Billboard advertising is one of the oldest and most popular forms of advertising, and for a good reason. While larger enterprises and businesses have begun investing more in digital advertising through social media and search engines, billboards are still one of the most effective ways to reach a huge audience.
Billboards are more versatile and varied than you might think at first. The first billboard was introduced around 1830 and soon after became a popular way for companies to advertise.
Billboards are usually hard to miss by design – placed along highways, roads, and other areas with plenty of car and pedestrian traffic, a well-placed billboard can be seen tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of times per day. Even by today’s standards, billboards are one of the most effective ways to get as many eyes on your marketing campaign as possible.
The most popular billboards are traditional, digital, and mobile billboards. Traditional billboards are printed advertisements on large metal structures and display a static image or text.
Digital billboard advertising is a newer innovation, so these are less common in lower-traffic or less dense areas. These billboards are interactive and incredibly eye-catching, making them especially effective in high-traffic pedestrian areas.
Digital ads do much better in spaces with large amounts of foot traffic because pedestrians can stop and view an advertisement that piques their interest. The traveling speed of a pedestrian is much lower, so they can view multiple digital ads on the same billboard before moving out of sight.
One of the best examples of effective digital billboard advertising are the billboards seen in Times Square. With hundreds of advertisements constantly displayed on large, electronic screens, the ads can be dynamic, creative, and can easily draw a viewer’s focus.
Mobile billboards are ones placed on the sides of cars, buses, and trucks, and these can be either digital or static displays. The two main differences between mobile billboards and stationary billboards are that 1) mobile billboards are smaller in size and 2) mobile billboards can cover an entire local market.
Billboard advertising may seem like a “dated approach” to building brand recognition, but this advertising strategy has a few distinct advantages over digital advertising.
Recently, digital advertising platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Google have faced new challenges in conversion tracking due to changes in Apple’s privacy policies. Because they’re now unable to track all conversions properly, the platform algorithms (which are designed to optimize for conversions) are having problems scaling campaigns effectively.
As a result, advertisers have begun to reduce their digital ad budgets and look for ways to get a better return on their ad spend. As a result, large-scale brands and businesses have begun to dedicate more budget to billboard ads because they are effective and have reliable impression metrics, making it easy to forecast ROAS and scale campaigns.
Unlike digital ads that pop up on your phone or computer, you can’t avoid billboards. Nowadays, consumers are becoming rapidly desensitized to digital marketing. With so many advertisements constantly being fed to them on their social network feeds and apps, there’s no wonder they’ve developed a dislike for more modern advertising methods.
On the other hand, Billboards are massive advertisements that naturally draw a viewer’s eye and demand their attention. Using a physical advertising strategy guarantees that anyone passing your ad will glance at it at least once.
When you rent out a billboard to promote your brand or product, your campaign has a guaranteed advertisement slot for 24 hours a day during the rental period. Any pedestrians and drivers in the area will have constant, uninterrupted exposure to your brand, which will generate interest.
The sheer size of billboards is also a major plus. In cities, billboards are visible from office and apartment buildings and down on street-level. This means that your brand is being promoted to all potential customers around the clock.
Increased exposure has the bonus of reaching a wider audience as well. While you may be targeting a specific geographical location to reach your target audience, there will be hundreds – if not thousands – of eyes on your brand every day.
This increases your general audience scope and can increase the number of customers and clients interested in your brand. By having your advertisement in a high-traffic area, you will be spreading your roots and drawing in a bigger crowd with little to no extra effort.
Repeat exposure to a brand and its message is a great way to build brand recognition and trust. Recognition and trust are two of the most critical factors regarding whether consumers will buy your product or engage your services.
Billboards are an excellent way to repeatedly expose an entire market to your brand on their daily commutes to and from work, walking through dense downtown areas, or traveling on their local interstate highways.
Unlike digital advertising, which has a reasonably low barrier to entry, audiences will typically place more trust in a brand advertising on a billboard due to the perceived cost to advertise. Simply put, if customers perceive your brand to be successful enough to afford billboard space, they are more likely to trust your brand.
In the cut-throat world of advertising, marketing your brand through real-world channels like TV and radio has become expensive, time-consuming, and difficult for smaller businesses that are still getting their foot in the door.
Large companies with deep pockets often buy out prime advertisement slots for TV. For smaller businesses, this can create some pretty hefty competition. These companies already have a good level of recognition and loyalty, so it can be hard to stand against them in an over-saturated consumer market.
With the popularity of TV streaming services increasing, these advertisements are also becoming less effective when reaching a larger audience.
Comparatively, billboards are inexpensive and can be rented out in different locations for prices that suit almost any business and budget.
At The Remnant Agency, we can secure high-value billboard locations for a fraction of the traditional cost by buying Remnant billboard ad space. By using your existing budget to extend your campaign’s runtime, we can significantly increase the return on your ad spend.
While billboard advertising is advantageous for a vast number of businesses and brands, you may still be wondering if this marketing strategy is right for you and your business.
The first thing you should consider is whether your brand or business appeals to most of the audience in the selected market. Billboards can be very effective at promoting consumer products in high-traffic, urban areas but won’t be as effective for this in smaller cities and rural areas.
However, billboards in smaller cities and rural areas are excellent for promoting local businesses, upcoming local events, and even things like restaurant specials and market penetration. For example, if you are a law firm that has recently opened its doors in a new area, announcing your launch on a billboard is a great way to educate the market.
Billboards should appeal to the most significant number of people possible to ensure a good return on your investment.
Because billboards are restricted in terms of location, they’re great for small or local businesses operating out of that area. These ads focus on building recognition and a customer base rather than increasing sales.
The next thing you need to keep in mind is whether your chosen advertisement is simple enough to translate into a billboard. While OOH advertising gets plenty of eyes on your marketing campaign, it’s important to remember that you need to appeal to a large demographic.
If your ad is too visually busy or overly complicated, chances are you’ll end up confusing viewers rather than enticing them into using your service or buying your product.
Your ad should be easy to understand and should have one clear message. The rule of thumb is that billboards need to be specific and precise to be successful.
Larger companies generally have to advertise their brand much less because they already have a loyal customer base and good brand recognition. Instead, their billboards aim to keep their brand at the forefront of their customer’s minds to drive more sales.
When it comes to marketing, renting out a billboard can be a no-brainer. The tricky part of your campaign is coming up with a catchy ad that will grab your audience’s attention within seconds. While every campaign is different, here are a few of the more important aspects of creating a great billboard ad.
Many billboards can be found along roads or highways, which is a great way to grab the attention of a captive audience. But not every driver or passenger has the time to read or look at an ad that is too busy.
At best, a driver has a few fleeting seconds to look at your billboard before it’s out of sight. While they may have more time on their hands during peak traffic hours, you never want to limit yourself to only getting views when drivers are at a standstill.
Instead, you need to grab their attention with a short, simple message or basic design that they can digest within seconds. Many of the most recognizable brands have simple, short slogans for their advertising campaigns, ideally with no more than 3 or 4 words.
Keeping it simple goes hand-in-hand with the previous point.
Because most of your audience only has a short amount of time to look at your advertisement, you need to keep it as simple as possible.
This means that you should limit the number of words the ad contains and stick to bold, clean designs and imagery to get your point across. If your billboard has an entire paragraph, your audience won’t remember what it said and will quickly lose interest.
Remember, the old saying “out of sight, out of mind” plays a significant role here, so you want to create a lasting impression.
The best way to do this is by taking away any unnecessary words, phrases, or pictures. A clever slogan or sleek, solitary image of your product is more than enough to get the job done.
Similarly, you should make sure that your logo is big and takes center stage to ensure that your audience knows who is advertising to them.
It may seem obvious, but your billboard’s location matters. It’s important to understand the demographics of the locations you select to ensure your ads are being delivered to the right audience. For example, it may not make sense to promote a brand or business geared toward senior citizens in a part of town where the audience is predominantly 18 to 35-year-olds.
Billboards are a great, cost-effective way to bring attention to your business and generate interest in your brand. When you run a billboard advertising campaign with The Remnant Agency, we can secure top-of-the-line billboard locations at a fraction of the price.
We do this by purchasing unsold ad space at the last minute, which allows us to run your campaign for a fraction of the cost. We use your campaign’s existing budget to reach a significantly larger number of people and run your campaign for an extended period, allowing us to maximize your ROAS.
Contact The Remnant Agency today if you’re ready to take the leap and grow your business through billboard advertising.
The scale of traditional media is unrivaled across any other marketing channel. Experience that reach, ROI, and scale at a fraction of rate card pricing. We look forward to meeting you.
Remnant Media Buyers And Advertising Experts
The Remnant Agency is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mynt Agency.
