From Roman graffiti to Victorian lithographs, billboards are one of our oldest forms of advertising for good reason.
Even today, out of home (OOH) advertising outperforms all other channels when it comes to consumer recall. What’s more, 98% of us will see at least OOH advertising every week, giving this channel powerful reach.
In this guide, we’ll dive into exactly why billboard advertising works so well and share smart ways to use it for your brand.
If you’ve ever made a long commute home in a busy city, you’ll probably be in on this secret already… Billboard advertising is utterly unavoidable. Good advertisers know it’s this visibility that creates lasting awareness for your brand.
Research shows that billboards have incredibly high recall rates of up to 86%. Compared to trying to reach your audience on a social scroll, the advantage of billboards is that they can’t be easily swiped past or ignored. Instead, you have the advantage of your advert being present in a real-life urban landscape, making your brand more memorable and trustworthy.
When it comes to targeting your audience, billboard adverts can reach diverse demographics. Whether you have tech-savvy Gen Zers or millennials in mind, or you’re targeting an older audience, or even children, billboards can reach them all. This makes them a useful tool for both broad and targeted advertising campaigns.
If you’re considering using billboards to advertise your brand or message, here are three steps we recommend you consider carefully before going ahead:
What do you want from your billboard? For example, you might be looking for increased brand recognition or prestige from being featured in a certain location. If you’re a local business, you might consider putting up billboards on routes leading to your premises with the goal of increasing foot traffic.
On the other hand, an online brand might want to use clever call-to-actions to drive higher website traffic. By setting clear goals ahead of time, you can make informed decisions about the kind of billboards and creatives you choose.
We can’t stress how important this next step is. If you want your billboard to make an impact, you’ll need to deliver concise messaging and strong visuals that capture people’s attention in the 5-10 second glance they give you as they walk past. It’s worth spending time on this one and investing in a great designer to make sure your message is as quick, engaging and memorable as it can be.
Think about where you want to reach your target audience. If you’re going for the broadest reach, then high-traffic areas like highways, busy intersections and city centres are ideal. Or, you might target a specific location for your audience, considering their daily routines and when they’re most likely to pass by.
As a Cardiff-based media planning and buying agency, we know that the best advertising is backed by data, research, and years of experience. If you’re considering billboards or out of home advertising, we can help you get it right for your brand and message. Take a look at our out of home advertising services here or contact us to find out how we can work together.
In the UK, a typical billboard will set you back anything from £200 per week for smaller, regional billboards, all the way up to several thousand pounds per week for prime locations in cities like London.
While a digital billboard is likely to cost more upfront, it’s worth considering this format does give you the extra flexibility for dynamic, changing messages without the extra costs of papering it up all over again.
Overall, billboard advertising is said to be 80% cheaper than TV advertising spots and 50% cheaper than print advertising, potentially giving you the benefits of a large reach for less.
How much your billboard advert will cost also depends on:
While it was once thought that billboards would be replaced by online advertising, new technology has helped them adapt and opens up lots of possibilities for your campaign. Here are four types of billboard you can choose from:
This is your classic, large-scale printed format. Traditional billboards have been effective for millennia and are ideal for campaigns you want to run for an extended period, particularly when your objective is to achieve broad brand awareness.
Dynamic and eye-catching, digital billboards offer rotating advertising slots, usually 8-10 seconds every minute. At their best, digital billboards allow you to easily change your advert to allow real-time messaging, even adapting to the weather or the time of day. Done well, digital billboards can increase your engagement by four times compared to traditional billboards.
Whether it’s taxi advertising or posters mounted on buses, mobile billboards can move your message through the neighbourhoods you want to target. This can help you reach a broader audience compared to a static billboard.
For a localised message, street-level billboards on bus stops, street kiosks or in shopping centres are great options for close engagement with your target audience. These are particularly helpful to increase footfall to your store, or for encouraging a call to action where a viewer has time to perform it, for example while waiting for their bus.
While measuring billboard effectiveness isn’t quite as easy as logging into your social media advertising dashboard, the good news is there are strategies you can use:
We hope this guide has left you confident understanding why billboard advertising works, and perhaps curious to use this medium for your brand.
At Hello Starling, we can help you explore all the opportunities for out of home advertising from billboards and bus shelters to your brand suspended from a stadium. We’ll work closely with you to choose the right media mix for your campaign.
Learn more about our out of home advertising services here and, when you’re ready…
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