Are billboards still effective in driving customers?

Blindspot is a company that has access to almost all the digital billboards in the US. You don't need to search more.

You all make a lot of sense.

I live across the street from 3 billboards, and I have spoken with advertisers on these for over a decade...as well as the companies themselves and the fellows hanging the wallpaper, as one told me that is what he did.

These are on the main street of town, and get a lot of local traffic.

But the most successful billboard in my town, and if anyone wants to see it, google maps 655 Portage Trail Cuyahoga Falls, OH, and then drop the little man on the KELLY insurance agency dot and you'll see the billboard.

The advantage of this one, over all the others in town, is it is in a parking lot of a Discount Drug Mart (area pharmacy/everything store) and one of the most popular Mexican restaurants in town.

So, not only do those driving by, although only in one direction, see it, so does everyone who comes to the store or restaurant and for more than a split second. The pic I see today is from Dec. 2022, and has Kreigers market on the left and Get Fit Nat on right.

Most days, and maybe later I'll go snap a photo of what is on all five of them, we see a lot of Realtors and Insurance guys, and I'm going to give an educated guess (because I asked) and most of the time that is CO-OP corporate advertising, with the big guy picking up most of the tab. Insurance especially has more money to spend on this type of co-op than any other industry. But big Realtor has some pretty deep pockets too.

In talking to those folks, many of whom I know, their agency probably would not be on the billboard without some corporate money involved. Once in awhile, one realtor will put her face up for a month, usually Spring as part of her campaigns, but she is been at it for decades and grew up in a successful brokerage her father owned. She is paying to be TOP OF MIND when it is time to sell your house, and she has tons of trophies and stacks of cash to prove it works for her.

Now the Kreiger store is very old, well known, but on one side of town, from this billboard, it is only 5 mins away...but in talking to them as to why they did this, it was because of the "fresh market" approaches of the Discount Drug Mart and down the street Giant Eagle. Because Kreiger is local, mom and pop, although a pretty good size one, unless you go that way often, it isn't top of mind, so they used this as a reminder they were still there.

They have a very loyal following, and it is the local GO TO place for farm to table fresh fruits, veggies and Ohio made things like jams and jellies.

Anyhow, like any advertising...doesn't it go to the INTENT? The OP asked the question in a very general way, so without knowing what he really has in mind, we offer our best guesses.

But to say billboard advertising doesn't work at all, it begs the question as to why they still exist? Some businesses have been using them for years and maybe some of that has to do with co-op funds available, but some of it doesn't.

Which is why I suggested he drive around town, and a parking lot billboard, especially in a high traffic high turnover rate (like grocery stores, pharmacies, fast food) might be a good option for a test...now of course, there is a skill and talent as to what to put on it...but I'm not ready to summarily dismiss the use of a billboard without knowing what the intent of the message is.

GordonJ

I think this is true. Billboards can be useful for reinforcing brand awareness. Regular commuters might pass the same board several times a week and this cumulative exposure has to have some kind of effect.

We should also remember that cars often contain more people than just the driver. Passengers, especially kids in the back, can be prime targets for billboard ads.

Then there's the location. In busy streets of large cities, the traffic often crawls along so slowly that drivers are able to learn the billboard copy by heart. And at popular urban intersections, pedestrians become part of the mix.

However, it's probably a medium best suited to larger corporations or brands that can use it to supplement a campaign.

The BEST billboards tend to be advertising for the billboard company itself. "Use Your Outside Voice" is a good example

What were your results when you rented a billboard?

Edit: The reason I ask this is because we spent almost 24K in the first quarter on advertising.

Because a couple of people stop by a Diner to get BBQ or something doesn't mean it's effective advertising...

so, I'm wondering if you have any direct experience with billboards since I know you're into marketing?

You said "So I know that billboards work.". But that's not true. You know that billboards are used. You know that people buy billboard ads. That's what you know, based on what you just said. And you suspect (probably correctly) that the barbeque billboard actually generates traffic and business. But that's not the majority of billboard ads.

But I like your example;

"BEST BBQ ON EARTH 5 MILES AHEAD" is an example where I can see the billboard actually bringing in customers. People are already going in the right direction....some of them will be hungry. This is an example of a billboard being used as an extended sign.

The billboards that really don't generate customers are the vast majority that we see. The ones with a clever slogan, and illustration, a phone number and an address. WAY too much information for a passing vehicle.

I have to say, I have talked to hundreds of retailers who have used billboard ads...and also dozens more in other industries. I have never seen one generate a profit, over the cost of the ad.

But there are other reasons to put out ads, rather than to generate customers. The real estate an insurance people are using the ads that will be approved for co-op. The company is paying for the ads, more than the actual professional.

And.....I hate to say this....but real estate and insurance people never study advertising at all. They don't test ads (or even know that testing exists). They go by feeling. And it feels good to have your name and photo up on a billboard. If they buy ads, it's from the first ad rep that calls on them with a good story. They aren't buying based on experience. Ask an insurance agent who advertises on a billboard how many of his new clients come from seeing his billboard.

I used to speak to groups of insurance salespeople at their conventions. I've yet to meet one that knew anything about advertising. Strangely, I've also never met an advertising salesperson (of any kind) that knew anything about advertising...I mean anything at all. Nor did they want to know anything about it.


This reminds me of advertising in movie theaters.

A friend of mine (who owned a store like mine) told me that he was going to be the 'exclusive vacuum cleaner retailer of advertise on the local theater screens". He was very excited.

But he was my friend, so I asked him several questions;

1)Do you ever take a pen and paper with you into the theater to write down the advertiser information?

2) Are you located next to the theater?

3) Are you even open when the theater goers come out of the theater?

4) Do you, or does anyone, talk about the ads they saw before the movie...when they come out of the theater?


It was going to cost him $2,000 to create the ad, and $1,200 a month to post the ad.....to perhaps a few dozen (mostly teenagers) in the dark...in an audience.

If billboard ads were profitable, you would see advertisers on several billboards in each town....and they would never come down.

But your example of the barbeque place ad may actually generate a profit for the business. See? Now we can all be friends.

I think it depends from people to people, me personally I don't really look at billboards with all your hype, personally I despise the way they are and could ruin many more scenaries when driving, so I say no, it's time to move on from giant billboards

^^^^Dan Kennedy, and Jay Abraham (and their students and Proteges) got rich, or at least made tons of moolah, by knowing what and how to test, and identifying prospects and using a THOUGHT OUT, researched marketing PLAN.

Abraham wrote books on extracting profits from businesses being run by people who DIDN'T KNOW some basic, rudimentary marketing. Some in this thread could easily convert their marketing knowledge into a cash cow by HELPING these poor fools out...and it is an evergreen endless Parade of Ignorance starting new businesses without any idea of what they are doing. There you go.

I think many of us can see the future failure of fellow Warriors by the questions they ask, and so many reveal how unprepared they are to be in business. Just my opinion.

Thanks animal44, your hammer hit this thread nail on its head.

GordonJ

If they could figure out a way to beam that digital billboard ad right to the onscreen display in my SUV I might call Mary at State Farm for a fantastic quote