You may be surprised I’m writing on billboards, particularly with my B-2-B emphasis. True, smaller B-2-B businesses probably shouldn’t use billboards, but there may be a few that can. For the most part, it’s B-2-C businesses that can make use of these huge messages in the sky, but even then you can waste money. Like in any marketing, your odds of success improve if you ask how to use the Principles of Relevance Marketing.
A Billboard Rarely has 7 Seconds
Unless your billboard is at a stoplight, or if there is a traffic jam, no one can spend 7 whole seconds looking at it. Please don’t look away from where you’re driving for that long; you’ll wreck. Passengers might take 7 seconds to look at one billboard, but the nature of travelling in a car is that you’re looking around and not focusing on one thing for more than a few seconds.
What Works with Billboards
• 7 Words or Less has been the typical rule of thumb for billboards. People will look up and can read about that many words in a reasonable time to take theirs eyes off the road.
Remember, no one writes down the words of a billboard while they’re driving along. Your message needs to be memorable – so make it about them. Let them remember your message of them succeeding.
If I had a well known company name and widely recognized logo for my marketing firm, and had the money for a billboard, I still wouldn’t put one up. BUT, if someone gave me a billboard and I couldn’t get a refund, I put up this:
RelevanceSells.com
This line uses the negative of the success idea to point to a lack. My marketing message is not really billboard friendly, but you get the idea. Any business owner seeing it and wanting to improve sales and profits just might remember my to-the-point website name.
• A Simple, Killer Picture can work well, but it has to be instantly identifiable, and there must be a recognizable logo, or company or product name to connect the picture with your marketing message.
There’s a local travel agency that puts up a picture of Hawaii with their logo in January every year – very attention getting here in Wisconsin. I could see a similar picture of Alaska working well in the South in July.
• Billboards work best Supporting an Existing Marketing Message. They make great re-enforcers of existing, known messages. This is another reason why billboards usually have poor ROIs for many types of small businesses, particularly B-2-B businesses.
3 Types of Small Business Billboard Successes
For the most part, your success with a billboard will be B-2-C as I’ve stated, but the last idea below could work for B-2-B.
Stand Out Seasonal Messages – Any seasonal message can make use of a billboard – the 4th of July for celebration opportunities and food, Mother’s Day for florists and other gift ideas, Christmas for all sorts of promotions.
For many retail businesses, the year-end holidays are the make or break time. Restaurants do a thriving business for parties, etc., but there are other opportunities for them as well. This past Christmas a local Italian restaurant put up the billboard, “Give the Gift of Garlic,” promoting their gift cards.
Highlight a Location – A billboard, permanently owned by a business can draw attention to a location that might for physical reasons be obscured from the naked eye. But don’t just make it your business sign, use it as an opportunity to get out your message.
I remember a well-established musical instrument store from my travels years ago – the exact city and state eludes me now. They were grandfathered into a mostly residential area – no new retail business would go in there now because of zoning. It wasn’t far from a major highway, but you really couldn’t see it too well from that road. They had a billboard right on their property – something else grandfathered in – and their yellow pages ad told everyone to look for the sign. They used their tag line in big letters across the top, and then the name of the store.
Working the Buzz – Many have written lately about the “Buzz.” This is a social phenomenon that any business can only pray for. Well, there are a few things you can do to try to stir up the Buzz, but luck plays a major role in it.
Simply, the Buzz comes from viral marketing – the public hears something clever or astounding about your company or product and they pass around the Internet your web page or a YouTube video about you. It also works to your detriment.
If you find yourself with the Buzz working for you, even if you’re B-2-B, you might want to consider a billboard as one possible way to capitalize on it. Of course, there needs to be a geographical advantage for using one. You probably won’t be able to put up a billboard in New York to capitalize on your sales Buzz if you’re several states away.
It’s only a certain percentage of small businesses that can justify using billboards, but if you’re one of them, use Relevance Marketing Principles to maximize your potential win.
