Are you looking for a way to get your startup in front of more people quickly and cost-effectively? If so, you should consider investing in billboard ads, and specifically, digital billboards. Billboards are an incredibly effective forms of out-of-home (OOH) advertising, and now, with low digital billboard advertising cost, digital billboards have become one of the most cost-effective ways to advertise your business.

“But isn’t a big billboard expensive?”, you may be asking. “How much does a digital billboard advertising cost?”

In this blog post, we will discuss how both traditional, static billboards work and how digital billboards work and how they both can benefit your business. Mostly importantly, we’ll talk about how much both traditional and digital billboards cost, and how pricing for billboards works so you can get the most bang for your marketing buck. .

Billboard Ads and Out-of-Home Advertising

Before we dive into digital billboards and how much digital billboards cost, it is important to understand why billboard ads generally could be a good investment for your startup. Billboards are known as one of the most effective forms of out-of-home (OOH) advertising available.

Out of Home Advertising (OOH Ads)

OOH advertising is any type of advertising that reaches consumers when they are not actively seeking out media (e.g., when they are commuting, working out, or running errands). As such, OOH campaigns are usually made up of outdoor ads like the the billboard outside your local restaurant or gym or transit ads like the the ads you see on the subway or bus.

Out of home advertising is effective because it allows you to reach consumers when they are in a relaxed state and more likely to pay attention to your message. In fact, studies have shown that an OOH ad can be up to four times more effective than television advertising. And billboard ads have the highest reach of amongst all types of OOH advertising with 80% of Americans stating they notice billboard ads.

What Are the Potential Benefits of Billboard Advertising?

There are many potential benefits of investing in billboard advertisement, including:

Reach a large number of people quickly:

Billboard advertisement allows you to reach a broad audience in a short amount of time. Outdoor advertising is especially beneficial if you are launching a new product or service and need to generate buzz from a mass audience quickly.

Cost-effective:

Billboard advertising is one of the most cost-effective forms of advertising available. Billboard advertisement is also typically much less expensive than more traditional forms of advertising like television or radio.

Flexibility:

Billboard advertising can be very flexible. You can choose to advertise in a specific geographic location or rotate your ads among multiple locations. Additionally, you can change your billboard ads on a regular basis to keep your message fresh.

Building brand awareness:

Billboards can help you build brand awareness for your startup. If people see your ad on a regular basis, they will be more likely to remember your company when they are in need of a product or service that you offer.

Billboard Pricing: How Much Does a Billboard Cost?

Now that we have discussed the benefits and who billboard ads are right for, let’s take a look at how much does a billboard cost.

Billboard costs (like a lot of advertising media) are calculated on a number of factors, including the billboard’s location, size (large billboard vs. small billboard), and traffic. For example, a smaller billboard in a rural billboard location will cost significantly less than a larger billboard located in high traffic areas with a large number of people passing by.

That’s because advertising companies calculate billboard advertising costs based on cost per mille (CPM), that is, cost per thousand impressions.

CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions)

CPM is based on three factors which impact a billboard’s Out-of-Home rating:

Circulation:

This means the total traffic that passes by your billboard or, in the case of mobile billboards, how many people your billboard may pass. Note: This is distinct from how many people actually see your billboard.

Demographics:

This factor is based on the demographic breakdown of who passes your billboard: age, gender, and income. Billboard cost will be highest for a younger, higher income demographic.

Impressions:

This is based on the likely number of people that will see the billboard based on things like the size of the billboard, how visible it is, and the traffic speed around the billboard. So generally, it’s more desirable (and expensive!) to have a billboard in an area with a low speed limit or a street prone to gridlock or slow traffic flow where people will have time to look around and take in the ad.

Costs for Static Billboards

So the average cost of static billboards in rural areas can range from $750 to $1.500 per month, while average cost in a small to midsize city can range from $1,500 to $2,000. In contrast, a billboard in a large city like New York or Los Angeles will be much more expensive, from $2,000 to $20,000 per month.

Billboards: The Additional Costs

That’s not all, though. In addition to the rental fees for the billboard space, your marketing budget for a billboard ad also needs to factor in costs for things like the design costs for your ad and your production costs.

If you’re investing in a traditional billboard ad, you’ll also need to budget for the actual materials for the billboard and the installation costs. Vinyl billboards (which are most common) will run you from $1 to $1.50 a square foot.

While this may seem like a lot of money, it is important to keep in mind that billboards can be very effective for your marketing budget. If you are able to reach even a small percentage of the people who see your billboard, it can quickly become a very cost-effective form of marketing.

You may also be able to reduce some costs by using a freelance designer from a site like Fiverr or Upwork vs. using a billboard advertising company.

But still, if like for most of us, a billboard in New York City’s Times Square just isn’t in the cards, let’s talk about digital billboards, what a digital billboard costs, and how it could be a more flexible, and more cost-effective option for your startup.

What is a Digital Billboard?

A digital billboard is a type of billboard that uses digital technology to display content. Mostly importantly for most of us, this digital transformation has transformed the old, static billboard into a dynamic component of digital marketing. And digital billboards are becoming increasingly popular due to their flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and ability to reach a large audience which can make them an ideal fit for a startup looking to grow and raise startup funding.

If you are considering investing in billboard advertising, it is important to understand the key difference between the two types of billboards: traditional (static) billboards and digital billboards.

Digital Billboards: Flexibility and Cost

Traditional billboards are made of hard materials like vinyl and paper and can only be changed manually, which can be time-consuming and expensive. Digital billboards, on the other hand, use digital technology to display content. This means that a digital billboard can be easily updated and changed, making them more much flexible than traditional billboards, and digital signage can also be more dynamic and eye-catching than a static, single ad. In the case of mobile billboards, the digital billboard can even be easily moved!

This key difference also means that digital billboards typically cost less than traditional billboards. For example, a digital billboard’s digital displays can be rotated to target an ad during specific hours of the day when your potential customers are most likely to pass by. That can be a cheaper and more cost-effective use of your advertising budget than say, investing in expensive highway billboards which can only display one ad at a time. So If you are looking for a more flexible and cost-effective marketing option, then a digital billboard may be the right choice for your business and may be one simple way to digitize your business.

How Much Does Digital Billboard Advertising Cost?

As we mentioned earlier, the digital billboard advertising cost depends on a number of factors, including the billboard location and size, as well as the traffic speed passing by. However, the average cost of digital billboards will run between $1,200 and $15,000 per month.

That’s Still a Lot of Money! Does All Digital Billboard Advertising Cost That Much?

Yes, that’s still a lot of money, but again, the advantage of a digital billboard is flexibility, and that’s true of digital billboard pricing as well.

So if you’re interested in digital billboard advertising, but you don’t have a Times Square budget quite yet, one option would be to go with a company like Blip Billboards, a self-serve marketplace where you can start a digital billboard campaign for as little as $10 a day.

Since Blip Billboards allows you to set your own budget and you only pay when your digital ads are actually displayed, it’s a terrific example of the flexibility that digital billboard advertising can offer startups.

Bottom Line

Billboard ads can be a very effective way to reach potential customers, and introduce your brand to a broad audience. A number of factors affect how much a billboard costs like billboard location, traffic, and demographics but digital billboards offer a more flexible, cost-effective way for startups can reach their target audience.