Out-of-home (OOH) or outdoor advertising is a powerful business advertising method. Any advertising that reaches consumers outside their homes – billboards, vehicle wraps, street furniture, posters, etc. – helps you reach your target audience, raise brand awareness, and make an impact.
Digital Billboards vs. Traditional Billboards
There are two main types of billboards – digital billboards and traditional (static) billboards. Knowing their differences and how to use them to reach your target audience will help you decide which is right for your business.
Let’s look at the main differences between the two kinds of billboards.
Digital Billboards
Flexibility is a huge advantage of digital billboards – they allow businesses to update and change messages instantly, run multiple different messages, and easily test the effectiveness of their ads.
Some digital billboard advertisers use geo-fencing to retarget people. For example, a business can set up a geo-fence around it. Then, when someone with the business’ app enters the boundary, it will trigger a response sending a text to alert the person to a sale or promotion the business is having.
Location tracking services can also determine how many people drove or walked past the digital billboard and went on the visit their brick-and-mortar business. This helps you know which billboard locations yield the best results – and optimize your ad campaign for the greatest ROI.
In addition to being highly customizable, digital billboards provide a better visual experience for consumers. Ads on an LED billboard produce a vibrant and captivating image or video that will grab attention. And they won’t fade or get torn.
These are a few of the reasons digital billboards have a huge recall rate of 83% and capture 400% more views than traditional billboards.
Read More: Geofencing vs. Geotargeting – What’s the Difference?
Traditional Billboards
Traditional billboards have been used for over a century to create and raise brand awareness. Aiming to reach commuters, they’re usually located along highways and busy intersections.
One advantage of traditional billboards is that they’re static – advertisements remain on them for weeks, months, and even years. Businesses don’t have to share the space with other advertisers – and the ad can be seen 24/7 for as long as it’s on display.
However, a disadvantage of traditional billboards is the production costs of printing and displaying them. You can’t easily change it every few weeks or months without adding significant additional cost to re-print and hang it. That makes static billboards highly inflexible – and expensive if you like to change or update them more frequently.
And the fact that static billboards usually remain unchanged for weeks and months at a time means that consumers become used to seeing it, lose interest, and stop noticing the ad altogether.
Another disadvantage of traditional billboards is that, over time, the ads can fade, get damaged, torn, ripped, or vandalized. This not only reduces their visual impact but it can also negatively affect how people perceive your brand.
With traditional billboards, you can’t test your ads and quickly make any necessary adjustments. Digital billboards, on the other hand, can be rapidly adjusted and optimized with just a few clicks – saving you time and money. And, due to the offline nature of static billboards, you don’t have the same analytical capabilities to measure impressions and track success like you can with digital billboards.
How can you make your digital billboard ad successful?
Return on investment is important in every business, and purchasing a digital billboard is no different. The advertisements must have an eye-catching design and a clear copy. Clear goals and ways to track the campaign’s success are also essential.
One way to achieve this is to create a specific page on your website that consumers are directed to when they follow the call to action listed on your billboard. That allows you to track website traffic and see how many conversions are made through that link.
Impact Group Marketing would love to help you with all your digital marketing needs. Contact us today for a FREE consultation or to learn more about our services.