A stellar billboard advertisement (or several) could be just what your brand needs to reinvigorate its marketing campaign and drive traffic to your site or retail store. But purchasing a billboard for your business won’t automatically result in marketing success. Indeed, you need to consider several key factors before buying any billboard regardless of location or topic. Let’s break down those factors one by one so you’re prepared to make the best marketing decision for your brand.
What Billboard Locations Are Available?
Firstly, consider what potential billboard locations are available for any future campaigns. Billboards are usually set up in places like:
- Inner city squares, such as around intersections or corners
- On the sides of buildings
- Around neighborhoods, especially suburban neighborhoods with small shopping centers
- Along freeways or highways, which are intended to get the attention of drivers
- In other spots
If you plan to advertise in a specific city, carefully consider what locations are available before launching a billboard ad campaign. That way, you’ll know where you can place your upcoming billboards and determine whether placing billboards will be advantageous depending on your target audience. That leads to the next major thing to consider…
Does Your Target Audience See Billboard Ads?
Billboard advertisements are only effective and smart marketing tools if your target audience will see them. Say that you have a target audience really comprised of Millennials who spend most of their time on the Internet. They rarely drive along the freeway. In such a circumstance, it makes no sense to place billboard ads along will go freeways, as your target audience members are less likely to see them. But what if your target audience is mostly comprised of blue-collar workers who commute along major freeways five days out of the week? In that case, billboard ads positioned strategically along major freeways could be a great marketing strategy to convert as many people as possible.
What Will a Billboard Ad Cost?
Next, you should consider billboards cost before ordering a bunch of ads for your business. In the United States, billboard costs are around $850 per billboard on average, although some billboards are as low as $100 per billboard per campaign.
Note, of course, that billboard costs can vary heavily depending on factors like:
- The locations of the billboards. Billboards costs in heavily trafficked areas or more competitive spots are higher than the billboard costs for more out-of-the-way billboards
- The length of the campaign. Billboards that stick around for longer usually cost more, with a few exceptions
- The quality or complexity of the billboard. Billboard advertisements that take longer to put up also cost more
If you want to use billboard ads to their maximum extent, you may need to design them so they are cheap or place them in affordable locations. Of course, if your billboard ads are effective, you can funnel more of your marketing budget toward this part of your campaign and compete for more effective, heavily trafficked areas or billboard spots.
Can You Make a Good Billboard Ad?
Of course, your billboard advertising campaign will only be successful if you can craft excellent billboard ads again and again. Good billboard ads are:
- Streamlined and simple. Overly complex billboard advertisements take too long to understand and aren’t easily memorized
- Compelling due to their visuals or message
- Very memorable, which makes them stick in the minds of their viewers and, in turn, makes those viewers more likely to make a call, place an order, etc.
Depending on your brand and what you sell, billboard advertisements could be a perfect fit. But if, for example, you sell software to other businesses instead of end-users, billboard advertisements may be limiting enough that you opt for other types of marketing (like email newsletter marketing) to reach new clients and customers.
What Kind of Billboard Ad Do You Want?
Lastly, you should consider the types of billboard advertisements you want to place before launching a new campaign. For example, you can place traditional billboard ads that are static. Or you can place cheaper, smaller billboard posters. Alternatively, you could opt for digital billboard ads, which are short videos that rotate or repeat over and over again. Digital billboard ads have to be short, but they can be much more memorable and engaging for potential viewers if you design them properly.
In the end, a billboard advertisement could be effective if:
- You have the money for it
- You can make a compelling, engaging advertisement
- Your target audience looks at billboards in the first place
- You know exactly the kind of billboard advertisement you want and where it should be placed
Only after considering these factors should you purchase a billboard for your business. With the right marketing strategy and preparation, billboard ads could help your brand reach new heights of success.