Outdoor Adverising When people think of Outdoor Advertising, they usually think of the colorful billboards along our streets and highways. Included in the "outdoor" classification, however, are benches, posters, signs and transit advertising (the advertising on buses, subways, taxicabs and trains). They are all share similar advertising rules and methods. Outdoor advertising reaches its audience as an element of the environment. Unlike newspaper, radio or TV, it doesn't have to be invited into the home. And it doesn't provide entertainment to sustain its audience. Some Outdoor Advantages Since it is in the public domain, Outdoor Advertising assuredly reaches its audience. People can't "switch it off" or "throw it out." People are exposed to it whether they like it or not. In this sense, outdoor advertising truly has a "captured audience." It's messages work on the advertising principle of "frequency." Since most messages stay in the same place for a period of a month or more, people who drive by or walk past see the same message a number of times. Particular locations can be acquired for certain purposes. A billboard located a block in front of your business can direct people to your showroom. Or you can reach rural areas efficiently by placing a billboard in each small town. Outdoor advertising is an excellent adjunct to other types of advertising you are doing. In fact, it is most effective when coupled with other media. Some Outdoor Disadvantages Outdoor advertising is a glance medium. At best, it only draws 2-3 seconds of a reader's time. Messages must be brief to fit in that 2-3 second time frame. Ninety-five percent of the time, either the message or the audience is in motion. The nature of the way you have to buy outdoor advertising (usually a three month commitment) is not conducive to a very short, week-long campaign. When you buy outdoor advertising, remember that location is everything. High traffic areas are ideal. A billboard in an undesirable area will do you little good. Keep your message concise (use only five to seven words) and make it creatively appealing to attract readership. Few words, large illustrations (or photos), bold colors and simple backgrounds will create the most effective outdoor advertising messages. This article is used with the permission of YoungEntrepreneur.com. Outdoor advertising is an appealing option due to its ability to target geographically and its extremely low cost per person reached. The problem is that billboards can easily become invisible. How many billboards do you drive past each day without seeing them? Yet others will seemingly smack you in the face. Today I'll explain the difference. But first we'll need a brief definition of terms. The term "billboard" is generally applied to two different sizes of postings. The most common of these is the 30-sheet poster. Measuring 12 feet by 24 feet, posters are applied in strips like wallpaper, and the space where they're posted is contracted in 30-day increments. Most communities are pocked with posters, with monthly costs typically ranging from $350 to $650 per location, plus printing. Poster printing is rather expensive when you wish to print only a few copies, but when the volume exceeds a few dozen of the same image, posters usually cost between $85 and $125 per board. If your need for exposure isn't time-sensitive and you're not fussy about locations, you might approach your local outdoor company with an offer to purchase unsold space on a stand-by basis at a reduced cost, usually about 40 to 50 percent off the published rates. To purchase on a stand-by basis, you'll need to keep a supply of posters available at the warehouse of the outdoor company and give them blanket permission to post your showing without first having to call and get your approval of locations. The general theory of stand-by is that you can have a double helping if you're willing to eat scraps, but if you want to order off the menu, you get to pay the prices on the menu. The primary benefit of posters is that they stay in one location for only 30 days. One of the reasons that a billboard will become invisible is that your brain becomes used to seeing it there. This is why you're most likely to notice a new board immediately after it's posted. Usually within 30 days, it will have become invisible. If an outdoor company tries to persuade you to leave your posters at each location for longer than 30 days, be sure to tell them no. Chances are, you'll get a free ride at the end of your 30-day contract anyway, due to the fact that no one else was waiting in line for your locations. The second type of billboard is called a bulletin. Measuring 14 feet by 48 feet, bulletins have a much longer profile than posters, similar to the aspect ratio of a movie screen when compared to a television screen. Bulletins aren't paper, but are usually a single sheet of vinyl with the message printed by a machine that resembles a huge ink-jet printer. You should budget $1,500 to $2,000 for printing each vinyl bulletin. Fortunately, these vinyl faces have at least a two-year lifespan before they begin to fade. Unlike posters, bulletin locations can be contracted for periods of 12 months, though I don't recommend this unless your billboard is a directional, providing driving instructions such as "3 blocks ahead on your right." A rotating bulletin is usually a good plan, as it moves your message to a new location each month. Monthly bulletin costs can range from $1,000 per month to $4,000 or more per month in high-traffic areas. Speaking of traffic, don't be fooled by so-called "daily traffic count." A neighborhood location and a highway location may have similar traffic counts, but the neighborhood location is counting the same few people at least twice a day, every day, while the highway location is counting mostly new people each day. Consequently, a highway location may have reached 50 or 60 times more people at the end of a month, though "daily traffic count" was the same as for the neighborhood location. Generally speaking, billboard locations lower to the ground are better than those that are higher, since the eyes of drivers are focused at windshield height. Likewise, closer to the road is better than further away from the road, and right-hand boards are much better than left-hand boards, since drivers are unconsciously watching for cars to enter the stream of traffic from their right. Expecting a driver to notice a billboard on the opposite side of oncoming traffic is ludicrous. The only purpose of such a board is to reach the passengers in a car. Consequently, it is of significantly less value. I would expect to pay at least 30 percent less for a left-hand read than for a right-hand read in the same location. Now for the hard part: Your billboard design must include a riveting picture, and your message cannot exceed eight words. The most common mistake made by new outdoor advertisers is that they will attempt to use billboards to deliver longer messages than billboards are capable of delivering. Have your board designed by an experienced outdoor artist, and you'll be fine.