Billboard advertising produces a variety of ways to advertise your business, products, services, or special events. In the constantly connected world we live in, you will invest many of your ad dollars in digital marketing—with strategic cross-channel advertising. This may have you wondering how effective billboard advertising is and how you can work it into your ad mix?
What Is Billboard Advertising?
While some ad strategies become obsolete, some continue to evolve—which is the case with effective billboard advertising. Today, billboards aren’t just the oversized signs you drive by on the freeway. Now, any kind of oversized sign larger than a poster is considered a billboard. This includes both print and digital signs. For example, signs on the side of a bus, oversized mall or building directory signage, large signs mounted on the side of a building, oversized roadway signs, large signs at bus stops or train stations, the gigantic digital signs you see near Times Square, and more.
How Effective Is Billboard Advertising?
Now, let’s take a look at the statistics, which are impressive to say the least.
- As of the writing of this article, there are 342,306 billboards in the United States, 8,000 of which are digital.
- External advertising is still 6% of global ad spending.
- 71% of people consciously look at billboards when driving.
- Over 50% of people say they’ve been highly engaged by a billboard they’ve seen in the last month.
- External advertising is 382% more effective at driving online and cross-channel marketing than TV commercials.
- When paired with SEO advertising, external advertising boosts results by 40%.
- 58% of people learned about a local event or restaurant from a roadside billboard.
- 56% of Americans make mention of funny or standout billboards in conversation.
- On average, every dollar spent on OOH (external) marketing generates $5.97 in sales—an impressive 497% ROI.
How To Use Billboards To Advertise?
There are two primary ways to implement effective billboard advertising, renting out ad space and purchasing your own billboard. There are benefits to both. We will go into detail on each.
Renting a billboard is an excellent way to test advertising on oversized formats. You must be strategic about where you rent ad space, ensuring it is a location that targets your local demographic. If you choose a digital billboard, ensure you understand factors such as what time of day your ad will be displayed, for how many seconds per display, and how many impressions per hour or day. Unfortunately, vandalism remains a concern for print signage. Yet our MEGA signs are vandal proof! They are near impossible to break with a baseball bat, and our proprietary coating, enables spray paint, and other graffiti to wash right off!
Purchasing your own billboard empowers you to place a billboard anywhere they are allowed—just be sure to check your local sign ordinances and permit requirements before buying or installing. If it’s a digital billboard, you can create and alternate a variety of ads and messages and change them up at any time. You can even monetize your billboard by renting out ad space in-between your ads and messages. Vandalism is less of a risk factor, especially for elevated digital signs.
How Much Do Billboards Cost?
The cost of billboard advertising varies greatly depending on a variety of factors including the city the billboard is posted in, location, size, whether it’s print or digital, and how long you want to advertise.
Rented ad space can be as low as $300 to $1,000 per month in rural areas to $2,500 to $8,000+ per month in mid-size and big cities. Digital ad space can be rented by the month, week, day, hour, or by daily impressions.
Purchasing your own digital sign starts as low as $800 for text-only signs and goes up to over $8,000+ for oversized signs that can post HD photos and videos. An effective billboard advertising sign is custom built for your size and local weather. You’ll also need to factor in the cost of mounting your new sign.
Finally, you’ll have to hire a billboard sign designer who understands the importance of size and scale for oversized signs. For digital billboards, your designer will need to specialize in how to utilize motion and digital graphics for maximum effect.
How To Make The Most Of Your Billboards?
While billboard advertising can be effective, they must be a strategic part of your advertising strategy:
- Don’t have a “billboard ad” designed, but an ad that is a cohesive part of your seasonal, quarterly, or annual ad campaign.
- Less is more. While you must utilize your oversized ad space, don’t overdo it with text or visual imagery. For print ads, consider a shape that isn’t square or rectangular and explore your options in mixed media.
- For digital signs, take advantage of HD technology, creating a visual experience with images, video, and motion graphics.
- Aim to connect with your target audience on an emotional level. This might be to make them laugh, pull at their heartstrings, inspire them, or engage with them in a way that makes them feel heard or understood.
- Design to the traffic type. Drivers on the expressway don’t have a lot of time to read text. While you want roadway signs to stand out, you don’t want them to distract with flashing or annoying text or graphics. Signs that have a somewhat captive audience with viewers standing or walking by can have a bit more text, could feature a series of ads, can have more motion, and can even include video.
- Effective billboard advertising can brand your business. It’s one of those things that sounds so obvious but sometimes branding falls through the cracks. Every ad you have designed should support the look and feel of your brand identity.
- In addition to being cohesive, consider your ad’s role in cross-channel marketing. Keep text to a minimum but be sure to add in something to digitally connect—such as a branded hashtag, website URL, social media info, email address, real life address, or phone number. For example, “Turn right in 2 blocks”.
Looking For A Digital Billboard so you can start Billboard Advertising?
If your digital ads have a high ROI or you are looking for a dual-purpose digital ad and communication center, we invite you to reach out to Mega LED Technology today. We custom build your signs to order and have a variety of digital signs to choose from—including scrolling text, midsized, and full-sized billboards.
I find it impressive how much billboard advertising is as relevant as it still is, what with the data you presented shows. I’m also surprised to hear that most people look at billboards when driving, I thought it was something only I did these days. We’re planning on starting a bowling alley and in order to bump up our visibility to potential customers, we’re thinking of advertising on billboards once we’re set on a location. I’ll discuss this with my friends next time we talk about or potential business.