Ok, from the looks of things on the interstate many marketers don’t realize that their billboard gets about 6 seconds to be read, comprehended and soaked-in by their consumer. I may add a post in Rants and Raves later regarding the appropriate use of outdoor but, for now, this short post will get this off my chest. As a marketer who takes campaign marketing approach I try to work agnostic of media channel whenever possible. I am just as likely to deploy a TV spot, as direct-mail or a Tweet, depending on the goals and budget of the campaign.
When using outdoor, or any media for that matter, think about how it is consumed by the audience. You can’t judge a billboard by print standards; the design standards are amplified by the way the creative is consumed in the seconds they have while multi-tasking in a speeding car. I’m not a designer and this is not a design blog, but I do adhere to the rules of various media.
I’ll get to the point; most of the outdoor I see is a total waste of your marketing dollar. I believe there is a place for most types of media, with perhaps the exception of robo-calls. It is our responsibility as marketers to make sure that our budget is not wasted. With a billboard resist the urge to add to the ad. If a billboard is not the right media cut it from the campaign. So, for most of you there may be no ROI and if there is one you have no idea because it can not be tracked.
This post was driven by a seeing a series of truly useless billboards on I195 and 64W in Richmond, VA area. One particularly poorly done outdoor-board has a small “sign” within the sign made unreadable by its thin black font on a red background, REALLY? That is a “no, no” even in print and online advertising where time is not a factor. Oh, and by the way, if your billboard is digital it can be even more challenging to manage how consumers interact with the images.