There are two legitimate marketing uses of billboards.  One, getting drive by traffic immediately to your location and two, building name recognition that will eventually drive traffic to your business.  The tricky part comes into play when deciding where to place your billboards based on your company type as well as the purpose of your billboard.

I was recently driving home to Illinois from South Dakota and noticed a string of billboards along I-90 for a furniture store.  Not really that unique right?  I’m sure we’ve all seen furniture store billboards.  What struck me with these particular billboards though, was where they were.  For anyone who hasn’t driven across South Dakota, it is beautiful but relatively unpopulated, with 100 miles or more between “major” cities.  Most of the billboards are for services appealing to the people driving by (restaurants, hotels, tourist attractions, the occasional repair shop).  The billboards are meant to get people to come in once they hit that exit, because most of the people driving these somewhat desolate roads aren’t driving by on a regular basis.  In short, the billboards on this strech of road aren’t going to do a very good job at building name recognition since people won’t see them day after day like they would on a well traveled urban commuter route.  Since most people driving the 50 miles between the billboards and the town where the furniture store is located aren’t going to decide on the spur of the moment to buy furniture, these billboards also aren’t going to do a very good job at serving the other possible purpose of driving immediate traffic to the business.  Basically, these billboards are most likely an expensive waste of valuable marketing dollars.

Does this mean that furniture stores should never use billboards?  No.  It just means this business owner should reconsider where to place their billboards.  When customers do decide to buy furniture, the name recognition of the furniture store will play a key part.  Therefore, this furniture store should be advertising where people will repeatedly see it, not out in the middle of proverbial nowhere. 

All of our businesses need to consider carefully not just the type of advertising we are doing, but also where it is placed.  Do you have examples of advertising you’ve seen in an ineffectual place?

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