Small Business Marketing Kit For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Using Billboards and Out-of-Home Ads

Out-of-home ads include billboards, transit displays, waiting bench signs, wall murals, building or facility signs, vehicle signs, movie theater billboard-style ads, digital kiosk ads, and even flyover signs. Wherever prospective customers are apt to be standing, sitting, or waiting, you’ll probably see an advertising opportunity, usually accompanied by the name of the company to contact for advertising information.

For small businesses, the most frequently used form of out-of-home advertising involves billboards, and usually for directional purposes. Nearly every town (except those in billboard-free Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, and Vermont) has one or two companies that own most of the boards. Contact them to find out about available locations, costs, and contracts. Or, when you see a billboard in a desirable location, look along the bottom of the sign for the owner’s name and then call for availability and cost information.

In scheduling billboard ads, a few key terms apply:

Circulation is measured by the number of people who have a reasonable opportunity to see your billboard or sign message.

A full showing or #100 showing describes the number of boards necessary to reach 100 percent of the mobile population in a market at least once during a 30-day ...