I love billboards. It's one of my favorite marketing services. Whenever I drive downtown in a new city, while my wife might be admiring the stores, architecture and people, I'm looking at every billboard.

So already I know that I'm not the typical target for billboards. Most people don't go out of their way to read every word on billboards - in fact many find them to be eyesores and only see them when they are actively looking for a product. Knowing my love of billboards, one might think that I advocate using billboards in most any small business marketing plan. Even though I do appreciate good billboard creative, I can still look apart from my own bias and realize that billboards have their place in small business marketing.

From my own experience and from the billboards that I see everyday, I think that billboards are utilized as a marketing tool for many businesses that should never have considered the marketing medium in the first place. Billboards are a unique medium because they are one of a few marketing mediums that target traffic. So it stands to reason that the businesses that advertise on the billboards should target people on the highways. Therefore, the most effective billboard campaigns are those that advertise hotels, restaurants and gas stations, since travelers are actively seeking those services.

But what about billboards for branding purposes? I think that it is rarely effective. To some extent, a sensational billboard in the middle of downtown Manhattan that promotes a brand is certainly effective - as it is costly. However a billboard that promotes a brand of shoes in the middle of the country misses the mark. It's like advertising diapers in Sports Illustrated. Sure, many men that read it are fathers with babies, but that's not what is top of mind when they are reading about football.

I also don't think that billboards are designed to generate calls to action. I've advertised an 800 number on billboards in several different locations. The results that we received from the billboards were generally lackluster. We did sell a few products from billboard marketing, but not enough to justify the expense. The reasons are plentiful why billboards don't lead to direct sales (except for hotels, restaurants and gas stations). First, drivers and passengers will rarely pull out a pen and write down a number or website address they saw on a billboard. Secondly, the average billboard gets perhaps two to three seconds to make an impression. Most drivers aren't going to be engaged to read the billboard and immediately persuaded to take action while handling a car at 65mph.

If your small business wants to pursue billboard advertising, you'll need to research the expense of the medium. Billboard advertising can be very costly for premium downtown or interstate real estate, but it can also be affordable if you play your cards right. One way to save money is to sign a contract for remnant space. Remnant space is billboard space that is left vacant until another advertiser's contract begins. You can get this space much less expensive and many times you can get prime locations.

In summary, billboards are a great medium if you are giving directions or if you have a hotel, restaurant or gas station that is off of the highway. Otherwise, they may not be best small business marketing choice. If you do want to try billboard marketing, I would start small with one or two and make sure that you have a dedicated 800 number or website so you can monitor the activity that the billboard generates.

About the author:

Steve Reynolds has more than 15 years of hands-on small business marketing experience. www.square2creative.com steve@square2creative.com