping organize thoughts and you know, uh uh writing captions or rough concepts, editing audio. I use it for my audio, like the audio you're listening to right now, AI fixed that. You know, I mean I've got a really great setup, I've got a lot of nice equipment, but you know, it still needs to be processed, still needs to be worked on. And I use AI to do it, and it does a very, very good job. All my, you know, my fat man inhales and exhales, you know, you don't hear near as much as uh much of that. If my dogs go crazy over here uh and start barking, you don't hear near as much of that kind of stuff and um you know lose an entire session because there's a big sound that I couldn't take out. AI handles all that stuff. Um, you know, so they're they're good for it's good for a lot of things, um, you know, improving workflow and just saving time in general. Um, AI can help with a lot of that stuff, but you have to use it correctly. Um, and when it comes to video and photo and ads and that kind of thing, I think we need to utilize AI alongside actual footage and actual photos and a little bit more realism plugged into it. Um, because if we go all AI, everything's starting to blend together and look look the same. And I think people are just, you know, people are just gonna start overlooking it more and more. So um when when when it doesn't feel like it's the real world, I guess that's when people start to um lose focus on it and not like it. Um, you know, uh, you know, real content stands out because it feels believable. So like a slight shaky phone video on an actual job site um with like mild imperfections and stuff like that, that stuff is going to click in your brain way better than an AI video. Okay, and AI is getting really, really good. It's starting to do things like that, it's starting to look better, better, but we're not there yet. And I think you need to include more realism um in your stuff when you're making videos and doing things like that. Um, you know, because I don't know, it just there's something weird about it. It's like sometimes you can't even tell a video's AI right out of the gate, but something feels suspicious about it. It's either too perfect or you know, it's like something moves or maneuvers in a way that you know just isn't natural, you know, just just little things like that. So um the funniest ones though, the fake trailers with like impossible actual setups or just like crazy features on them or whatever and stuff that even even if it looks good and there's nothing that's like you know super out of place, you could see you'll go you can always tell it's like something's off, you know. Um, so uh so anyway, I think that there's a a space for AI for sure, but I encourage you guys and I recommend that if you're gonna use AI for your ads and stuff like that, make sure you use some realism and um you know kind of incorporate your own stuff in that as well. I would recommend everybody get proficient on Canva. It's like the easiest thing in the world. You know, Canva or you know, if you want to get a little bit more in depth, you can use like Illustrator or Photoshop or something like that. But Canva, man, uh I discovered Canva about it. Actually, my my girl taught me about it because I never really used it. I was like set my ways of Photoshop and Illustrator and Lightroom and um you know premiere and all that kind of stuff. And I was like, Adobe products is like all I used. And she's like, no, I just made it real quick with Canva, I can do this and this. And I'm like, that's only 20 bucks a month. Like, okay, yeah, let's do that. So um, so that's what I started doing. And I highly recommend that you guys uh do the same. Get proficient on Canva, even if it's just like the basics, watch a couple of videos. You'd be amazed at how quickly you can take one of your own images and um edit it up and create a flyer out of it. Um, and just use tutorials that you see online. That stuff, even though you might think, oh, well, it looks just like Photoshop would have done it. No, it doesn't. I promise it does not. Okay. Everything is different. We're with AI, I mean, not Photoshop, but AI. You're not gonna make it look just like AI. And if you do, well, then you're just perfect. You're a perfect human being. But again, things still just look off. So I don't recommend doing that. Um, so uh, you know, but but I but I recommend you make it on Canva and make your own content as compared to uh using some type of AI footage or something like that. Because again, I think that people's brains are going to and their eyes are going to skim right over all the AI crap out there. I already do it. I know a lot of you guys are the same, and actually, a bunch of you guys in the comments were saying the same thing on that thread that uh when I say AI AI stuff, I just keep scrolling. And um, I think it's a lazy way to advertise. You know what I mean? I really I really do. Um, I say get proficient, make your own uh your own designs because those are the ones that are gonna stand out, especially over the next few years. Those are the ones that are gonna stand out. Um, so nobody proofreads or understands, you know, if you don't proofread your own your own ad, that's you're lazy. Okay, don't be dumb. Right. And if you're making an ad for an industry you don't understand and you use AI, you're not gonna know what to fix a lot of times, you know. So uh you're not gonna catch the inaccuracies in it if you're not proficient in the industry that you're making the ad for as well. Um, so I would I would try and uh either hire somebody if you're not proficient on Canva or one of those types of things, or learn how to do it yourself. Um, it'd be worth it to do it that way. Um, you know, I would say um AI should be your employee, not your whole company, if that makes sense. Use it for a lot of things, but logo design and stuff like that, I'd I'd say stay away from it because you're gonna start blending it with everybody. So um, so anyway, so really quick episode today. I just want to kind of give my two cents on that. Um, you know, there's a handful of topics that have come up recently that I'm gonna make some videos on just so you guys know about them. Um, I do want to really quickly remind you guys there is the giveaway happening in the app right now. Trailer Hustle app has all kinds of cool features happening. We're designing an all-new dashboard so you guys can see all the features. A lot of people don't realize what features the app actually has until you add a trailer and then you see all these things you can do. Um, but add your trailers and equipment in there, and we're gonna make a new dashboard to where people can see that. People are encouraged to add their equipment, add trailers. Otherwise, yeah, it's great to be able to find each other and use a handful of the other tools. But if we don't get the masses using it the right way, then you know, we're uh it's it's not it's just not gonna work. But luckily, we are trending in the right in the right direction when it comes to people using it, starting to get you know some really good traction. And we're approaching 1,500 members already. And guys, thank you so much. I mean, it's happening much quicker than I thought it would. Um, there is a giveaway in there right now that's sponsored by the trailer spot. Okay, I just uh spent the weekend there. Um uh we drove out to Rustford, Virginia, met with Jake, hung out with him for a few hours, and checked out his lot. And uh he's got a couple acres out there just full of trailers, and he's got every model you can think of. I mean, if you need a deck over, you need a gooseneck, you need a uh cattle trailer, you need dump, you need utility. I mean, he has it. He's he's got it or can get it. And he carries great brands too. So he's got you know your uh uh next haul, he's got your uh calibers, he's got your um uh down to earth, he's got um uh rock solid cargo. Um, and there's a couple others, I believe, that I'm I'm forgetting. Apologies, uh, Iron Bull. Uh so anyway, definitely check out the trailer spot if you have not already. Check the links in the description of this video and you're gonna see their stuff. But also you'll see the links to enter the giveaway. Download the trailer hustle app. It is free, no purchase necessary, and you can join that giveaway. Um, we've also got a few other giveaways happening. We just ended the big rentals, uh, or excuse me, the big rentals giveaway is happening this Friday for a set of straps that they do every single month. So good luck on that one. Be sure to enter. Um, we're getting a lot of entries now, which is awesome uh compared to before. Um, so thank you guys. But we just ended the Ride Dog GPS giveaway, so that was really cool. They we already added another one. They do that every single month where you can get a wired or wireless GPS tracker with a lifetime service plan for free. Um, so that's cool. We also have the solar battery chargers uh and maintainer that's on there. Um, we're gonna be adding a few other things too. So drop a comment down below. Tell me what items you'd like to see for giveaways in the future. I mean, I know right now we're doing some big boy stuff with this trailer. Thank you again to the trailer spot for sponsoring this giveaway. Super grateful. It's super awesome. That ends July 31st, by the way, so guys don't miss out. But um, very, very, very exciting stuff. Um, and drop a comment below. Let us know what kind of giveaways you guys want to see, what things excite you, what things could you use in your business? Um, you know, because especially if it's something that's on Amazon that I can just like drop ship to you, like direct ship to you, great. You know, I'll add those as giveaways. I'll have some fun with it. Why not? That's what I do with the solar charger in the steak pocket, the earrings and things like that. Anyway, so drop a comment, let me know what you guys think. Um, I really appreciate y'all being here. Let's keep this hustle going. Um, I hope everybody had a safe memorial uh holiday uh as well. I hope everybody remembered why Memorial Day is what it is. That is a day where we are remembering those that gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect us and our freedoms. And we wouldn't have anything we have right now if it wasn't for those those men and women that did that. And I want to make sure that's not lost on any of the people in the trailer hustle community. The fact that we get to build a business and you know, achieve the things we achieve, um, the fact that we get to get online and bitch about things, the fact that we get to say the shit we want to say, right? It's because of those people. So um definitely make sure you take a moment if you haven't already, and uh, you know, give some you know, thoughts, prayers, whatever it is that you um you believe um to those people, as well as to the families that are still that still have those empty chairs at the table because their loved ones left and never came home. So uh just want to you know give that, you know, put that out there. So I hope you all had a safe weekend. And I know July 4th is coming up. Drop a comment. Let me know what you guys are doing July 4th. Anybody running sales, anybody running promotions, anything like that? I know these holidays people tend to like to you know use them as excuses to run sales and that kind of thing. But just curious what you guys are doing. Um, aside from that, guys, thanks for being here. Quick episode today. We'll talk to you soon. I'll see you tomorrow. Love, love. This is the Trailer Owners Network. Bye bye.