Billboard Marketing vs. Digital Marketing in 2020

More than 71 percent of customers look at billboard advertisements. That alone might be enough to sell you on a new billboard campaign, but digital marketing is no slouch when it comes to generating leads either. This begs the question: how does billboard marketing measure up against digital marketing?

Here’s a breakdown of both advertising methods: their pros, cons, and what you should take from each.

What Is Billboard Marketing?

Billboard marketing is exactly what it says on the tin: marketing using billboards. The style of billboard has gone through a few changes, with the digital billboard leading the pack in modern times, but the principles are the same. Someone must pass by a billboard in order to see your advert.

Pro: It Targets Local Audiences

If you’re looking to give your brand local flair, then a billboard isn’t a bad choice. It’s hyper-local, so only customers in your area will see it. This is also a great way to associate your brand with a particular location.

Pro: Increases Brand Awareness

It’s not enough to have your brand seen just once; to cultivate proper awareness, an audience must be exposed to a message multiple times.

In marketing, this repetition is called “effective frequency.” It’s the driving principle behind many campaign slogans, and for good reason: it works.

Marketers like to debate the numbers behind effective frequency, but no matter how many times it might take for a message to reach your audience, there’s little doubt that billboards are an effective way to do it.

Con: It Isn’t Measurable

You can make a guess at how many people saw your billboard, but that’s all it would be: a guess. Compare that to digital marketing efforts that provide detailed analytics breakdowns of who saw your ad and what actions they took after doing so.

What about Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is the practice of advertising goods or services to audiences online. It can take the form of social media campaigns, banner ads, or pay-per-click advertising.

Pro: You’re Able to Better Target Your Campaigns

A billboard is the very definition of a broad marketing strategy. You’re targeting anyone who drives by in the hopes that some of them might be your intended demographic.

Digital marketing, on the other hand, allows you to carefully target your campaigns. You can target age brackets, seller behaviors, or even individual accounts – read more about ABM marketing here.

Pro: More Effective Use of Inbound Marketing Strategies

Billboards are the quintessential outbound marketing strategy, and that’s not a good thing. Inbound marketing techniques not only see higher lead generation rates, but they’re also cheaper.

Plus, inbound marketing costs 62 percent less per lead than outbound techniques.

Con: People Tend to Ignore Online Advertising

As a species, we’re very good at tuning out non-essential details. Unfortunately for your business, that can include ignoring your slick new online campaign.

Four out of five American consumers ignore online ads. This doesn’t mean they’re not worth investing in — you just have to try harder to grab attention.

Billboard Marketing vs. Digital Marketing

At the end of the day, every marketing strategy has its pros and cons. If you want to cultivate local brand awareness, then a billboard marketing campaign will work well. If, however, you’re looking to harness the power of inbound marketing, you can’t go past digital.

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