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Outdoor advertising venues have become incredibly popular over the last couple of years. Companies are building them like traditional billboards, only on giant LCD display screen instead of on printed vinyl. The number of digital signage like these are increasing all over the country, with a projected growth rate of a couple hundred new locations per year. Billboard companies can now sell one billboard location to multiple advertisers instead of just one or two, and at double the price of conventional displays. Creating and implementing advertisement for digital signage is incredibly simple and fast. Once you have created your digital ad on your regular computer, all you have to do is load the design into the digital billboard’s electronic rotation. You ad will display in rotation with other companies’ advertisements every few seconds at a time. Digital signage gives you the flexibility of displaying multiple ads at one time, or in rotation, or on cue depending on what time of day it is or what type of audience you want to display it to. You are no longer hampered by pre-printed artwork, or the hassle and expense of getting your ads printed and dispersed. You can schedule different ads to run at different times of the day, and you can create several different ads to rotate through at a time. If there is a particular ad that just is not getting the response you hoped for, just pull it from the rotation and replace it with something else. With digital signage you can directly respond to market conditions within minutes. Let’s say for example that your product is weather related. A big storm is about to blow through, so you create a new ad within minutes, upload it to the digital device and schedule it to run immediately. You no longer have to pay for printed materials like flyers, posters, or vinyl billboards. Your artwork cannot fade or get ripped to shreds in harsh weather. The cost of you artwork is the cost of layout and design, which you could easily do by yourself if you know how to use Photoshop. Despite the positive aspects of digital signage, there are a few drawbacks. One drawback is that you no longer have that one location all to yourself. Competitors may be allowed to have their ad rotate on the same board as yours. The cost of having your ad on a digital billboard can be twice as much as having your ad printed on vinyl on a static billboard. This makes it a lot harder for small businesses to get their ads on digital billboards. However, since digital billboards are being built all over the country and availability is increasing, hopefully the cost will come down considerably. Like traditional boards, the new digital version is best used by businesses trying to reach mobile demographics: generally the younger, more affluent, working customers. Don't use this medium to reach seniors, children, or the less affluent. The best use of billboard advertising is for giving directions, name recognition and brand awareness. You should not use this medium for complicated messages. Because of it's creative flexibility, certain price-based, sales-focused businesses may also consider running digital boards. If you do use them, please be consistent with your brand promise and your messages in other media. Use contrasting colors in your artwork with readable fonts. Don't use more than seven words per board.
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