Primary Media Outdoor Advertising

The industry calls it “top of mind” or “first thought”. Much like the real estate mantra, Location, Location, Location, which stresses that the key to successful real estate is where something is situated, repetition is a major factor in successful marketing. We’ll dig in to other details of this top/first phenomenon in future segments, but for now, repetition is the focus.

The big boys have large budgets from operations that have been built over decades, and their purchasing power drives sweet deals on a national level. Small operations aren’t afforded this luxury, and the key is to figure out where to get the most eyeballs on a consistent, and yes, repetitive basis.

Just how do you get to be the “first thought,” you ask? The answer doesn’t come in a one-and-done fashion, like a blow out ad campaign to hawk the newest widget, like an iPhone loss leader to sell accessories. Although this temporary approach can drive some call to action for the moment, these types of campaigns are most effective when adding to longer-term marketing efforts and are a hit and miss attempt at building consistent, long-term loyalties. Repetition, delivering your message day in and day out, 365/24/7 is a strategy that does build success over time.

Pick one message, brand, etc., and present it across all your advertising platforms over and over. Focus on getting the most impressions per presentation. Look for the most deliverable audience that can’t tune out, turn off, or leave unopened.

This simple focus of evaluating which media can deliver the most impressions per thousand viewers at the least amount of overall cost is known as Cost per Thousand (or CPM, and the lowest cost is obviously best!). Evaluate whether the counting mechanism is a government data source like traffic counts (you can actually see them) or whether they are statistical calculations/estimates extrapolated from small viewing or listening pools. You can’t do your own surveys easily as they are costly, but you can sit by a light for a while during rush hour and compare what reach all media have at various times of the day.

You have oodles of options on which to spend your advertising dollars. No matter what business, organization or entity you are, repetition of your consistent message will be a major key to your marketing success. We think billboards can deliver a very cost effective way to achieve that repetition. It’s up to you to get the message right – we’ll save that for another topic!