In recent years, there has been a major transition from static and stationary billboards to a mobile centric wave of new out-of-home (OOH) advertising, but while the older methods are still around and will continue to succeed such as classic billboards, companies are now starting to innovate with their new advertising campaigns. As effective as static billboards are, they can add up in advertising costs and the scope of their impact is limited by their poor visibility in crowded areas. Frankly, there’s no guarantee that people passing by will look up from their phones to glance at your ads — no matter how eye-catching they are.
As online marketing tools and TV commercials are becoming crowded and suffocated. Businesses need to think out of the box to bring some change in their marketing strategy. One such creative marketing tactic is mobile billboard advertising.
One of the biggest drivers for this transition is the success that comes with mobile billboard advertisements. It has become an option that effortlessly blends the appeal of large-scale billboard design with a level of mobility and versatility that other methods can only dream of. But what exactly is mobile billboard marketing and how can it work effectively for your business?
What is a Mobile Billboard?
To put it simply if you may not be familiar with this particular term, mobile billboards are simply billboards, but on wheels — and they’re usually found on the sides of large trucks. Ranked as one of the most influential and cost-effective advertising mediums for businesses today, mobile billboards can be driven directly to your target audience in hard-to-reach residential areas, commercial spaces, industrial districts, and across multiple major cities as they are put on a set route to target for specific purposes. This means that reaching all of your select audiences can be done every day– for as long as your company desires.
If you are a company based out of a mid-sized to large megacity, switching to fleets of mobile advertising trucks might be the wisest investment you will make.
Compared to static, fixed-position billboards, mobile billboards deliver greater results with maximum horsepower and at a minimum cost. In fact, the TruckSignageNetwork (TSN) estimates that commercial truck ads are 65% more effective than traditional advertising media, such as static billboards, and have a 57% higher conversion rate.
Now that we have established what a mobile billboard is and what purpose it serves, here are five reasons why your business should make the jump to mobile billboards.
Greater Reach using Geo-Targeting Tactics
Rather than keeping your brand’s message stationary where it could potentially get lost in all the traffic of the hustle of a populous city, where only a potential segment of your preferred audience might catch a glimpse of your advertisement. Instead, by using a mobile billboard your brand will be seen by a substantial portion of your intended audience with a fleet of trucks driving up and down the route of your choosing.
Instead of being confined to a single wall or location, the entire city can be your canvas. Mobile billboards can go everywhere, increasing your chances of being seen by motorists, pedestrians, cyclists, and everything in between, all over town.
Combining the benefits of a moving billboard and relatively novel GPS technology by optimizing route selection, mobile billboards can be driven just about anywhere — even in high-traffic areas where you typically wouldn’t find any other billboard advertising opportunities. Because most trucks already have onboard GPS or Bluetooth technology, you can view where your truck is on the road at any moment in time and choose truck routes that match your targeted areas. What’s more? You can leverage data on who your campaign reached — down to their demographic and location — and re-target your audience on their mobile devices.
According to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA), mobile billboard trucks can generate anywhere between 30,000 to 70,000 impressions in just one day! Imagine if your company puts their mobile trucks out for 2 or even 3 months, the possibilities are endless. When a Movia mobile billboard goes by them, whether they are in a car or on the sidewalk, our proprietary beacon technology picks up that signal and counts it as an impression. On average, you can expect 1.5 – 2.5 million eye-level views on your moving billboard every month.
Cost-Effective Advertising
Among advertising options, you’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger bang for your buck than most OOH methods. Unlike internet ads, in-app promotions, and other online ways of advertising, transit advertising guarantees you greater visibility for a better price.
According to the OAAA, mobile billboards carry the lowest cost per thousand impressions (CPM) of any other type of advertising. The average cost for 1,000 views is only $0.77, with some truck-side advertising companies even coming in as low as $0.48 per CPM. By contrast, the average CPM for bulletins (large format billboards) is between $3 and $18.
As broadcasting advertisements on T.V, radio, and more recently through various social media websites are becoming substantially more expensive, and with no certain guarantee that your message will make it across the channel and into the hands of your intended customers, there is certainly some doubt that will come across many brands’ minds.
The costs associated with mobile billboard advertising also makes it much more palatable as the average to rent out as static mobile billboards will usually cost about $300-1000 per truck/per day but, depending on the contract signed, the rate may be at a better value. Digital mobile billboards, equipped with LED lighting, will typically run around $700-1800 per truck/per day but, the same as with static, rates may change due to the timing and the market of the campaign.
Through this it has raised the CPM for these traditional forms of advertising but with mobile billboard advertisements you will receive more bang for your buck.
They are Digital Friendly
OOH advertising and digital advertising are like two sides of the same coin and when combined together they can lead to very effective results OOH is part of public life. It has a wide audience and provides a “one-to-many” ad experience by being present at multiple touchpoints of consumers’ daily life. It helps advertisers give brands high coverage and provide them with continuous and consistent reach. By 2023, it is expected to reach at least $78 billion.
While digital usage has reached 4 billion people worldwide it provides a “one-to-one” ad experience and can be used to deliver personalized messages, target specific audiences, and collect relevant ad engagement and store visitation data.
Mobile Billboards can work hand in hand with digital advertising mediums using Geo-location tracking as mentioned above. By leveraging GPS technology, it’s also possible to prompt mobile ads on the devices of consumers (whom you’ve already impressed with your mobile billboards) if they visit your competitors’ locations.
OOH will lay the groundwork and plant the seed of a message in your potential customers head by building brand recognition before digital advertisements pull your targeted users in and unleash the full extent of its power. By uniting OOH and mobile, you can create another channel through which your brand can reach consumers.
Memorability
As the impressions on your mobile billboard start to rack up after spending hours and hours on the road you need that little extra “something” to turn these impressions into results.
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Your brand needs to be as memorable to leave a lasting impression on your targeted audience. Consider what types of fonts, colors and pictures you would want on your billboard trucks to help them stand out from the rest of the vehicles on the road. Coming up with a creative message will certainly resonate with your audience and combining that with eye-popping graphics can draw many more second glances from the public. Don’t just be another truck advertisement, make them not stop looking at you. Remember! There is almost no escape to our type of advertisement, so it makes it worth watching; using the right information and giving it the tone to your target audience will be more appealing, would help you do it.
A recent Nielsen survey found that 23 percent of respondents have gone online to find information about an advertiser they saw on a billboard. And 16 percent have visited the advertisers’ website after a billboard caught their attention. All in all, mobile billboards are more memorable as out-of-home displays because they stand out in common, or uncommon, spaces. According to a study by APN, an ad that is on-the-go has a 45% higher peak exposure than static ads.
The mobile advertising sphere lends itself to brands with the most creativity, and by combining advertisements that catch the public’s eye in more ways than one and the sheer mass of impressions with various trucks carrying your message throughout densely populated cities, using mobile advertising trucks will certainly capitalize on a rapidly growing industry.
Billboard Ads are Unavoidable
Imagine this scenario: You’re driving on a highway or a busy street and caught in traffic, directly in front of you is a 10 foot high and 22 foot wide moving advertisement that you have to follow for at least 10 minutes before making a turn onto the street you need to head to. In those 10 minutes your brand, message and potential memorability was in direct view of dozens of potential customers who were passing alongside or driving behind your mobile billboard. It only takes 400 milliseconds for a human brain to process a mobile ad, and in this case your ad was seen for upwards of minutes.
There is no real life option to “skip an ad” or block it out of your way like you can online, using mobile billboard advertisements you can make your brand unavoidable and hard to miss. No one can avoid a giant canvas on the side of a truck with vibrant colors and a message. Your brand is surely going to get recognition. By advertising through mobile billboards, you can make sure that the target audience gets your message. Even when the truck is moving on a highway, people can’t avoid but read whatever is written on the truck. If you are using catchy phrases, you can get a lot of attention. Billboard advertising on trucks and trailers has a retention rate of up to 97% and 68 % make purchase decisions while driving in their cars.
Conclusion:
Transitioning from static advertising like billboards to a relatively new medium can be nerve-wracking as you want to make the best impression to help promote and grow your business, but after learning about these five effective tips, you will be all set to drive your brand into a new age. Movia can help you get started with your mobile billboard journey by providing the trucks, driver, and equipment needed to run a successful campaign all while working within your budget. Set up an appointment for a consultation for any questions about mobile billboards.
