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In this issue...
Front & Center
Jerry Thacker
Without a Vision
Rev. Mark Hiehle
Now is the Time
to "Go Medical"
Thomas A. Glessner, J.D.
Looking for Love
Debra O'Leary
The Church and
the Center --
an Uneasy Marriage
Patrick Mclaughlin
Marketing 101:
Sign, Sign,
Everywhere a Sign
Jerry Thacker
The Power of Regret
Sydna A. Massé
Operation Outcry:
Women No Longer
Held Captive by the Lie
Kathleen Cassidy
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By Jerry Thacker
As you travel down most highways, billboards line the side of the road. There are many who wish that billboards had never come into being because of their tendency to obscure bucolic pastures and rolling hills. Nevertheless, a billboard used properly can be an effective advertising tool for a pregnancy help center. There are a number of things you should consider if you're thinking of utilizing billboards.
Location, location, location
As with any piece of real estate, the value of the billboard depends on how many sets of eyes view it on a daily basis. Billboard companies calculate this statistic by counting cars or by actually installing cameras behind the billboards and recording the number of people who view the billboard. Then the company charges accordingly.
Target, target, target
Billboards are great for general advertising, but keep in mind that most pregnancy help centers are trying to reach a small, specific fraction of the total population. Only about 1% of the population is first-time pregnant at any given moment. This means that 99% of the viewers of the average billboard may have no interest in your message. Try to find a location that will be viewed by a higher percentage of your target market. A good choice might be a billboard located near a college campus or a high school.
There are two kinds of billboard ad contracts -- rotary and permanent. Rotary billboard ads are usually purchased for twelve months at a time, and the message is rotated periodically to a new location. Permanent billboard ads remain on a single billboard or multiple billboards for six months or longer. The price is determined by the location and the number of people who will see the billboard. In both cases, shorter contract periods are available.
You may also want to talk with your local billboard company about their donating billboard space for your operation when they have billboards that aren't sold for a particular period of time. You may be asked to pay for production costs associated with the creation of the original exteriors, and you will have very little discretion over where or when such donated ads would appear.
Most billboard ads appear on free-standing billboard units. However, some are posted on the exterior walls of buildings that are exposed to many passersby. Most ads are computer-printed on flexible vinyl, but some ads are painted directly onto the exterior surfaces of buildings. You might want to cruise town to see if there are buildings where you can have your message posted. The building's owner may be willing to allow you to use the space because of your public service operation.
You want to find the best value in billboards, so price the various options that are available in your market. Keep in mind that most billboard operations have few or no competitors. In many towns there may be just one or two billboard companies, so unless you can persuade someone to put one on his property for you and raise the money for its construction, you probably have only one or two companies from which you can rent space.
Content, content, content
Billboards must be read in a very short period of time. Traveling at sixty miles an hour, a person has less than four seconds to get the message. The rule of thumb is to limit a billboard message to seven words. If you would like to place a telephone number on the billboard, be sure that it is memorable (e.g., 1-800-GET HELP). Also, use the simplest graphics possible. Don't try to put your hours of operation and other detailed information on a billboard. The message must be short and easily comprehensible.
You might find another advertiser that would be willing to share a billboard. Perhaps a business would be willing to pay for the whole billboard, use only half of it for their message, and leave the other half for your message. Your ministry gets exposure, and the business gets advertising and good will for allowing a community service to share the billboard.
Approach your billboard purchase and use as a consumer, not as someone who is operating a pregnancy help center. Have someone drive you by your billboard. Take a stopwatch and measure the time that the message can be read. If possible, stand near the billboard and observe the people who travel by. Calculate the number of people who look at the billboard. When it comes to billboards, there's no question that "the eyes have it."
For more information, visit www.oaaa.org, the web site for the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, Inc.
| ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jerry Thacker, B.A., M.A., is president of Marketing Partners, Inc., and publisher of At the Center. He can be reached at 1-800-588-7744 or at info@atcmag.com. |
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