Introduction
In any case, a company needs to make a noticeable impact in a local area or an extensive area; outdoor advertisement will be best-preferred advertising technique that can raise the profile of the company and bring great results out of it. Billboard advertisement and marketing falls under the many types of outdoor advertising techniques. It places the intended message to be passed in front of the company’s potential customers. It has been proved that that this kind of advertising and marketing technique works because of the prominence of the billboards and the fact that it does not require the customer to perform any task before getting access to the advertisement information. Most of the customers consider billboard advertising as less intrusive compared with the other types of advertising and marketing methods. This article will entail a comprehensive coverage of billboards in a broad perspective, discussing in the places where it is most suitable, the creativity involved in the designing of the billboards, the cost incurred in booking an outdoor space, it various advantages and limitations that come with using the technique among many other key concepts.
Discussion
An outdoor billboard promotion of sales is not only about the concerns of massive billboard alongside busy roads but has a more elements attached to it. The billboard sizes should suit the need and the corresponding budget of the company interested. The company has to do a critical research regarding how well they understand their audience? , what do they want and how do they want it to be presented? This consideration contributes immensely to the choices the company will make before stepping foot into this outdoor marketing technique. The target market is normally defined by the geographical coverage; a suitability analysis procedure must be conducted to derive the best spots that will be chosen (Chaney et al, 38). All this with the primary aim of raising the company’s profile and rapidly intensify sales.
The transportation networks create the opportunities to getting the optimum outdoor exposure for a given company. Advertising through billboard makes it easier to spread the information to the road users and the rail users who utilize vehicles on a routine basis to and from workplaces, recreational sites, schools and colleges, the billboard are usually placed high above any other obstacle making it visible from different viewpoints (Taylor et al, 33). Placing the advert in front of the captive audience will come along with many other advantages. This advertising is ideal because it targets of business people who use the transport network within the given area coverage (Zimmerman, 586). A good billboard can trigger shoppers to purchase the company’s product there and then, especially when they are placed on the high streets to customers who are out for shopping.
Among the key considerations to be taken into account, is the length of time the audience will take order to derive the information from the billboard. This plays a big role in the designing of the billboards in that they have a simple message, have a clear identity, and the color composition should be bold and appealing to the eyes of the target audience to make it noticeable from a distance (Kratky, 945). Humor, wordplay, and strong images create a big impact in making the message memorable to the target audience. Contact details and action calls can also be included in the design.
When buying an outdoor space, the billboard advertising is strategically planned and leased via relevant agencies, even though it might be possible to deal directly with the advertising space owner (Zimmerman, 586). The main element to be considered during the selection of the site is the audience reach. Before the selection of the site do some research on the number of the target audience who use that specific route? A good contractor is capable of giving you the rough estimate of the number of people who will view the billboard and what kind of people pass by the site where the billboard is to be placed.
Billboards have their various benefits and limitations which are also primary elements of consideration before coming up with the decision that it is the most suitable method for the company marketing and advertising. The company has to weigh the advantages and the disadvantage, and if the advantages overpower the disadvantages, then it will give a go ahead for their utilization (Chaney et al, 40).
Advantages
Since billboards are usually situated alongside busy streets and highways, the company will be guaranteed that the target audience will see what is being advertised. Unlike television commercial and magazines advertisement, one is unable to flip through the channels or pages on the billboard. Hence, the audience will notice it whether they are willing or unwilling. Another added to gain to this advantage is that a lot of people have a routine of using the same route repeatedly, meaning that they will be a regular audience of the billboard (Zimmerman, 586). This, in turn, sticks to their mind.
The ability to customize billboards is paramount, since a company can place it where it feels it would have the most impact. This plays as a great advantage to companies and businesses that have the intentions of drawing traffic toward a specific highways exit (Kratky, 945). Billboard can be utilized in areas where there is difficulty in reaching out to people. For example, a farming community in rural or country can place their advertisement billboards along the main road, these greatly improves visibility and passes the information quicker to the community people (Taylor et al, 23).
The disadvantages
The messages should be brief since the audience might have only three or two seconds to view it. This means that the company or business will have to design brief and precise messages which are on point. Billboards tend to focus more on the images rather than the texts, and this creates limits in the way a company might express its message. Additionally, billboards are frequently seen by the people who drive by, there motion poses as a difficulty for them to read what is on the billboard (Kratky, 945). Thus, for any billboards, the text should be large enough for easier reading.
Billboard companies usually involve themselves in long-term commitments contracts mainly because, a lot of time, money and energy are involved in the frequent change of billboard advertisements (Chaney et al, 41). Thus, the dynamic companies are usually the victims of such contracts because they normally change their campaign strategy on a weekly basis and others on a monthly basis. Making billboard marketing and advertisement less conducive to the dynamic businesses and companies.
Below is a discussion on consumer behavior one of the other topics discussed in class.
Consumer behavior
Consumer behavior refers to the purchase behavior that customer's exhibit towards a certain product. The consumer behavior is influenced by various issues such as marketing of the product, the relevance of the population where the product is being sold, brand name and quality of the product. For example, some consumers are into the habit of buying a product simply because they are familiar with the brand, or they may buy it because the brand is associated with prestige.
The relevance of the population to which the product is marketed is another factor influencing the consumer behavior. For instance, a high-end product cannot be marketed in the slums and be expected to sell. The price could be too high for the people living in the slums, and thus, the product may not sell as much, but when the product is marketed in a high-end area, it will have higher sales. It is essential that companies learn more about consumer behavior to improve their understanding of how such issues work, consequently improving their marketing strategies and landing more sales.
Consumer behavior enables the organization to understand how;
The environment affects the consumers, for example, family, media, culture(Shephard, Pookulangara, Kinley, & Josiam, 2015).
How consumers reason, feel, think and select among various alternatives, for example, products, brands, and retailers.
How information processing abilities or consumer knowledge affect decisions and the outcome of marketing.
How marketing, strategies and marketing campaigns can be improved and modified by marketers. And lastly,
How consumer decision strategies and consumer motivation differ between different products in the interest or degree of importance, they have to the consumer.
Consumer behavior has thereby been defined as the study of groups, organizations and people and the mechanisms they use to secure, select, dispose of and use ideas, products, experiences and services and the influence such processes have on the society and the consumer(Hwang & Jeong, 2014). Consumer behavior thereby does not only focus on the buying behavior of the consumers. It focuses on how the product affects society as well. For instance, when fast foods are highly marketed, it poses a problem to the society since they pose potential health risks for the people in the society. In the present day particularly, the world is facing a problem of obesity and diseases such as heart disease that are in part caused by the increased intake of fast foods.
It also involves the proper disposal of waste. People are now more aware of the impact pollution has on the environment, and many individuals are vouching for proper waste disposal methods and the go green campaign(Shephard et al., 2015). For example, if a product is more environment-friendly meaning it's either made of a decomposable material or can be disposed of in a recycle been to be late recycled once the user is done with it may garner more consumers due to its environmentally friendly nature. Also, consumer behavior doesn’t only refer to products but also to services and ideas. For example, a tour company may be marketing its services to tourists or business could market its ideas to a firm or institution. The consumer behavior is either observed from a group of people like an organization or an individual. This means that there are some products that will be purchased by organizations and industries and those that will be purchased by an individual level. Consumer behavior applies to anyone who purchases products regardless of whether they are alone or a group.
Application of consumer behavior
In marketing strategy; understanding consumer behavior enables the company to improve their understanding of marketing strategies and therefore, modify them to suit their targeted population. For example, companies that advertise food understand that advertising food works best when people are hungry. As a result, they will choose to make the advertisements in the afternoon since that is when most people are hungry, and that's when more consumers are more likely to see advertisement’s since they may not be as busy as in the morning.
Marketers also understand that it is more effective to make advertisements during news time than during cartoon time since there is a significantly higher number of people watching at the time. Hence, fees for advertising during news are way higher than those of advertising at any other time.
Understanding consumer behavior enables companies to know that consumers are hesitant to buy new products and therefore, once the company introduces a new product they need enough finances to keep it in the market for a while before it gains popularity. They also understand that the product needs to be good enough that when the first consumers buy it, they recommend it to others.
Understanding consumer behavior also involves enabling consumers to get a certain idea and not necessarily selling something. For example, a lot of diseases are transmitted between drug addicts due to the sharing of needles. Campaigning for the drug addicts to stop using the drugs may seem a bit unrealistic especially if the drug addicts themselves are not willing to quit using the drugs. A more realistic goal is to campaign for drug addicts to clean needles before sharing them. In this instance, there is no product or service being purchased, but an idea is being transferred to a population.
Lastly, studying consumer behavior enables the company to learn different strategies for improving sales(Hwang & Jeong, 2014). For example, companies realize that when they sell larger quantity products for less rather than double the price of the quantity of half that product, keen customers are likely to opt to buy the bigger one since it is cheaper in the long run. This is a strategy used by companies to get consumers to buy their products. Knowledge on consumer behavior may also benefit the consumer by making them more aware of the things they buy. For examples consumers actively compare prices for products that are large and those that are smaller to see if buying the larger one will be cheaper.
Consumer research methods
Conclusion
A survey done reveals that there are four key reasons why businesses and companies prefer the use of billboard in advertising, this is because of: local presence, a tangible response, the efficiency of the media and visibility. Use of billboards is the oldest form of advertisement, and they have sprung along busy roads and major highways, cities and towns. Due to its efficiency, it is clear that it still going to be used many years to come. Consumer behavior influences marketing. It is essential that organizations pay attention to consumer behavior when coming up with marketing strategies to maximize their sales.
Work Cited
Chaney, Isabella M., Ku-Ho Lin, and James Chaney. "The effect of billboards within the gaming environment." Journal of Interactive Advertising 5.1 (2004): 37-45.
Kratky, Jan. "Method and system for enhancing mobile advertisement targeting with virtual roadside billboards." U.S. Patent Application No. 09/945,998.
Hwang, Y., & Jeong, J. (2014). Electronic commerce and online consumer behavior research: a literature review. Information Development, 1(312), 1–12.
Shephard, a. J., Pookulangara, S. a., Kinley, T. R., & Josiam, B. M. (2015). The impact of Fashion Orientation on Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White Consumer Behavior. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences.
Taylor, Charles R., George R. Franke, and Hae-Kyong Bang. "Use and effectiveness of billboards: perspectives from selective-perception theory and retail-gravity models." Journal of Advertising 35.4 (2006): 21-34.
Zimmerman, Stephen. "System, computer product and method for providing billboards with pull technology." U.S. Patent Application No. 10/083,586.
