Sometimes it seems like our devices can actually read our minds instead of just hear us and send us targeted ads. The other day I was thinking about how much it would cost to advertise on a billboard and if it would even be worth it, as I drove from New Jersey on the Walt Whitman bridge back to Philly. There are tons of billboards as you drive across and I’ll be honest, they do catch my eye. They’re creative and attention grabbing. Not to mention, absolutely massive in size. Shortly after this thought crossed my mind, I got an email from my daily HubSpot with their weekly blogs. Low and behold, there was an article there all about billboard advertising. The web strikes again to read my thoughts and slightly terrify me. Just kidding. But seriously, it turns out this type of marketing isn’t dead. Far from it really. “32% of people like them and 9% like them a lot,” according to a 2022 Statista dataset. Another study from Solomon Partners in the HubSpot blog shows that, when it comes to out of home ads, 86% of people remember printed ads and 84% remember digital.” These are the highest of all types of advertising, which included: T.V. (linear & streaming), audio (podcast & radio), online (mobile & desktop), OOH (print & digital, and lastly, just print ads alone.
There are many benefits to billboard advertising it turns out. It allows brands to target very specific locations to increase brand awareness in that area. There’s also a guarantee that eyes will be on your ad. I know I’m guilty of clicking out of every digital ad that gets in the way of what I’m doing on the web. They’re annoying sometimes. It can help your brand get more exposure and diversify your audience. Oh yea, and they’re up 24/7 for the allotted time frame. Apparently, billboard ads contribute to impulse purchases. For some reason 68% of people make impulse buys while driving (True Impact Media). Who knew right? So, now for that second question. How cost effective is billboard advertising?
There are a few factors to consider when adding up the costs of billboard advertising. Location, demographics of the area, circulation of traffic and impression numbers. These things considered, it can cost roughly $850 for a month. If you’re looking at a rural area it could be as cheap as $250/month. The most expensive places, such as times square could be around $50K.
Impressions are calculate based on:
1. Circulation of the area
2. Actual size of the board
3. How closely it’s placed to the road
4. Visibility
5. Traffic speed by the board
So, with all of these factors considered in pricing and benefits, is it worth it? Well, we think so but it will depend on your brand industry. For example, a lot of people learn about local events, insurance, law, etc. if you’re a local venue or business it’s very worth it for your brand. ROI on billboard advertising in general is about 40%, which is actually a little low for advertising standards of 10:1 ratio. You can do the math on those numbers but it isn’t great. There will be many factors to consider when deciding whether or not your brand will benefit from billboard ads. All the information above should be considered as well as your reasoning.
