How To Create An Effective Outdoor Advertising Campaign
Guest Blog by Abhishek Sinha
Traditional advertising has been around since marketing began, and it's still holding strong for one main reason: it works. Outdoor advertising in particular is a great way to reach a wide audience that may otherwise not have even known your business exists.
Whether it's a high-in-the-sky highway billboard — or outdoor signage that's placed atop your company's building — people will pay attention when you create a strong campaign.
Like most things in life, there's a bit of art and science involved with buying billboard space. The process isn't just about putting a message out into the world; it's about crafting a successful campaign that incorporates all the elements unique to your business's advertising needs.
In this article, we'll walk you through best practices so you can put together an effective outdoor marketing strategy that drives audience engagement.
1. Create Shareable Content
This is rule No. 1 for any type of advertising in today's world. Outdoor campaigns can get a lot of exposure if you create a gimmicky hashtag that draws people to your social media sites after they stumble upon your traditional signage. A little creativity can go a long way in bringing your campaign full circle in a place where traditional advertising meets digital engagement.
To create a hashtag, make sure:
- It's short enough people will remember it
- It doesn't contain strange spellings that will cause confusion when people try to use it
- It's relevant to your brand
Outdoor signage is also shareable when it showcases a fun play on words or stirs up conversations with interesting pictures or points of view.
2. See What Your Competitors Are Doing
Get in the car and take a drive. Naturally, you'll want to see what the competitors in your area are doing in terms of their outdoor advertising campaigns, but it's also important to expand your reach beyond your company's footprint.
Remember, you can glean just as much insight from bad campaigns as good ones. Bring someone with you on your journey so you can take notes. What stands out and makes you pay attention? Which signs seem like they'd turn people away, and why? Don't just pay attention to signs of companies within your industry; open your eyes to other industries, as well. Take pictures, if you're able, so you can more easily translate your likes and dislikes to your sign consultant when you're ready to build your campaign.
3. Work Toward a Positive ROI
That seems obvious enough, right? It's not always that simple with signage. Often, people think they'll yield better results by putting five smaller signs in various places, but if there's a single piece of real estate that will yield you more eyes than all five of those signs put together, one sign is a better deal. In this case, you may be spending more money on a single sign, but the value it brings to passers-by far surpasses the savings you'd get on the smaller signs that aren't seen by as many people.
4. Steer Clear of Clutter
People will only see your sign for a few seconds, at best. You don't want to fill it with tons of images and words because people's brains won't have time to adjust to the content as they're driving. Instead, opt for a minimalist creation that lets a single image and one or two phrases speak for themselves. As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Stunning visuals will tell your business's tale without overwhelming people.
5. Be Consistent
Weird can certainly get people talking, but if your message isn't consistent with your brand, people won't respect your advertisement. Creating confusion among your target market will almost always backfire. Stay true to your brand voice to help ensure the best results.
An effective outdoor advertising campaign can be really fun to create once you have the basic layout of the land. Know your strategies going into the process so you're armed with as much information as possible. This will enable your sign consultants to create optimal outreach with your mission and values at the foundation.
Author bio: Abhishek Sinha is a project manager at Bannerbuzz, a state-of-the-art printing technology with more than 25 years in the sign business. Sinha plays the lead role in planning, executing, monitoring, controlling and closing projects.
