Various types of outdoor advertising are used by firms to attract customers. This method of reporting your products or services is considered one of the most effective, since the audience coverage is quite large.
What is outdoor advertising
Outdoor advertising is some information about a product or service that is located outdoors (outdoors, in transport, and so on). For this, special designs are used, which can be both stationary and mobile. Most often, various types of outdoor advertising are placed on buildings, above roadways, at special structures, bus stops, and so on. Since this method of informing consumers is aimed specifically at visual perception, signs usually contain many images and a minimum of small text.
Varieties of outdoor advertising
Types of outdoor advertising can be described as follows.
- The most common form of outdoor advertising is considered a sign.
- In second place among the types into which outdoor advertising is divided - billboards. They are located mainly along the road and allow you to place a large area communications.
- Stretch marks are suspended structures that are located above the roadway or sidewalk.
- Quite often used signs that show the direction to the office. They can be combined with traffic signs or the name of the street.
- Pillars are folding structures (they are also called clothes pegs). They contain basic information about the organization, and they are located directly next to the office.
- Sandwiches are special advertising constructions that a person puts on himself. Information is applied from two sides.
- Advertising on city objects - stops, bins, shops and so on.
- Advertising on transport (trolley buses, trams, buses, subway cars).
The advantages of outdoor advertising
Outdoor advertising has several advantages over other means, namely:
- advertising banners provide the widest reach of the audience, since they are located mainly in crowded places;
- the cost of each contact of a potential consumer with advertising information is negligible compared to other methods (for example, television or printing);
- By placing advertising banners in one place or another, you clearly control the geography of information distribution.
Disadvantages of outdoor advertising
Not only positive aspects are characterized by information signs. Outdoor advertising has a number of significant disadvantages:
- you will not be able to conduct a short-term information campaign, because advertising structures are leased for a long time;
- in the autumn-winter period, the quality of advertising images can significantly deteriorate due to adverse weather conditions;
- in order to build or use an advertising structure, you need to go through a long procedure for obtaining permission;
- outdoor advertising cannot transmit a large amount of information.
Outdoor advertising design
Design is one of the most important points, which largely determines the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. So, when planning the appearance of a future advertising structure or poster, consider some features and rules.
Due to the fact that the contact of the audience with outdoor advertising occurs on the go, it takes no more than 1 or several seconds.That is why information should be presented as compactly as possible so that it is fully accepted in such a short period.
Another rule follows from the previous rule, which is simplicity and comprehensibility. Both texts and images should be extremely accessible to the average person so that there is no need to think about or analyze the information received.
When applying text, it is worth considering the distance from which advertising signs are usually read. Outdoor advertising involves the use of large fonts on a contrasting background for ease of perception, even from a great distance.
One advertising message should contain one clear idea. It should be as simple as possible and easily perceived by the audience.
Having prepared the design of the advertising layout, be sure to evaluate its readability. To do this, it is enough to print it on the album sheet and try to perceive the information from an arm's length.
When developing the color scheme of your advertising message, carefully examine the area where it will be placed. Paints should not merge.
To finally make sure that the advertisement will look profitable, try moving it to the area using a graphical editor.
To make a final decision and approve the design, you can conduct a survey or use a focus group.
Materials for outdoor advertising
There are several outdoor advertising printing technologies that involve the use of a variety of materials. We will discuss the most common of them.
Printing advertising messages on paper is one of the most inexpensive methods, and therefore this option is the most common. First, fragments of an advertising message are printed on several sheets, after which they are pasted onto the advertising structure. Nevertheless, the paper has several drawbacks, the main of which is its fragility.
Quite often for outdoor advertising use a vinyl cloth or a polymer fabric. This is a kind of film, which is reinforced with special nylon material for greater strength. The image is printed in its entirety, after which it is pulled onto an advertising structure or glued using a special sticky layer. To dismantle this advertising message is also quite easy. Vinyl and polymers are not subject to the influence of weather conditions, and therefore the image is stored for a long time in its original form.
Vinyl applique is an image cut into certain fragments, which are later glued to a billboard.
Use of light
Outdoor light advertising allows you to make your message more attractive to the audience. In addition, information is available not only during the day, but also in the dark. The indisputable advantage of this type of advertising can be considered brightness and excellent quality of perception, as the message will certainly attract attention. In addition, the positive fact can also be considered that the advertisement acts as an additional source of street lighting.
For illuminated advertising, special designs are used, which are called the "lightbox". Inside, they are hollow and equipped with incandescent lamps. Under the outer glass is an advertising poster. In the dark, when the light is turned on, the image becomes as bright and clear as during the day. For greater effect, you can use neon lights.
Types of Advertising Constructions
To post on the street, special designs are used. Outdoor advertising involves the use of the following types:
- stand-alone - these are structures that are located separately and constitute an independent advertising object;
- three-dimensional - these are advertising structures that are distinguished by the originality of the design solution and can take on the most unexpected forms;
- standard - these are small-sized designs that are produced in droves (clothespins, sandwiches, and so on);
- light means the use of LED or fluorescent lamps, which provide the perception of advertising information in the dark;
- dynamic ones mean continuous change of images and advertising messages;
- inflatable - these are three-dimensional objects made of plastic materials and filled with gas.
What the advertiser needs to know
Numerous types of outdoor advertising provide great opportunities for entrepreneurs to demonstrate their products and services. First you need to clearly determine the advertising structure that you are going to use. Here it is necessary to proceed from the question of expediency: target group, geography, planned budget.
At the next stage, it is important to develop a design project that will distinguish your message from other outdoor objects. To do this, it is worthwhile to study the similar designs of competitors, as well as conduct a survey among the potential audience to which the advertising message will be sent.
Choose the busiest places to install your design. If you provide specific services, then you should consider geography. The size of the advertising structure will depend on how much information you are going to fit on the billboard.
It is worth noting the undeniable effectiveness of all types of outdoor advertising. The potential customer’s contact with the information is many times greater than that of radio, print, television or printing.
