Many often ask us, what makes a good billboard? While there are many different aspects to creating a captivating billboard, there’s usually a fixed set of rules that help to gear it up to optimally perform for its intended audience. Typically, effective billboards consist of three different factors. When these factors are considered, and their respective qualities are integrated into the billboard, then you have a billboard that is enjoyable to view and very easy to understand. From this, the billboard is able to entice the viewer to consider and learn more about what is being offered.
This message can be as simple as “buy our pizza”, but the message must be clear and concise so that the viewer knows exactly what is being conveyed. Without this clarity, it’s far more likely that whoever sees your billboard will be uncertain as to what, exactly, is being conveyed.
Every effective billboard has a clear and concise message. Most people don’t stare at billboards for very long, and because of that, it’s unwise to use a billboard for conveying large amounts of information and complex messages.
Instead, a billboard must have a clear and concise message that is well-defined and easy for the viewer of the billboard to understand. To give you an example of this, if you are offering a free wellness consultation for people with back problems, then your billboard should consist of an image that conveys the difficulties of dealing with back problems, and how you offer a free solution. But, since this is a billboard, there’s no need for you to dive into how you will solve the problem. Instead, you just need to entice the viewer to want to learn more about what you are offering.
To define the message that you are going to be conveying, you must think about what you are advertising, the main benefit that you are offering to customers, and then what they can do to receive what you are offering. By doing that, you will understand what it is that the billboard needs to convey, and then you can work on finding a way to convey it.
Have a clear and concise message that is easy to understand
More often than not, this message consists of what is being offered, a strong benefit that it offers, and then a call-to-action that allows the viewer to receive what’s being offered
To do this, you must define what you are offering and the value that it offers, before designing your billboard
Use Seven Words Or Less
Most of the people who will be seeing your billboard have very little time to process what a billboard is saying. Because of that, using seven words or less ensures that whoever sees your billboard has time to read it and to understand what you are offering.
Most of the people who see your billboard will do so while driving. On average, a driver has around five-to-ten seconds to see your billboard, to read it, and to understand it. That’s not enough time to read along and overly wordy billboard, but that’s plenty of time to absorb a simple and memorable image, as well as a sentence that encapsulates what you’re offering and entices the viewer.
What’s important to remember, though, is that billboards are a visual medium. Words are incredibly useful at doing things such as creating memorable slogans or elaborating on specific pieces of information, but it’s unwise for your billboard to rely too heavily on words. Instead, words should serve as a supplement to the images, rather than the other way around.
Most of the people who will see your billboard only have five-to-ten seconds to read and understand it
Using seven words, or less ensures that they have time to read the billboard
Billboards are a visual medium, so use the words to elaborate on specific points or to create a slogan that is memorable and explains your product, rather than relying on words alone
Integrate Words And Images To Create Something Memorable
What makes a good billboard can factor how well others can remember it. Integrate words and images to create something memorable. While billboards rely on words, they are primarily a visual medium. As such, it’s very important that you integrate words and images in a manner that effectively conveys what you offer while doing so in a memorable and distinctive manner.
Billboards are, primarily, a visual medium. Words are often used as tools for elaborating on specific points or for conveying a certain piece of information that will entice the viewer of the billboard to learn more, but they are rarely used for more than that.
To integrate words and images in an effective manner, you must define the overall message of your billboard, and then you can begin thinking about the images that you can use to effectively convey that message.
For example, if you are offering free wellness consultations that are designed to help with back problems, then you could convey that using a picture of a man’s back that is covered in a dark, silver color. This image conveys the pain of having back problems, and the feelings of being weighed down and immobile that back problems often come with.
With that image, you can then use a couple of words that convey the solution that you offer – in this case, a wellness consultation. There’s no need for you to explain the solution that you offer in great detail, instead, you can simply tell the viewer that you offer a solution. This will spread awareness of your services, while also enticing those who are dealing with back problems and would like to find a solution.
To make your billboard as memorable and as effective as it can be, you must focus on creating memorable images and designs first, because those are the first things that the viewer will see. Then, you can use words to further enhance the billboard and its message.
Uses image and words in an effective and memorable manner
Billboards are visual mediums, so it’s important that they rely more on visuals than words
To make a billboard that is memorable, it’s important to use large and distinct images, rather than multiple images
Words must supplement the images – and message – rather than having to explain the images
Think about your message and the images that will convey it first, and then think about the words you would like to use
If you’re one of the people who believes outdoor media and billboard advertising is outdated in our modern times, you might be wrong. In fact, they’re still a very efficient and successful method of communicating advertising messages, especially in Puerto Rico. As a matter of fact, the most successful companies around the globe use this within their advertising strategies. No matter the size or purpose of your business, it’s extremely likely that using outdoor media could be beneficial to your brand.
Additionally, media billboards and outdoor advertising methods doesn’t have to be a very costly investment. You don’t need to find any outdoor media for sale, instead you can simply rent space on the billboards that we already maintain for our loyal clients.
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Understanding how your company operates and evaluating your target audience can really help to decipher whether or not media billboards are the best method of advertising for your company. There are plenty of ways to measure these data points, and bMedia offers due diligence in analyzing market sizes, potential audience sizes, and estimating conversions based on your unique advertising campaign. Contact us to learn more about our process and implementation for our media billboards.
Creativity and Out-of-the-Box Ideas
Before hiring an outdoor advertising company, it’s a good idea to take a look at their existing outdoor media campaigns. Creativity and originality is an important factor to creating engaging and highly converting campaigns. There are many different methodologies to deploy including:
Humor
Scarcity
Emotional Sentiments
Simplicity / Minimalistic
When bMedia evaluates target audiences, we can assess the best method for engaging with those individuals and groups of people. Working together and strategically allows us to better plan and predict the most effective media billboards.
Puerto Rico Outdoor Advertising
Busy roads and high traffic make Puerto Rico an ideal place for media billboards. As a well established attraction for tourists, local businesses can gain maximum exposure. Create effective branding campaigns or promote specials, specific merchandise, or services with enhanced imaging, clear messaging, and optimal ad placement.
We can help you identify the best places in Puerto Rico to advertise and offer support for creating a captivating billboard that reflects your brand, product, or service. Ask us how!
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OF DRIVERS LOOK AT AN OUTDOOR AD EACH TIME THEY PASS ONE
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TALKED ABOUT SOMETHING FUNNY THEY SAW ON A ROADSIDE BILLBOARD
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NOTED A PHONE NUMBER OR WEB SITE ADDRESS FROM A BILLBOARD
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IMMEDIATELY VISITED A BUSINESS BECAUSE OF AN OUTDOOR AD MESSAGE
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Whether you’re already a fan of outdoor media or are just thinking about getting involved, bMedia can get you through the process in a way that will produce positive results. We have 18 outdoor billboards at strategic locations throughout Puerto Rico, and they’ve all been positioned in places that are most likely to be seen by large groups of potential customers. Additionally, we’ve done a lot of tracking to know how many people will view each one, and we can even give you more details about what types of people these are. This will help you plan your campaigns in a way that they primarily target the groups you’re hoping to reach. Also, our expertise and experience in the business allows us to give you plenty of advice on what makes a good billboard, as well as what methods will be less successful and should be avoided.
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There are many different results that can come from a successful billboard campaign, so the amount of strategies that can be followed is pretty much unlimited. However, two of the biggest reasons for creating outdoor advertising billboards are to boost your image and increase your sales numbers.
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The advances of computers and technology have offered many other opportunities for advertising, and this is probably the main reason that people so often think that billboard outdoor advertising no longer works. They get used to using all the detailed tracking data provided by online sources, and they forget that physical objects can also be analyzed. But, outdoor billboards are still extremely useful, and there is still a lot of data that can be examined to determine their usefulness.
Additionally, outdoor billboards have some specific advantages over purely electronic forms of advertising. For example, when they’re driving down the road, consumers don’t have a million other flashing icons to catch their eyes like on computer screen. Also, they are basically a captive audience who has no choice but to see your message. Plus, outdoor billboard advertising doesn’t have to compete with technology because it can be used in line with other digital resources. For example, you can use your outdoor billboards to advertise your website address, and then consumers can visit that to start working with your digital strategy.
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Unlike with many other forms of advertising, you can control where someone will be when they see your outdoor billboard. Using this physical advantage can be beneficial in many different ways. For example, knowing where the viewer will be allows you to put an advertisement that is relevant to their current situation, and the message can be customized to fit the feelings of the customer at that point in time. This will help them recall the message later because they will associate the feelings they received from the outdoor media billboard with what they were doing at the time. For example, if they were on the way to the beach when they saw an ad for a product to protect their skin from the sun, then they will be more likely to think of that brand when they’re shopping for something similar. Additionally, this whole strategy make consumers feel that the brand is thinking about them and is actually a part of their life. It’s a great step on the pathway to brand loyalty.
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At bMedia Group, we have helped many successful companies increase their brand with our knowledge. Working with so many organizations has given us the experience we need to help your campaign be even more successful, and we’ll use everything that we’ve learned about outdoor media to help strengthen your strategy.
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