Many view billboards as being an old advertising tactic that sees your advertising budget sitting doing very little while digital and social media supposedly offer a dynamic platform for drawing in customers. The truth is that billboards are even more popular and relevant in the digital era.
A recent study by Business Research Insights highlighted that out-of-home globally was a USD$33b industry and set to grow to USD$50b by 2031. This is not a platform in decline. It also pointed out the various benefits of outdoor over other tactics such as social media and digital advertising. At CVO we couldn’t agree more and with our own client list expanding at a great rate we know many absolutely think they work.
So is it fair to compare the tactics? Not really. Advertising requires a good strategy and the use of your various tactics needs to be shaped to ensure you get a balance between brand recognition, prospect engagement and the ability to act on desire and go to purchase.
Billboards are often seen as simply a branding exercise. You are limited in terms of words and images you can use and the time viewed can be short. But again, it comes down to looking at each tactic and making the most of it in your mix.
Some of our long term clients do use their billboards just for branding, and some for local area marketing - highlighting that their business is here in your neighbourhood - and they work great at that. But we also see an increasing number who use them very effectively to not just brand recognition, but engagement and using both digital and billboards together. By doing this they are providing prospective customers with the chance to be exposed to the brand, understand if it's right for them and then later see in social media or digital a way to engage with the brand and go to purchase.
Other clients use billboards very effectively to lead prospects to purchase with the use of QR codes. CVO’s railside billboards are very popular for this tactic where dwell time at stations is high, and with people having phones in their hands, they can use the QR code and click through to special deals, more information or just enjoy videos or other content the brand may have.
Adding billboards to your mix, whether you are a local small business or a multinational, makes good sense when you use them the right way, to support your overall strategy. CVO are experts and always happy to help our clients develop the most effective creative and get it in front of the right people to drive new business.
