Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Is It Useful To Post A Web Address On A Billboard?

Posted by lstevens on 12/12/2013 at 12:07 PM ET 25 Points
I'm helping a retailer with his billboard. The billboard is primarily directional ("turn left at the light".) There will be two brand name logos in addition tot he store logo, as well as product shots. His web address is the same as his store name. Does anyone think it is worthwhile to include a website address in this scenario?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 12/12/2013 at 1:03 PM Accepted
    The more information that's on the billboard, the harder it will be to scan/remember. If the goal is to get them to physically show up, then a URL won't be a benefit (especially if their store name is identical to the URL).
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 12/12/2013 at 1:52 PM Accepted
    As Jay said, the amount of content is very important (and it needs to be limited).

    If it is a billboard on a interstate freeway and the main goal is to get someone traveling by to know the store/restaurant/whatever is there and to find it, then url may not provide much help 9and could make it too cluttered). This one time user either pulls over now or goes to the next place, and likely never has the chance to stop again.

    But if it is a place on a well traveled route (so multiple chances for someone like a commuter who passes daily to stop), then the URL could help as they could do some research between times they pass. Or if the directions are confusing, then the URL could let someone who is trying to find the place look up directions easier.

    One option to kind of do both would be to add a small .com after the company name or logo (usually a different color/smaller font, to make sure that people don't think it is part of the normal style), to show the name is also the URL without having to clutter it up with additional text.
  • Posted by Moriarty on 12/12/2013 at 3:01 PM Member
    Sorry to be late for the party, but you could always have a QR code that leads to their website, or ties the driver into their GPS so they can find it easily. That way they won't need to key in the name of the website!

    QR codes are those funny square things with square dots on them - the things the German railways get so wrong ... I have told them.
  • Posted by lstevens on 12/12/2013 at 4:34 PM Author
    I have to disagree. A QR code on a billboard is an accident waiting to happen. Check out the article on Marketing Profs about the author of "QR Codes Kill Kittens," Scott Stratten. https://www.marketingprofs.com/podcasts/2013/12214/qr-codes-kill-kittens-au...
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 12/12/2013 at 6:45 PM Member
    I spent all of 2011 experimenting with QR codes on railway posters and they drove precisely zero website visitors. None. Not one.

    Most billboards are a waste of perfectly good marketing funds and a blight on the landscape but if they MUST be used, name the company, include a telephone number if you must, and state an action: that's it.

    Billboards only succeed in one way: they make lots of money for the companies that own them.

    Today I drove passed a billboard and I simply HAD to stop the car in the middle of the Interstate in order to write down the telephone number and website address ... said no one, ever.

  • Posted by Moriarty on 12/13/2013 at 1:56 AM Member
    Thankyou Gary.

    Lark, when you mention that QR codes on billboards kills kittens, there's ample evidence that in distracting motorists' attention, it's more than kittens that get killed!

    https://michiganautoaccident.blogspot.nl/2011/05/are-distracting-digital-bi...

    In other words, there's evidence to back up any argument. Do as Gary says and make your own data - that way you'll know what works for you (and what doesn't). It's called a "return on investment".

    Funny how everyone wants one apart from what they spend on marketing!
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