When considering the marketing mix for a brand, you really can’t afford to leave out any of the tried and tested traditional advertising methods, and that includes signage. In fact, while signs may seem to be one of the most humble ways to advertise a brand, there are actually many positive benefits that may not be immediately obvious. In this article we’ll take a look at just five of the most important advantages that a good display sign campaign can provide to your business.

1. High volume impressions at low cost

All of the other major forms of advertising mediums typically rely on broadcasting a message over a very wide geographical area. To get this kind of coverage, you have to pay comparatively high prices. Signage, even when it is mobile, doesn’t have this ability to reach widely spread audiences simultaneously. What it does offer, however, is the ability to make impressions on the same audience within a given geographic range over and over again. When you consider the low cost involved, this can be a great value opportunity, especially if your business is likely to get most of its trade from within a limited geographic range.

2. Traditional display signs are efficient

Because signs are intended to capture the attention of people rapidly passing by a fixed point, they are engineered to convey an effective message as efficiently as possible. When this is done very well, you can create a lasting impression with an audience, which at best may be expected to see your sign for just a second or two. This is one of the key reasons why big brands like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s invest heavily in these types of signs.

3.Now that signs can be digital, you have more choices available

Digital signs can allow an individual company to deliver a more complex message about a brand if desired.  When your ad has the potential to capture the attention of some passers-by for more than just a second or two, the digital option means you can put on a real show. Digital signs also allow multiple companies to time-share static sign advertising from one location, which can help bring the already low cost down even further.

4. Digital signs can engage audiences with full interactivity

Technology has resulted in smarter signs that are able to interact with audiences that pass by them. Extending that amazing feature even further, digital signs can allow an interested audience member to develop a richer relationship with your brand by enabling an opportunity to interact with your ad to find out more information on the spot.

5. A well-designed locally placed display sign has the potential to get global exposure

Signs are now better value than ever because if your creative designers can come up with a concept that really resonates, amuses or horrifies your audience on a local level, there’s a very good chance they will share it on a global level using technologies such as Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. The key is being creative and original enough to make people want to share your creation with others.

While signs are certainly not the only marketing opportunity for your business, they are proven to work, cost effective, and in the case of digital signs, they can engage audiences in new and innovative ways. The tendency for people to share interesting sights instantly on social media has the potential to help you achieve more market penetration than you’re actually paying for, provided that you genuinely can make your sign an interesting sight.

Marketing is never a simple task. There is always a lot of trial and error involved, and you’ll sometimes miss more often than you hit. The good part is that every hit you get more than makes up for all the misses. What you’re actually doing with each and every marketing effort is speculating on the public reaction to whatever it is that you’ve created.

No matter what kind of business you have, you will gain more attention when you put your marketing message in front of the largest possible audience. Television is one way, and history has certainly shown that it does work. The downside is that it’s a very expensive medium. The Internet is another choice, and it’s certainly usually less expensive than television, but in this case your message can be lost among all the millions of other messages. Not only that, but some people actively filter out and block advertising messages.

Outdoor Displays & Marketing

Using outdoor displays is a sensible and economical way to reach large numbers of people in a short time span.  The reason it works is because when people are in transit from one place to another, they spend most of that time outdoors. Putting your display where large numbers of people are going to see it has to improve your chances of success.

The important thing, of course, is that your display actually has to be good enough. It must capture attention and stir imagination, or it won’t work. You need to create something that makes people think about you and that creates a strong association in some way so that they’ll remember you.

Because the outdoor display is a low cost medium that reaches high levels of passing traffic, it is a marketing medium that gives you a high return on your investment. Handled correctly, it should bring you more customers, and that will increase the overall profitability of your business.

As with any other sort of marketing, you need to track your results. Make an observation of the dynamics before and after you launch the display, and use this data to help you formulate strategies to refine or improve your display. There’s no need to simply create once and then rest on your laurels. It’s far better to be constantly updating and improving.

The best campaign is a dynamic one. It constantly changes and adapts the way the core message is presented, but without losing the fundamental principle behind it all. When people see the same thing over and over for a short time, it helps them to remember it. But persist with that for too long and they’ll begin to not even see it.

Outdoor displays have been around for as long as business has existed. In fact they are the oldest form of marketing there is. For all that, they are also proven to be successful and even today remain to be one of the best ways to attract new customers and achieve brand recognition.

Last October, as Felix Baumgartner dropped from his capsule 128,100 feet in the sky, it wasn’t just his family that held their breath in fear of what could happen next. Red Bull had reason to be nervous about their most extreme marketing stunt to date.

With their tagline “Red Bull Gives You Wings”, the energy drink company has developed a single minded support for extreme sports over the years. Everything from base-jumping, Formula 1, water-sports, the X-Games and air-racing has the Red Bull stamp of approval.

The Stratos project represented not just the core of their brand purpose and the manifestation of a great brand story, but also their most risky stunt so far which, thankfully, paid off!

Was this courageous execution or a calculated gamble? We’ve all seen the reaction: 8 million views of the stunt live on YouTube, 29 million views (so far) of the mission highlights, an estimated 100 million euro in return on exposure for the brand, and commentators falling over themselves with praise – “the very pinnacle of content”.

But what if it had all gone wrong? Even from my simplified view, it seems jumping out of a balloon at near-space territory would present a fair few safety issues. However, Red Bull insist that this was not just a marketing stunt, but a chance to further our understanding of science; a mission to the edge of space. In this sense, perhaps they were immune to failure, whatever the result – a calculated gamble.

Red Bull have gone so far as to block the agencies involved in the project from talking to the press in order to move away from it being viewed as a marketing stunt. They have not been the type to just throw on their logo and leave, they have built credibility from their total commitment to supporting anything they put their name on – look no further than their dominant F1 team.

It does come at a price – it’s estimated that Red Bull invest a massive 30%-40% of their revenues in marketing, but if you align a consistent and ambitious brand strategy with significant investment, as Red Bull have, then you end up with a brand that has the potential to reach beyond the product.

However, now that Felix has announced his retirement, Red Bull are faced with a problem – have they set the bar too high and if not, is there anyone crazy enough to take on their next project?!

It’s only fair to disclose first that as a life-long cycling fan I’ve never been a Lance fan. Most real cycling folk knew deep down all along that the dream/miracle/myth – call it what you will, was total BS! Every great story is the product of two crucial components: the ‘Botch-up’ and the ‘Trying to Fix the Botch-up’. Brand Armstrong is at the latter stage (and critical point) of his long painful saga. On the morning after his first of two worldwide exclusive interviews with Oprah Winfrey, the question on the minds of Lance’s team and the products and companies he once endorsed is most probably: what comes next for Lance and his brand?

Once revered for being a cycling legend, best selling author, cancer survivor and visionary philanthropist, a final and damming USDA report published in October last year has the potential to tear it all apart. With a fallout that included the stripping of his seven Tour de France titles, a life barring from competing in all Olympic sports, the loss of three major sponsorship contracts and his step down from the role of chairman of Livestrong, it would take nothing short of a miracle to start reversing that kind of damage…or would it?

Finally breaking his silence (and going back on more than a decade of vehement denial against the doping rumours that have plagued him for most of his career), Lance Armstrong has taken the opportunity to come clean, so to speak, with arguably one of the most influential figures in popular culture to date.

Truth and transparency can be powerful tools for any brand, but confession is where it really pushes the issue into the ‘make or break’ scenario. Held to such a high standard for such a long period of time, as is the case for a lot of sporting legends, the multi-million-dollar question is, will the public forgive his significant indiscretions? Also, what kind of weight will his brand carry now and how much good will does he have to leverage at this point?

While his cycling career is most definitely over, if “Brand Clinton” or “Brand Tiger” is anything to go by, a confession, some half truths, weasel words and some false humility may just be the ticket for Lance Armstrong to catch a return ticket. Whether or not he’ll be given permission to dip his toe into any other ventures remains to be seen but, whatever the outcome, it’s been quite a ride!

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