How Your Billboard Can Convert Customers

The tobacco industry once ruled the marketing and advertising world. A time in history when anyone who was anyone regularly lit up a ‘ciggie’, billboards, radios, and television used to regularly display brands of cigarettes. On the end of those cigarettes were usually happy and smiling models or celebrities, either on a luxury yacht or in a sports car or at an opulent party. What tobacco advertising did was make people look cool, and boy, did it work. But times have changed, and the world of advertising changes too.

In a similar vein, methods of advertising have also adjusted. Outdoor advertising used to be king, and people would look no further than billboards for all their advertising needs. Every major road and highway was bedecked with colorful and quirky advertisement. Although billboards still function as an important part of advertising in the modern day, the online version is slowly starting to assert its dominance. What does this mean for the future of billboards? The answer is no, billboard advertising is not on its deathbed, but billboards are expected to develop.

In an age whereby people are bombarded with advertisements and information, billboards have to be functional, catchy and provoking in order to work efficiently.

Functionality  is of the utmost importance, because if it doesn’t function then it is a waste of money. A functional billboard has to obviously be visually accessible to the most amount of people for the most amount of time; so that means being displayed on highways, major roads, busy shopping malls, public buildings and office districts. The Billboard content has to be few in words but large in size. Words that can be read from a distance get noticed for a longer time.

In order for a billboard to be catchy it must rely on its limited content. The few words that are put onto the billboard must make an immediate impact on the viewer, whether this impact is humorous, shocking or surprising. What a billboard cannot say, it has the opportunity to put in pictures. Pictures, diagrams and visuals allow for creativity, and really harnesses the power to catch the eye of the passerby.

A provoking billboard is one that leaves an impact on the consumer long after having seen the advertisement. A provoking billboard is one that strategically imposes your message in the memory of the passerby. A billboard is sufficiently provocative if it has led to the purchase, either knowingly or unconsciously, to the purchase of your product or service. In order for this to happen the content of the billboard has to be linked to the company’s product or service. This requires focus, planning and direction.

If your billboard is functional, catchy and provocative then it will have little trouble converting customers. As the advertising world shifts according to the consumer’s attention, so too will billboard advertising need to adapt and grow stronger. For all your billboard and branding requirements, contact Impact Brand Solutions today.