There’s a reason that so many highways are littered with billboards seemingly from end to end in this country. Billboards are an effective marketing and advertising medium, and they’re a popular way for brands to get their messages in front of the eyes of their consumers. Billboards can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and can promote any number of brands, services, or goods. In fact, the versatility and utility of billboards extends far beyond the scope of commercial goods. Billboards have also been used as a key tool in many political campaigns, in order to develop support for one candidate or another.
Billboards are designed to catch the eye of those passing by and generate interest in the person, brand, product, or service they’re advertising. This can be done in several ways, and often involves creating catchy, witty, or somehow memorable copy and design for the billboard.
The effectiveness of a billboard campaign can largely depend on the location of the billboard and the campaign, especially on a regional level. For instance, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles are some of the largest cities in the nation by population, and create prime real estate for billboard marketing campaigns.
That being said, other major cities like San Francisco also offer brands excellent billboard opportunities. SF billboards, and billboards in other heavily populated cities can be extremely effective in connecting consumers with brands. The following information covers some of the advantages that billboard advertising offers to modern companies.
Establishing a Wider Reach
Billboard advertising has a significant and unique ability to establish an extraordinarily wide audience reach. This is because of the way that billboard marketing is designed to work. While many modern day marketing tactics focus on creating personalized advertisements beamed directly to the fingertips of consumers, billboard advertising is more of a general and subtle advertising art. Though it’s important to note that most billboards are still designed with a target audience or demographic in mind.
In this way, billboards are much like television commercials in which they need to be designed for a massive amount of views, yet they’re still poignant enough to resonate with a specific target market.
With strategic placement in mind, brands can also position their billboard campaigns in optimal viewing spaces. This means lining the popular commuter highway entrances and exits with relevant and potent billboards, focusing on getting billboards in and around popular sport stadiums, and other event spaces that attract a lot of traffic on a regular basis. An effective billboard campaign that is strategically placed can be seen by thousands and thousands of people on a daily basis.
Honing in on Location
Location is especially important when it comes to a billboard campaign because they can also be used to attract the attention of tourists and others who are just passing through town. Again, this also highlights why big cities are billboard heavens, as many large metropolitan areas also have a healthy tourist industry.
Because of this, billboards can be used to help consumers from all walks of life find local and regional attractions that may be located in the city, or just on the outskirts of the city limits.
This is especially good for businesses, restaurants, attractions, and other establishments that find themselves located just outside of the big city, which can be a different type of atmosphere that appeals to a different consumer demographic.
Boosting Brand Recognition
In the same way that billboard campaigns often offer a much wider audience reach, they’re also quite effective at boosting brand recognition among consumers. Many consumers who find themselves commuting in and out of the city on a daily basis become familiar with the landscape of billboards that line their drive.
This repetitive and passive engagement with the billboard advertising is especially effective at creating long term memories and associations, which in turn, builds up brand recognition among consumers.
Traditional and Digital Billboards
Many marketing and advertising industries are becoming modernized, and billboards are no exception. Many billboards are now digital and feature a massive monitor hoisted up into the air. The digital monitor then displays the brand’s advertisements, just as a traditional billboard would.
However, digital billboards offer the creative designers more flexibility with animation and other digital capabilities, and also allow for multiple brands to share the digital space as it rotates through advertisements. While digital billboards are a bit more pricey, they can also be more engaging and fun for the consumers.
Final Thoughts
Billboards remain a popular and effective marketing tactic that many modern brands use today, even among a world that is addicted to social media and digital marketing. There are a plethora of advantages that billboard marketing can offer any company, especially if it’s well designed and strategically placed for optimal viewing.
