When it comes to advertising, startups are often on a tight budget and must make every dollar count. Moreover, some startups prioritize their budget on other operational expenses. This is why most prefer digital advertising strategies like social media marketing, email campaigns, and putting up their own websites. Statistics suggest that as much as 92% of start-up owners believe marketing through their websites is the most effective strategy.
This is a contributed post and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Meet The Harris Family.
Still, there are other traditional marketing techniques that continue to be used, like billboard advertising. However, in the prevalence of digital marketing, are billboards worth the investment? Let’s determine if it’s a viable option for your startup.
Reach Potential Customers Quickly and Easily
Billboard ads are highly visible and can be seen by thousands of people in an area. This means that you don’t have to spend money making sure that your target audience sees the advertisement. Additionally, because billboards are placed in strategic locations, you can reach a wide range of potential customers who may not have been aware of your business before seeing the ad.
Billboard ads can be easily viewed by people driving by, walking through an area, or even riding public transit. With an estimated 70% of Americans driving on highways every day, your ad can reach more people than any other form of advertising. Moreover, billboards have been proven to have high recall rates-which means that when people see your ad on a billboard, they tend to remember it better than if they saw it on TV or online.
Because of this recall effect, this may be the reason why most businesses, especially those targeting a wider audience, still choose large-format advertising, and partner with signage tarpaulin printing advertisers who provide them with billboards and other large outdoor signages. In the US alone, there are a total of more than 350 thousand billboards put up in 2021.
Cost Effective Advertising
One of the best things about billboard advertising is that it is surprisingly cost-effective. While other forms of advertising require ongoing payments for placement in various publications or media outlets, billboards can be purchased from a provider who will then rent them out to you for a fixed fee each month. The average cost for billboard advertising is $850, with a $5.14 median CPM (cost per thousand). This means that as little as $6 dollars were spent for every thousand views.
That means that you only have to pay for the time that your ad is up-not before or after-and you don’t have to worry about paying extra fees just to get your ad in front of people.
Additionally, billboard ads tend to have longer shelf lives than other forms of advertisement as they remain in place for several weeks at a time.
Flexibility
Finally, billboards offer the flexibility to change out advertisements as often as you’d like without having to incur additional costs. This allows you to keep up with trends and current events while also testing different messages and visuals without too much risk. This advantage is what makes billboard advertising on par with more digital marketing techniques like display advertising, social media posts, and even video content creation.
Limitations
Usually, billboard advertisements are associated with large-scale companies targeting wider-reach audiences, like franchise restaurants, automotive dealerships, banks, and others. As a startup, your budget may be limited that you won’t be able to maximize its use. This means that it could be difficult for small startups with limited budgets to invest. However, should billboard advertising be part of your marketing resources, you can maximize your billboard budget by optimizing location, target audience, and content. Companies like Movia advocate these types of optimized billboard advertising by promoting new technologies like mobile billboard campaigns, where they advertise brands through large-scale billboards on trucks and buses to reach a wider audience.
Additionally, while billboards may be highly visible and reach many people, they do not provide any information about your product or service other than its name and logo which can limit how effective they are at driving sales or leads. However, some companies turned it into an advantage instead. By utilizing digital techniques like QR codes, these billboards turn into interactive pieces that advertise full information about the company.
In conclusion, billboard advertising has both advantages and disadvantages when it comes to startups looking for effective advertisement strategies. On one hand, billboards are highly visible and can reach a wide variety of potential customers without requiring any additional spending; however, they can also be very expensive which makes them out of reach for many smaller businesses with limited budgets. Ultimately, each business must decide if billboard advertising is right for them based on their resources and goals. However, if done correctly, this type of advertisement can be very effective in helping small businesses get their names out there and drive more sales or leads.
