Many firms in the construction industry find advertising tough due to competition and so many marketing avenues and product. Arguably, one of the most effective methods of making someone pay attention is with a large billboard placed strategically in a public place.

Discover why your construction business needs to reassess its advertising campaigns to feature billboards, and what strategy you need to follow to make them work!

Billboarding influence

Today, billboards are a critical part of promoting — they’ve even had a film made about them (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri). However, the earliest record of a leased billboard was documented in 1867. Output from the construction industry in 2017 hit nearly £164 million — more than double that of the year 2000. Compeition is fierce, and you need to fight for consumers.

According to Route, the average Brit is classed as ‘out and about’ for three hours and ten minutes every day, spending around 16 minutes in the view of advertisements. So, you want to attract these potential customers by placing a billboard somewhere that sits amid a place of high footfall and traffic.

Do you need more workers and need to advertise from a recruitment perspective? No construction company wants to pass on a project just because they don’t have the resources or manpower. In the construction sector today, 87% of employers are facing an issue due to a shortage of skilled workers, according to City & Guilds. A billboard could be the tool you need to advertise the employment opportunities you have to offer — and it shouldn’t take you too much time to put together. A billboard is a single page of design that is simple to design and print, which saves you time and means you can promote vacancies quicker.

Perhaps you’re trying to promote and sell your services or products, instead. Heard of the ‘Marketing Rule of 7’? Basically, this rule means someone has to hear or see an ad seven times before acting on it. If you put a billboard design on a site that people might pass more than once a day — like on the way to work or school — your potential customers will achieve this magic number of viewings in just a few days.

Now, you need to get your head around designing the right billboard for your brand and objectives.

Designing your billboard

Make sure your billboard gets to the point — make it bold and informative. Think strategically about what you want on your billboard — someone driving past at 40mph+ is only going to be able to take in so much. Do you want to sell a specific product? Are you spreading brand awareness or promoting an event? Only include the essential marketing message information — like contact details, name of product, date and location of event, and call to action.

Images can be very powerful on a billboard. According to research, people generally only recall 10% of information they hear three days later. However, using a relevant image alongside this information increases retention by 55%. When designing your billboard, try and think of an unconventional image that will grab a passer-by’s attention — even something as simple as having a large, black-and-white photo of a construction site with only the workers’ construction helmets in yellow would stand out.

Digestible and clear info on a billboard is essential — what’s the point if people can’t read what you’re saying? Utilise bright and bold colours to catch the eye — contrasting colours are reportedly stay in people’s memories for longer, too — and opt for a simple background and large, readable text — Sans Serif is a good shout.

The above point is especially important if your billboard is on a main road. Remember, a motorist only has between five and ten seconds take in an advertisement. So, the more relevant and informative your image is, the less you should need to convey with text — stick to a brief, punchy message of seven words and you should get your marketing message across, no problem.

Trying to entice the skills of new tradespeople? Are you advertising your construction products to other businesses? Whoever you’re targeting, bear this in mind when choosing your billboard location. For example, if you need young, entry-level employees, find a site near a college. Or if you’re trying to secure deals to work on commercial buildings, go for somewhere near a retail park or area where there’s a lot of trading. Otherwise, you could reduce your ROI due to not being in sight of the people who are most likely to act on your ad.

By making a reference to the local area, you can help boost the power of your billboard. Include an image of a local landmark to create a sense of familiarity or reference the local traffic in a funny way. Humour generally works in advertising. According to a review of 6,500 ads, the funniest were usually cited as being the most appealing and memorable. What’s more, adopting this creates a more welcoming brand persona, which should encourage custom.