1260 Productions

Should I Consider Outdoor Advertising?

My business associate suggested that I use outdoor advertising. We don’t have many billboards in our community, so why should I consider outdoor advertising?

When people think of outdoor advertising, they usually think of the colorful billboards along our streets and highways. Included in the outdoor classification, however, are benches, posters, signs, and transit advertising (the advertising on buses, subways, taxicabs, and trains). They all share similar advertising rules and methods. Outdoor advertising reaches its audience as an element of the environment. Unlike newspaper, radio, or TV, it doesn’t need to be invited into the home, and it doesn’t provide entertainment to sustain its audience. Here are some reasons why businesses use outdoor advertising:

• Since it is in the public domain, outdoor advertising assuredly reaches its audience. People can’t switch it off or throw it out. People are exposed to it whether they like it or not. In this sense, outdoor advertising truly has a captured audience.
• Its messages work on the advertising principle of frequency. Since most messages stay in the same place for a period of a month or more, people who drive by or walk past see the same message a number of times.
• Particular locations can be acquired for certain purposes. A billboard located a block in front of your business can direct people to your showroom, or you can reach rural areas efficiently by placing it billboard in each small town.
• Outdoor advertising is an excellent adjunct to other types of advertising you are doing. In fact, it is most effective when coupled with other media.

Competitive Analysis

Business takes place in a highly competitive, volatile environment, so it is important to understand the competition. Questions like these can help:

• Who are your five nearest direct competitors?
• Who are your indirect competitors?
• Is their business growing, steady, or declining?
• What can you learn from their operations or advertising?
• What are their strengths and weaknesses?
• How does their product or service differ from yours?

Read on because when you are done, I have an idea on what to do with your info since you spent time researching it!

Start a file on each of your competitors; include advertising, promotional materials, and pricing strategies. Review these files periodically, determining how often they advertise, sponsor promotions, and offer sales. Study the copy used in the advertising and promotional materials and their sales strategies.

What to Address in Your Competitor Analysis

• Names of competitors: List all of your current competitors and research any that might enter the market during the next year.
• Summary of each competitor’s products: This should include location, quality, advertising, staff, distribution methods, promotional strategies, customer service, etc.
• Competitors’ strengths and weaknesses: List their strengths and weaknesses from the customer’s viewpoint. State how you will capitalize on their weaknesses and meet the challenges represented by their strengths.
• Competitors’ strategies and objectives: This information might be easily obtained by getting a copy of their annual report. It might take the analysis of many information sources to understand competitors’ strategies and objectives.

NOW! Take this file and make a shorten list and BAM! You have your in-house sales sheet to share with your employees on who you are and sales topics to touch on. Also now they know what the competition is doing and can be prepared how to address it!

Need more? Ideas for Gathering Competitive Information

• Internet: The Internet is a powerful tool for finding information on a variety of topics.
• Personal visits: If possible, visit your competitors’ locations. Observe how employees interact with customers. What do their premises look like? How are their products displayed and priced?
• Talk to customers: Your sales staff is in regular contact with customers and prospects, as is your competition. Learn what your customers and prospects are saying about your competitors.
• Competitors’ ads: Analyze competitors’ ads to learn about their target audience, market position, product features, benefits, prices, etc.
• Speeches or presentations: Attend speeches or presentations made by representatives of your competitors.
• Trade show displays: View your competitor’s display from a potential customer’s point of view. What does their display say about the company?Observing which specific trade shows or industry events competitors attend provides information on their marketing strategy and target market.
• Written sources: Use general business publications, marketing and advertising publications, local newspapers and business journals, industry and trade association publications, industry research and surveys, and computer databases (available at many public libraries).