As kids, many of you probably read “Hansel and Gretel,” the famous fairy tale written by the Brothers Grimm. Now, think about the amazing marketing skills the witch from the story had! Knowing the preferences of her “target audience,” she turned her cabin into delicious-looking candy! This is how she managed to get the children’s attention.
Now let’s go back to reality. The possibilities of today’s marketing methods and PR techniques are practically endless. At the same time, risks are omnipresent, as well. Any interaction taking place between your audience and your brand may result in either your overwhelming success or devastating failure.
How does a business know what makes its clients tick? How do you use the multiple advantages of outdoor advertising to make your brand stronger? In this post, we’ll address these and other burning questions that will be useful for a company from any industry.
The biggest problem of outdoor advertising nowadays is that it’s aimed at a customer who is probably already fed up with marketing tricks that surround them on a daily basis. In the modern market, oversaturated with goods and services, a low-quality advertisement will only evoke a look of indifference, at best. In the worst-case scenario, your ad risks earning a scornful smile or even an annoying remark.
To avoid this destiny, you need to put a lot of thought into what your advertisement will look like. The first question you need to ask yourself is: “What goal is my ad pursuing?” In this regard, let’s see the main types of ads based on their goal.
Informative advertising enters the scene when you’re willing to share with your customers a piece of information they may find useful, for example, a new product launch, a new office opening, a contest, a special offer, discounts, etc.
Word of warning: informative advertising may be addictive. Avoid using it to update your target audience on the tiniest change or innovation in your business. Remember that customers are only interested in what is useful and beneficial to them. Be sure to filter the information you’re putting out there.
Placing a convincing ad, you emphasize the high quality of your products or services and encourage your audience to collaborate with you. If you manage to find the right approach to your public, it won’t be long before the customers appreciate your advertising efforts and you’ll see a long-awaited increase in demand for your products.
Be sure to use strong calls to action and demonstrate your advantages, but without pressure or unrealistic promises. Try to evoke sincere interest among your audience and make them distinguish your brand among all others.
With such diversity around, it’s quite common that a once popular product may, over time, become less attractive in your customers’ eyes. If you have a product that used to generate a good profit for your company, why not remind your customers of it? It’s a great way to breath a new life into something that will be equally beneficial for both your audience and your business.
Avoid the temptation of saving on the budget and using your old ads. Invest the resources into creating a new ad. Feel free to use the testimonials of the customers who liked your product in the past. Who knows? You may succeed in reviving the audience’s interest in your brand. Anyway, it’s worth a try!
To highlight the advantages of a product, it may be a good idea to compare it with its earlier models/versions or competitive offers. Whichever way you may take, be sure to make a comparison in a subtle and correct way so as not to lose your customers’ trust or face a justified lawsuit from your rivals.
Regardless of their goal, all outdoor ads share the same quality, which is the power to have a deep influence on your target audience and convert leads to loyal supporters of your business. In the long run, this will translate into sales gains and reinforce your brand recognition.
Have you ever been in a situation where you’re slowly walking past multiple cafés and restaurants in a busy street and suddenly feel the irresistible temptation to drop into one of them for a cup of coffee? Have you ever thought why you’ve chosen one place over the others? We bet it’s partly due to creative and catchy signage! If the owner of the place (whether it’s a café, beauty salon, or grocery store) managed to come up with smart signage, they automatically get lots of credit from potential customers.
When it comes to the first impression, striking your target audience with precise, edgy signage is crucial. In this case (but only in this case!), it’s safe to say that customers love with their eyes. Be sure to create signage that will attract customers like a magnet.
Illuminated – Illumination is a great visual effect for signs that feature a logo or word. Made of plastic, metal, glass, wood, and even foam plastic, fluorescent signs are instantly recognizable in the dark, which makes them an ideal choice for bars and late-night cafés. Another display option is a backlit sign where the light passes from the backside of your ad, creating a soft yet vibrant effect.
Regular – Made of metal, PVC, or polycarbonate, regular signs are almost useless at night because no one can see them. On the brighter (no pun intended) side, non-illuminated signboards will cost you much less than their glowing alternatives. When choosing between the two types, think about which one fits your business’s style best.
The very first billboards emerged in the early 20th century in the United States. As the number of car owners was growing, more and more companies were placing their ads on large, easy-to-notice billboards alongside busy highways. Since then, this type of advertising has significantly expanded its geography and today can be seen on building facades, trucks, etc. Billboards fall into three main categories:
Static – Static billboards are fixed, large-size posters that are installed on stationary structures. Searching the right place for a static billboard requires lots of strategic thinking because you can’t simply change its location if your ad proves to show poor performance.
Mobile – Mobile billboards are of smaller size and are installed on movable structures. You can see them right next to the entrances to cafés, travel agent offices, beauty salons, etc. Aimed at passersby, mobile billboards invite them to slow down and check out the products or services the company has to offer.
Digital – The most technologically advanced of the three, this type of billboard features a large video screen. Dynamic ads are an unbeatable way to grab the attention of your target audience. However, maintaining an LED screen is a true luxury because it consumes a huge amount of energy.
Lots of companies are using elevator and floor advertising to successfully boost their sales. Although this type of advertising is mostly placed inside crowded buildings (such as shopping malls, office spaces, and art galleries), it’s referred to as outdoor advertising because of its focus on a large audience.
If you own a travel agent’s office in a shopping center, you may consider benefiting from floor advertising. Commission a designer to create catchy stickers indicating your office location (floor, stand number, etc). While such stickers are often made in the form of an arrow or rectangle, try to come up with something unusual. Such graphics are sure to make the floor under the customers’ feet look less boring. But more importantly, they’ll literally guide new clients to your office! Ads can also be adhered to elevator walls and floors to create a high-impact advertising space.
Eye-grabbing banners are another way to increase your customer base and bring your company to a higher level. Banners have some undeniable advantages: they’re wear-resistant and rather cheap. All this makes banners a very popular type of advertising, especially among aspiring businesses that tend to count every dollar. The common materials used to make banners include silk, cotton, and vinyl. Due to their mobility, banners can be easily moved from one place to another until you find the best location in terms of promotion. There are two main types of banners.
Horizontal banner: A horizontal banner usually has the form of a rectangle. You can see numerous examples of horizontal banners above highways, on building facades, at stadiums, on theatre stages, etc.
Landscape banner: A landscape banner is a huge, dense canvas made of reinforced polyester fiber. It’s usually used to cover a building during renovation. Banners of this type are also referred to as “brandmauers.”
A relatively new type of outdoor advertising, brandmauers have gained popularity due to their versatility and impressive dimensions. Due to its big size, a brandmauer is hard not to notice, which makes them good at attracting people’s attention. Although brandmauers are pretty durable, serving 5 to 7 years, many companies can’t afford this advertising solution due to its high cost. Basically, a brandmauer looks very similar to a banner or billboard, with the only difference being that it is placed on the side of a building. This is a lot of space for revealing your creative potential! If a brandmauer won’t make a hole in your budget, be sure to explore this format to produce a “wow” effect on your audience.
When walking around the city late at night, you risk stumbling over a stander. This is probably the only drawback of this type of advertising. Placed right at the front door of a bar or an office, a stander — almost like an old friend — invites you to drop by and see what’s inside. And it works! A stander is really good at sparking the customers’ curiosity. Plus, it gives them a valid “excuse” to slow down for a moment, forget about their errands, and check out a new place that can offer them useful products or services. Low cost and mobility have made standers popular all over the globe (here we’re only talking about the cities where outdoor advertising is allowed by law). Light and easily movable, standers come in different shapes and formats:
А-shape: A-shape standers are metallic or wooden structures about 1 meter high. It’s not uncommon that a stander features a chalkboard that can be updated every day (this is a great solution for cafés and restaurants wanting to showcase the highlights of their menu).
Т-shape: These standers make you think of the letter T turned upside down.
Paperclip: A paperclip stander looks much like its A-shape counterpart. However, in this case, an ad is located in the center of the structure.
Digital: This is the most versatile (and costly) type of stander. It can display different photos or messages relevant to your target audience. For easier control, a digital stander can be featured with a simple navigation menu. But again, think about the price.
An advertising freeze is a long, narrow structure that is attached to a building facade, running from one wall to the other. Freezes are usually designed in one color. The biggest part of a freeze is occupied by a text (for example, a slogan, a special offer, etc.), while a company logo is placed at the beginning or the end. The logo height must not exceed 70% of the height of a freeze. Due to its huge dimensions and beneficial location, this ad format can grab your customers’ attention. Made of banner fabric or composite, freezes have already become an organic part of business.
Painted glass is an old decoration method that has successfully survived all our days and is used, among other things, in outdoor advertising. If your shop, beauty salon, travel agency, or hotel opens to a busy street with lots of foot and vehicle traffic, consider using an advertising film on your windows to attract customers. Plus, this way you won’t have to buy window shades! Unlike ancient masters, today we don’t need to create complex mosaic compositions thanks to high-tech adhesive materials. Here are the options you can benefit from:
Pressure-sensitive film: Letters and shapes are cut out of pressure-sensitive film and then adhered onto the window to make a unique, coherent composition. To create a volumetric graphic or highlight specific elements, you need to apply several layers of film on top of each other.
Full-color print on pressure-sensitive film: Colored film is a sure way to create a window that will turn heads! For better durability, it’s recommended to cover the film with a transparent protective layer.
Perforated film: Perforated pressure-sensitive film has gaps, allowing sunlight to come inside. If your facility opens to a shady side of the street, this simple yet smart solution can make your office look warmer and friendlier.
According to Professor John Philip Jones, a renowned advertising campaign expert, Russian businessmen are willing to spend about 16% of the company budget on outdoor advertising. Among American entrepreneurs, the number is only about 3%. There is no denying that clever outdoor advertising can skyrocket your sales. However, overspending can be dangerous, especially for young companies that are usually pressed for money. How do you create an effective advertisement without spending a fortune on it? Let’s see some useful tips.
In general, outdoor advertising does not last long. Trends are changing, materials are wearing out, companies are re-evaluating their strategies… Plus, customers are getting tired of seeing the same ad for months. Sooner or later, your signage or banner will need updating. Avoid spending tons of money on an ad that will serve you for 2 to 3 months: it’s simply not worth it!
If you have several outdoor advertising locations, be sure to invest most of your budget in the one that has the biggest contact with your target audience. Choose busy parts of the city with lots of foot and vehicle traffic. Remember that your goal is to display your ad to as many people as possible.
Trends can be tricky and can become a black hole for your budget. In pursuit of modern tendencies, you risk wasting all your money and never getting the effect you want. Following trends must not be your ultimate goal. If you manage to put together a strong message, legible font, and clever colors, that can be more than enough for the start.
If your products or services fail to live up to the image created by your ad, your customers may feel disappointed and deceived. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Avoid picturing your product better than it is in real life. Be honest with your audience, and they’ll appreciate it.
When planning your advertising budget, take the time to analyze the decisions of your strongest competitors. What parts of the city do they choose for their ads? What do their ads look like? What do you think they could’ve done better?
A common problem occurs when advertising stirs interest in your product but still fails to boost your sales. If your efforts are not generating enough profit, you need stop investing money in your banners in the hope for a miracle. Analyze your ad performance and cost efficiency. Identify the weak spots that keep your leads from becoming your customers.
Creating an outdoor ad by yourself is a great idea, especially as far as the budget is concerned. But do you have all the necessary skills and resources to come up with a competitive signboard or stander? An ad that looks amateurish will hardly generate a steady flow of customers for your business. On the contrary, it may bring down the reputation of your company once and for all. The checklist below will give you an idea of what it takes to make and install an outdoor ad.
As you can see from this list, making a simple signboard requires expertise in various, often unrelated, fields. You need to know (or be willing to learn) the basics of graphic design, electricity, tax regulation, etc. If you’re not easily scared, go for it! In case of any doubts or difficulties, you can always consult a professional in the specific field.
But what do you do if you’re not a fan of manual labor but still want to contribute to making your signboard? One of the possible options is to design your ad in a graphics editor and leave the rest of the production process to a team of professionals. In a couple of weeks, you’ll see a beautiful signboard decorating the entrance to your office or café.
While there are numerous ways of grabbing the attention of your target audience, outdoor advertising is one of the most effective. This method has been working for deccades and shows no signs of losing its grip. Now that we’ve highlighted the key pieces of information on this topic, it’s your turn! Remember your goals, know who your audience is, and stay loyal to your business’s identity. By following these simple rules, you can build a healthy advertising campaign and acquire new clients with no stress!
Disclaimer: The content on this page is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.
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