Making the Most Out of Billboard Advertising
Billboard advertising used to be this bigger-than-life competitive, and expensive portion of a marketing budget that seemed like nothing but a difficult pipe dream that couldn’t come true for burgeoning small businesses.
But in more recent times, billboards have become more democratized with the introduction of digital billboards that have made it much more possible for growing companies to compete on a more level playing field with established competitors.
There is also the fact that billboards represent a more localized outdoor experience that is catered to the surrounding areas where the ads are physically situated.
Startups are able to use billboard advertising to gain more of a local foothold in their industries when their ads are placed close by to where they are based. They can tie in the language of landmarks of where they are from to make customers feel like they are doing business with neighbors instead of strangers.
While many companies have shifted a lot of their marketing dollars over to the online space to engage customers on social media, streaming platforms, and popular websites, small organizations can dive into billboard advertising with less struggle.
Digital billboards are a type of outdoor advertising that offers more flexibility than most out-of-home advertising mediums because they can be updated in real-time with software.
To be effective, billboard advertising has to make an instant impact on your customer base and potential consumers, and we will be looking at several ways to do exactly that.
Entertain Onlookers
Your billboard audience needs to be entertained by your advertisement, whether it makes them laugh or it pushes them to think differently. Play inside their imagination just enough for them to seek out more information about your organization.
But design responsibly enough so that your ad doesn’t become too much of a distraction or offend people.
Aim Towards Your Audience
When you are in the designing zone, think like you are the customer that is looking to get wowed enough by an ad that it would spur your own curiosity to engage.
What would it take for you to trust your company if you were a total stranger, and what would it have to look like to make you stop what you are doing and pay attention?
Clear and Concise
Remember that motorists and cyclists are not only moving ahead at a steady speed, but they have to keep their eyes on the road for the majority of the time.
Your billboarding advertising needs to get its point across quickly enough that travelers can get the gist in a matter of seconds because that is probably all the looking that they will be able to afford.
If you can, keep the text at seven words or less with large fonts that are easy to read from great distances.
Relevant Images
How many times have you glanced at a billboard that was filled with a lot of visual ideas, but you had zero clue about what the organization was offering?
It is probably because the company was more concerned with getting your attention to clearly expressing what it is that they can do for you.
Cutting through the clutter of attention-overload is fantastic, but remember to use appropriate images that connect to your industry, your company culture, and even something to entice potential customers to connect with you right away.
Just make sure that you aren’t disrespecting your brand with blurry photos that don’t have a resolution minimum of at least 300 pixels per inch.
Contrasting Colors
If you are going to make dull color choices with your billboard ads, you run the risk of getting that massive advertisement ignored.
You didn’t spend all of that money to not be noticeable, use contrasting colors that are in light and dark shades to make it more readable.
Think Big
One of the harder elements of formulating a billboard ad is understanding just how large the text and the images that flex it out should be to be legible.
Just because you have no trouble understanding what your own billboard is trying to tell you when you are standing in the same room with it doesn’t mean that it won’t be a struggle for customers standing at a distance of 100 feet away.
This is why you will need your billboard text to be at least one foot in height with an increased amount of spacing between the words themselves and each line of text.
Contact Information
Remember that along with your branding elements, such as your company logo, colors, and slogan; people need to be able to contact you too. Incorporate your business’s phone number and website on your billboard to make it easy for them to take a picture of your ad with their cell phone and inquire about your products and services.
Making the most out of billboard advertising is a great way to continue building a broader presence for your brand in the physical world, to turn it into more of a destination that people head over towards instead of a place they accidentally come across.
