There are many things you can get horribly wrong when designing a billboard. Billboard advertising companies, whether they be from New Mexico or New York, seem to screw up left and right. But there are just as many paths to doing it right, as well, otherwise the business wouldn’t have survived from the mid-1800’s to today. The correct methods-the eponymous do’s- are as follows.
#1. Hone in on your audience
Alternatively known as “don’t take focus groups at their word”. Rather than broaden the net when it comes to your audience, you should make the net small but strong. Make an ad guaranteed to reel in exactly who would be most likely to buy your product and guaranteed to not let go. Not everyone is going to buy your product, but a certain group of people are, and then they’ll tell their friends and family, and they’ll buy the product and the certain group will grow.
#2. Consistency
Whatever you do, be consistent. A good tagline now, is a good tagline tomorrow, if you use it correctly. Don’t change your marketing campaign too early in the game, otherwise you’ll burn out your audience with the constant changing. As an example, Mario is such a marketable character because Nintendo changed his design once, when Super Mario 64 came out, and kept that design all the way up to now. It may seem tempting to change your paradigm so drastically to “keep fresh” but all you’ll end up doing is burn out your new audience and scare off the one you had at the start. A consistent brand is a lasting brand.
#3. Clearly define your goals
From the very start, your goals should be clear, concise, and within reasonable reach. Make sure that you and your team know from the very start what you want to do, have a good map out of how you want to do it, and that you have the resources to bring it about. A clear primary goal makes working on the campaign significantly easier, since you now know exactly what you want to say. Now you just need to figure out how you’ll say it.
Just as there are a myriad of don’ts in billboard advertising, so too are there a bunch of do’s. Making sure you know who you’re selling to, staying consistent with your brand, and clearly defining the goal of that brand, will be a life saver out there in the field.
