Overview
Cost is the most significant factor when determining the success or failure of a business. How can a particular investment cost be optimized? What is the best cost you can receive for your product? In this wiggling world of investments, the riddle of cost estimations is tormenting. But let’s make it easier for you.
There are tons of options available for consumers, and competition is the one of the biggest words in shaping the outcome of your brand/service. How can you lead to soaring sales? What is the best media to attract public attention? What marketing strategy comes with less risk and great benefits? Questions like these haunt the minds of business owners and their marketing team. You would need a savvy advertising strategy in order to make your business boom, instead of a rushed, poorly planned out method of action.
Sailing on a fragile boat, with countless decisions to make, it isn’t weird to have thoughts like, “how much does a billboard cost?”. The dilemma is totally justified and so is the need for an elaborate answer to this ever-daunting question.
The answer is not a simple theorem or formula that can be applied. It is, in fact, a myriad of factors that need attention in deciding a billboard cost. Let’s go through these factors and their benefits.
Cost Determining Factor
The cost of a billboard is evaluated in cost per thousand impressions or cost per mile (CPM) and is impacted by the circulation, location, and impressions received. These factors collaboratively contribute to the billboard’s out-of-home (OOH) ranking; usually traced by Geopath. The easy to remember acronym used for billboard costs is LVT which stands for Location, Visibility, and Term.
Location of Billboards:
The most significant factor influencing billboard cost is its location. Besides the audience scattered at a particular location, the location in itself will play an important role in the cost evaluation of a billboard. There can be the following factors predominantly adding to access the worth of a billboard.
- How well is the billboard placed in people’s normal line of vision?
- What other engagements do people have while passing by?
- Is there any obstruction in the view?
- Are there any disturbing nuances in the vicinity?
For instance, billboards on the same side of the traffic will get more attention than on the opposite side. This makes them more expensive as compared to the billboards on the opposite side of the road. The popularity of the location will influence the cost. For example, it is more expensive to rent a billboard at the Gardiner Express Way in Toronto or Interstate Highways in the United States because of how many people drive through those platforms.
A billboard placed in the outskirts of the city are averaged to cost $250, and it is not surprising to discover that the ones in popular locations like Times Square can cost up to $1.1-4 million dollars per year. Thus, it is very essential to figure out the target audience as well as the location before talking about the cost of a billboard.
Visibility:
Just like paying emphasis on the location, one cannot overlook the role of visibility as a key factor in billboard pricing. Usually, the closer the billboard sits to the road the more it costs. Thus, billboards that are placed at a distance from the main road cost less. A bright and bold billboard with exceptional print quality, sitting close to the traffic, will surely be worth more than the farther one. The closer a billboard is to the human eye the more money is needed to dish out for that much more of an impact.
Effortless Outdoor Media reports the experience of their client, Reliable Heating and Air, who benefited from high visibility billboards for years. Certainly, being bright and bold and giving your brand a big audience is rewarding, but there are businesses that can profit from a less visible location too. It just depends on the billboard design. If the billboard is copy heavy, with bold words but not as strong of a visual, then you’d probably want it closer to roads where people can see. If your billboard is mainly a strong visual, then placing it a little more away from the road can still be useful. All that matters here is the balance between the cost and contents of the billboard.
Term-
The duration of putting up a billboard ad is referred to its term. How much does a billboard cost depends on the length for which it glitters in the vicinity of the audience creating brand awareness for your business? Usually, the cost per month reduces for a billboard ad when the location is rented for a longer duration.
Additional cost factors
Apart from the above-mentioned LVT cost estimations, there are certain additional parameters that need to be considered. The design and construction of the billboard play an important role and have to be measured in order to get billboard cost.
The production cost relies on format and construction ranging from 300 to 500 dollars for a standard vinyl board. Intricacies of the design also have to be taken into account and it can range from 150 to 1,000 dollars depending on the design firm.
Construction cost includes labor, material, and printing. If you pick a high definition digital billboard then the cost can range from 1,000 to 10,000 dollars or more, depending on the location. Additionally, for creative designs and luring ideas, you might have to shed some extra dollars to the design firms and this totally depends on your budget.
Here is a list of 5 best billboard design companies that can be contacted for design ideas. Why hire a professional? The answer is simple, billboard designing is different from other advertising and graphic designs and it needs an experienced professional.
Sizes of billboards
There is a wide range of sizes available for billboards in the advertising market. The universal rule ‘bigger the better’ does imply here. Usually large sized billboards cost more than the smaller ones and the reason is the bigger visual punch captured by the large billboards. Also, a large roadside billboard will have more installation cost than a smaller one. The size will also impact the production cost and so will the print quality.
It is important to figure out the optimized size for advertising and then keeping location, visibility, and term in mind one adds the size factor to estimate the billboard cost. It is not in futile to reiterate that it is not about ‘bigger the better,’ here; it’s about how big is the best.
Billboard Size Chart-
- 4 Sheets – 40″ x 60″ (1.02 x 1.52 m)
- 6 Sheets – 47″ x 70″ (1.20 x 1.80 m)
- 12 Sheets – 120″ x 60″ (3.05 x 1.52 m)
- 16 Sheets – 80″ x 120″ (2.03 x 3.05 m)
- 32 Sheets – 160″ x 120″ (4.06 x 3.05 m)
- 48 Sheets – 240″ x 120″ (6.10 x 3.05 m)
- 64 Sheets – 320″ x 120″ (8.13 x 3.05 m)
- 96 Sheets – 480″ x 120″ (12.19 x 3.05 m)
General billboard prices can be found on free general billboard price quotes.
Evaluating billboard advantages to your business
A thoughtful and creative billboard can work wonders for your business. What’s important is to identify how can a billboard benefit and in what location, size and form (mobile, digital, static etc.).
Local business catering to a particular community or target audience can use billboard in high traffic zones to create awareness. Business involving expensive commodities such as cars or properties can use billboards in a very efficient manner. From a newbie in the market to the most established brands all have hailed to the benefits of using billboards.
Brands explore all possible creative aspects to make their billboards attractive and influential along with targeting great locations. It is important to underline the fact that with more graphics and intricacy in design the cost of billboard would also escalate. It is clearly a matter of judiciously understanding what practical returns are you looking at while paying the cost of the billboard.
How much does a billboard really cost?
Though there is a range of dollars that you can look at while deciding to rent a billboard, but the actual billboard cost depends on the following factors:
- Who is your target audience?
- Where do you wish to campaign and for how long?
- What kind of billboard do you think would benefit you the most?
- How much creatively influential you wish to get?
- What is the CPM of your other market channels?
- What is your budget?
Lastly, billboard costs are not stone firm and can be negotiated with proper market knowledge and strategy. At hauler ads, we provide you with quality static mobile billboards for your business. Keep your business shining and get a billboard for your brand now.
Some other useful resources:
Effortless Outdoor Media, Billboard costs by broad sign.
