Marketing Quick Tips: Billboards

By Rich Harshaw

If you read my blog posting about Wall Drug, then you know I’m a fan of the billboard.

But you don’t have to have 115 billboards in a fifty-mile stretch of road for them to be a meaningful contributor to your marketing plan. With a little research and a good, creative message, billboards can work for medium to larger-sized remodeling companies. Here are few tips for incorporating billboards into contractor marketing:

Tip 1: To Billboard Or Not To Billboard: Don’t start thinking about the specifics of your billboard campaign until you’ve first carefully evaluated whether or not billboards even make sense for your marketing situation.

Billboards, almost by definition, are more of a branding/farming activity than a direct response one. With the exception of directional billboards (exit here for a restaurant, hotel, etc.), billboards should be part of a larger marketing campaign that will serve to extend your brand’s reach and nudge people to remember what they already know about you from exposure to your other advertising. Radio and billboard go well together since both are experienced (primarily) while driving. The key here is to educate people about your company and identity (brand promise) in other media so they already know who you are, what you stand for, and why you’re a good choice to buy from. Then the billboard does its job by triggering that pre-existing information in their brain.

What this really means is you probably shouldn’t use billboards as the first or second item on your advertising checklist. Consider setting a strong foundation with radio, TV, direct mail, newspaper, etc… then “boost” their effectiveness with a billboard campaign when your budget allows.

Tip 2: Put Some Eyes On It: Never buy a billboard that somebody you trust hasn’t seen with their own two eyes. Yes, I know the billboard companies will provide pictures, but you can’t always tell the full story from those. Your best bet is to get a “right hand reader,” which means the billboard is on the right side of the road, and therefore closest to the cars that are passing it… and in the natural line of sight for a car’s passengers. Second best is a “cross-reader,” which is a billboard on the left side of the road, which might make them harder to see. But neither one is a sure bet to be good or bad—you have to see the entire context of the position of the board to know for sure. I’ve seen plenty of right hand readers that were placed just after a bridge, which only allows people a split-second view. Some cross readers are plainly visible and will work fine. Just make sure you see it before you buy it so you know for sure.

Tip 3: Get Out Of The Crowd: Generally speaking, the more billboards on a given stretch of road, the worse. It’s common sense: if there are ten billboards in a mile stretch, they’re more likely to blur together and go unnoticed by drivers. Ideally, your billboard will be the only one that is clearly visible from a range of 100 yards.

Tip 4: Brand Consistency: Make sure your billboards have a consistent look and feel both with each other and with your other marketing materials. You should already have a definitive brand color and color scheme that appears on your website, print materials, advertising, trucks, etc…. Remember, your billboard should be triggering their brain to remember what they already know about your company, so your color, look, feel, style, and themes will enhance that recognition.

Tip 5: Keep It Simple: It goes without saying, but billboards present some significant challenges for the readability of your message. Billboards should generally be limited to three to seven main words (i.e., not including phone numbers, web addresses, etc.) so that people can read it at 60 MPH and absorb the message. Don’t fall for thinking that people will pass the billboard several times a week and therefore have a chance to “read the rest of the sign.” Also make sure: the words are big enough to read; there is enough color contrast so the words pop off the billboard; the font is clean, clear, and simple; don’t put words on top of images (EVER! Not just on billboards!).

Tip 6: Funny Business: Like any other advertising, getting noticed is half the battle. Since space is limited anyway—I’m a fan of using cute, clever, and creative words and images to capture attention. Don’t go crazy with this; and don’t delve into obnoxiousness… but see what you can come up with. Here are a few ideas I came up with for a home services company:

• PhD in PDQ (fast service)
• Greased Lightning (fast service)
• Fix. (fast service)
• Orange Ya Gonna Call Us? (picture of their signature orange trucks)
• Faster Than A Speeding…. (picture of signature orange truck)

Tip 7: Phone & Email: Anytime you utilize a non-print advertising method, you need to make sure you’ve got a good, memorable phone number and web address. You can research good phone numbers at TollFreeNumbers.com; I highly recommend going toll-free due to the large number of area codes in most areas. Don’t worry, for most parts of the country (small towns excepted), people won’t be scared off by 800 numbers. Also make sure your web address is easy to remember!!

Tip 7: Keep It Going: Billboards are not for those who want to put a toe in the water! As stated above, they are more of a branding tool to be used in combination with other advertising. Don’t run billboards for a month or two (or six!) then quit. Find a good spot, put up a good message, and let your silent salesman sit there and remind everyone about you for years to come. Change up the messaging every four to six months (negotiate this into your contract) and you will find success.

Tip 8: Rolling Billboards: Last thing…. if you’ve got trucks rolling around town, I highly recommend spending the money to get them wrapped so you can turn them into mobile billboards. I was with the client mentioned above (with the signature orange trucks) one morning driving with him in his car to his office. During the short ten-minute drive, I counted eleven plain white service trucks from his competitors. PLAIN WHITE! The few thousand dollars it costs to wrap vehicles will pay off many times over in found sales!

Advertising Checkup: Want to know if your advertising will work? We’ll perform a marketing plan analysis and give you a number grade from 0 to 100, so you’ll know for sure if your contractor marketing efforts are up to snuff. Just fill out this form and we’ll contact you to schedule a time to discuss. Important! Please DO NOT fill this form out if you do not intend to actually meet with us to discuss. We have to invest a substantial amount of time and work into preparing these reports. Thanks!

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© 2015 – 2016, Rich Harshaw. All rights reserved.