Take it Outside
4 points to consider about outdoor advertising
By Robin Roberts
Seems you can’t park yourself at your city bus bench without confronting the smiling face of your local realtor. These ads are everywhere, so it must be the sign of an effective outdoor marketing strategy, right? Not really. At least not according to Kurt Lynn, founder and president of Toronto–based KLynn Business Consulting.
“Real estate ads are noteworthy in their insistence on showing an agent’s face but failing to make an offer, a common mistake of advertisers everywhere, large or small,” says Lynn.
Still, outdoor marketing (also referred to as out–of–home advertising) has its place, even in an internet–focused advertising age, judging by the roughly half–billion dollars advertisers spend a year on billboards, transit shelters and street furniture. Lynn offers four vital considerations to take outside.
Benefits
Every time your potential customers sit on that bench or sit in traffic staring at your billboard, they’re being exposed to your business. Even pedestrians passing by see your message over and over; it’s always there. Also, you’re targeting specific audiences, which are generally local.
And, as those smiling realtors know only too well, location, location, location is everything. A bus bench, billboard or poster in a high–traffic area of the city with unobstructed views will get more eyeballs than a similar sign in the ‘burbs. Even if you distribute flyers for your new sandwich shop you’ll have more success pulling in the local lunch crowd if you target office workers in the shop’s neighbourhood instead of delivering them across town.
Strategy
“There is no ‘best’ strategy, except in the context of cost vs. yield,” says Lynn. “The offer is the key to any successful campaign [which is where the realtors miss the boat – or bus]. Different offers can have huge differences in response. For example, an offer of bug repellant at 20 percent off is a stronger offer, typically, than a money–back guarantee on the bug repellent.”
A call–to–action is also smart, whether it’s on a flyer, billboard or bus bench. “Saying John’s Burgers Now $1.99! can often be improved by saying John’s Burgers, $1.99 Today and Today Only. Stronger still, and more specific, is John’s Burgers, Now $1.99! Bloor & Dovercourt. Come Today!”
Method
Lynn says any method you choose to advertise your business can be effective. “Outdoor advertising, like any advertising, depends on three factors: the list/audience, the offer being presented, and the presentation. The list/audience is who will see the advertisement. In a magazine, it’s the subscriber list. In a direct mail piece, it’s the mailing list. In outdoor advertising it’s traffic relative to a particular location. Whatever list/audience you select has a large bearing on the results of the ad campaign. Back to the bug example: If you put an advertisement for cosmetics at the entrance to a hiking trail, it’s not likely to be as effective as if you posted an ad for bug repellant.”
Budget
The typical small business of 10 or fewer employees usually operates on a tight budget, so digital superboards in Times Square are likely out of reach when considering an out–of–home marketing campaign. “Costs for outdoor advertising generally are based on location, time of year, format, frequency (usually for a minimum four–week run) and number of locations,” says Lynn.
Many businesses start with the most economical route, such as flyers. You can get 1,000 colour flyers printed at an office supply store, such as Staples, for about $370. Then you have to decide whether you want to spend more to mass mail them to your targeted audience or hand them out on the street yourself.
On the other end of the scale, a 14’x48’billboard in an average-sized city costs anywhere from approximately $8,000 to $18,000 (depending on location, directional face and traffic count), plus $2,000-$3,000 for production and installation. A bus bench ranges from $75 to $750; a transit shelter $650 to $1,500 depending on quantity, with an additional $75 to $150 production cost; a standard interior transit ad in Toronto, for example, ranges from $2,400 all the way up to $20,000, depending on area coverage, not including a $2,300 to $4,500 production cost.
Robin Roberts 