Bill Cherry
Outdoor advertising
Outdoor advertising is often referred to as billboard advertising. Some people think it can be junky also but it can be very effective reaching a target audience with a sales message.
Messages of many kinds of products and services are very effective with outdoor advertising. Short but powerful messages like “Got Mike” or Nike’s “Do it” work the best.
Advantages of outdoor advertising
1. Outdoor advertising can reach a larger number of people than TV, radio, newspaper or any other mediums. In fact if you buy enough billboards you can reach 99% of any market.
2. With outdoor advertising you can target specific geographic areas.
3. Outdoor advertising reaches people when they are driving.
4. Outdoor advertising can have dramatic impact with large compelling photographs and short powerful messages.
Disadvantages of outdoor advertising
1. Outdoor advertising can sometimes be expensive. (the cost per thousand is high)
2. A billboard has limited space for a message.
3. The billboard has only a few seconds to get the attention of the driver and communicate the message.
Outdoor advertising cost
Outdoor advertising is purchased in what is called a” showing.” A showing is how many people will see the billboard message in a week’s time. A 20 showing is a certain number of billboards that will reach 20% of the market, a 50 showing reaches 50% of the market, and a 100 showing is a larger number of billboards that reach 100% of the market with the advertising message.
Various kind of billboard advertising
In addition to standard billboards you can advertise on transit such as buses. A billboard on the side of the bus that has no doors is called the King side. The side that has the doors is called the queen side, an of course there is the back side. You can advertise on a group of busses on any of the three sides of a bus. Is it effective? You bet. A moving billboard works.
Design of the billboard message
One of the biggest mistakes advertisers make when designing a billboard is putting too much material on the board. The target customer only has a few seconds to see the message and understand it. Pay attention to the billboards the next time you are driving and you will see plenty that have too much information to read in three seconds.
The next big mistake is not having a large photo to grab the driver’s attention. The photograph should take up at least one third of the billboard space and it should be striking, unusual, or clever.
The words on the billboard should be few. Again, pay attention to the billboards the next time you are driving. Which ones get your attention? What elements get your attention?
The words should be limited, to the point, and large. Don’t pick ugly colors…please. It makes viewers what to poke their eyes out! Even graphic designers don’t always understand how to design billboards. Give photos of billboard examples you like to the graphic designer.
The super large billboards you see on the freeway are very expensive but you get what you pay for…more eye balls to see your message. Buy them if you can afford them. Outdoor advertising can be fun to create and fun to see. Goggle award winning outdoor advertising for some good ideas.
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