BILLBOARD ADVERTISING

There are many types of billboards one can use to get the word out. From a huge highway, street-level, or bus shelter campaign to smaller bus, train, and taxi billboards. Let's look at the ups and downs of Billboard Advertising.

Billboard Pros: There is an "air" of big time advertising associated with billboards and they're great for image building as long as you follow the 7-second rule: Never say anything on a billboard that takes longer than 7 seconds to register in someone's brain! Powerful visuals and headlines are key!

Billboard Cons: You pay extra for mass targeting which can get very expensive. Poor creative can render your efforts invisible. Production can eat up a lot of your budget. Slow turnaround. Key positions are booked sometimes for years in advance.

The biggest question you are probably asking is:
What do I do now?

That all depends on what challenges your business is facing.

First on your list is to formulate a plan of action. This is typically called an advertising plan.

In your plan you must:

1. Come up with an affordable advertising budget. This money should be viewed as an investment.

2. Create a timeline (how long you need to advertise). Decide if this is will be a long term image-building campaign or a short promotional campaign

3. Define the nature of your campaign and what you hope to accomplish. Do you want to build up your name or sell a particular product or service?

4. Come up with a strong creative campaign. You can play safe and emulate everyone else who is successful, or lead the pack with new and aggressive creative.

5. Select the accompanying media you can afford. I caution you to avoid a one media campaign. They are very limiting. Whenever possible, use a combination - ie: print/radio, flyer/radio, tv/print, tv/billboard...

Once you have done all of the above you are closer to taking your first step.

IS THAT ALL THERE IS TO BILLBOARDS?

Unfortunately, billboard advertising goes much deeper than this. ie: what kind of Ad offer do I present? What kind of creative do I use? Is my logo strong enough? Is my accompanying newspaper Ad big enough? Color? Black & White? What print stock should I use? If I choose to use radio how many spots should I buy?

It can be daunting.

The good news is, most media have reliable reps to help you sort it all out. Your job then may require you to separate fact from fiction. The best way to do this is to pick the most knowledgeable rep who understands more than their own product and give them the opportunity to advise you.

You can also hire an independent consultant or a small Advertising Agency to put it all together for you.

That would be us: 514 235-6603​