17 Oct How To Pick A Billboard Location
How To Pick A Billboard Location
In this post, we will show you how to pick a billboard location that gives you the opportunity to generate your business a ton of enquiries and sales.
The main factor to running a successful billboard advertising campaign is its location. We will guide you through the process of picking the right billboard location for your business.
Billboards have always been a very effective form of outdoor advertising. Over three billion pounds is spent on outdoor advertising each year and 62% of this revenue is on billboards.
Recent studies have shown that 74% of billboards within a motorists line of sight are noted and that 48% are read.
You’d have to agree that these are very attractive figures and whilst online advertising is rapidly growing, billboards are often overlooked by businesses. The main reason for businesses overlooking this effective format is the cost assumption. They assume that billboards are expensive – but that’s not the case. For example, a 48 sheet size billboard can cost as little as £100+vat per week.
In fact, billboards can be highly profitable, although if you’re wanting to run a successful campaign, first you should know how to pick a billboard location that meets your needs.
Pick a billboard location with good visibility
First off, the visibility of the billboard should be the main priority when picking that great billboard location. If the location has limited visibility, it’s going to have a big impact on whether or not consumers are going to see and engage with your message.
Factors to consider when picking a billboard location with good visibility:
- Ensure you pick a billboard that faces head on
Consumers aren’t going to go out of their way to look at your advert, it has to be readable in a short space of time whilst being passed at high speed. Make sure it faces head on to oncoming traffic and not parallel to the roadside.
- Make sure the billboard is placed at a readable height
Choosing a billboard high up on a building is only going to attract the birds. Ensure the placement of the billboard is in the motorists line of sight for maximum exposure.
- The best billboards have no visible interference
There are many billboards on the road with road signs, buildings, lampposts and trees in the way of the advert being displayed. You must make sure that nothing comes in the way of the passer by and your advertising message as this will seriously harm the performance of your campaign.
Choosing a billboard location based on demographics
In marketing, knowing your target audience is a fundamental part when it comes to achieving success. Not everyone is the right customer for your business, so it’s important that you’re engaging with the right people with the right message.
Once you have understood who your target audience is, such as age, gender, education, relationship status and average income, you should then pick a billboard location(s) in areas that they frequent.
For example, let’s say you own an e-commerce fashion site for young adults. Having a billboard near to a college or university is going to be really effective.
A great way to better where your target demographic is located is to use the Acorn user guide.
Pick locations that have a high traffic count
The more vehicles that use a road, the more people that would potentially engage with you advert. To get traffic count stats in the desired advertising, go to the Department for Transport and discover local authority traffic profiles and explore counts on the interactive map.
Want to target residents or commercial?
If you’re thinking of placing your billboard advert within a commercial area, then the chances are the majority of the traffic would be the trade who will travel past it multiple times throughout day. This will lead to a stronger recall of your message.
That’s great if you’re targeting a specific audience, although if you’re looking to target a mass audience then you’ll need to place your message within areas with large amounts of “chimney posts”.
How to pick a billboard for local and regional campaigns
If your company is reliant on customers from within the local area, then picking a billboard close to your premises would be a great idea. You can signpost potential customers within the immediate vicinity.
You may have a wider net to cast. For example, If you are a tourist attraction that welcomes visitors from a 50 mile radius, consider picking a billboard in each Town and City within that radius.
Pick a billboard near to bottlenecks
An RAC report mentions that seven in 10 commuters drive to work in rural areas and there are many roads in large towns/cities throughout the UK that suffer from congestion issues during peak times.
Roads that lead to roundabouts or traffic light junctions near city centres where a large pool of pedestrians are often crossing can lead to slow moving and static traffic.
Choosing a billboard that is close to these bottlenecks in a prime location can vastly increase your number of enquiries. Motorists have little or no choice but to look at the message being displayed on a billboard as they are stuck in traffic.
Finally….
Billboard advertising is the perfect way to reach a mass audience within a short space of time, but just like any other form of advertising, you must carry out the initial planning to identify the right billboard locations for your business – following the above factors will help you pick the right billboard location.
Once that you have decided on the locations, you can start designing the advert that will resonate with your target audience.
We at Amplify outdoor are experts in creating billboard advertising campaigns. Let our team of experts guide you through the design and planning process. We offer traditional and digital billboard advertising for businesses and brands of all sizes.
Please get in touch today matt@amplifyoutdoor.co.uk / 01202 670687 / 07557 373483