Is Mobile Billboard Advertising Cost Worth the Investment?

For SMBs deciding how and where to advertise their business, the number one question they must ask themselves is this – what is the most effective way to reach our target audience?

The answer in many cases is mobile billboard advertising, part of the Digital Out of Home family.

Mobile billboards and digital taxi-top ads have been driving through town and city centers for many years, turning the heads of pedestrians, commuters, and people driving to work, doing the school run, running errands, and traveling to the store – and they’re just as effective now as they have ever been. Perhaps even more so.

Mobile billboard advertising refers to a form of outdoor advertising that uses mobile billboard trucks to move the ad around a locality. In other words, mobile billboards are ads on wheels – not confined to one space, rather enabling your brand message to be spread to a far wider audience.

In this way, mobile billboards provide flexibility and have an extended reach – precisely because they are mobile.

(Image source: google.com)

Today, mobile billboards are largely digital – and digital billboard trucks offer many advantages for SMBs.

Digital Out of Home (DOOH) advertising is widely considered to be the future of outdoor advertising as it combines the ease and convenience of modern technology with traditional Out of Home (OOH) brand awareness and messaging.

Additionally, digital billboards are simply brighter and more attention-grabbing than printed ads, and they do not wear or fade in the weather.

Another advantage is that digital signage allows for video advertising, which is well-known to be a highly effective marketing strategy for brands of all sizes.

Read more: How Video Advertising Can Transform Your DOOH Marketing

And another benefit – digital billboard ads play on rotation, which means that advertisers can effectively share the cost of billboard trucks, which can keep cost down. Ads can be configured to play at particular destinations (e.g., tourist destinations, sporting events, markets, etc.) and at predetermined times, to maximize reach and the return on your advertising spend.

It most certainly is.

Research by the Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) reveals that nearly one-third of people notice digital mobile billboard advertising each month. Of these, 57% notice them “all of the time”, or “most of the time”.

Even more importantly, digital mobile billboard advertising drives action. 67% of viewers say they search for the advertiser online, visit the advertiser’s store or restaurant, or post to social media after seeing a mobile billboard ad.

Furthermore, 61% say they engage in mobile device actions after seeing an ad on a mobile billboard truck, such as visiting the advertiser’s website, scanning a QR code, using a hashtag, downloading an app, accessing a discount, or making a purchase.

(Image source: oaaa.org)

The study also sought to reveal the effectiveness of digital mobile billboard advertising that gave directions to a business.

It was found that 52% of consumers notice such ads, of whom 69% visited that business, where a massive 98% made a purchase.

(Image source: oaaa.org)

As with all types of marketing, there are many factors that affect the cost of mobile billboard advertising. Ultimately, you are paying for impressions – i.e., instances where your ad is seen by people.

There are several factors that will impact how much these mobile billboard impressions will cost you. They include the following.

Different locations command different costs for mobile billboard truck ads. This is because certain locations are more valuable than others in terms of traffic and exposure. As such, advertising in certain towns or cities may prove more expensive than others.

Other factors include the level of demand – rates are normally higher in areas where demand for billboard trucks is high, for example.

Precisely where you want your digital ad displayed along the route may also affect the price you pay. For instance, activating a digital ad in a city center where you’ll glean hundreds if not thousands of impressions quickly, will likely cost you more than in the suburbs where the number of impressions may well be lower.

Generally speaking, although longer campaigns are often more effective than shorter ones, clearly, the longer you want your ad to run for, the more it will likely cost you.

However, certain times of year may also affect cost. Summer months tend to be more expensive, for example, as demand is higher, with more people out and about to see your ad. Seasonality also affects price – the run-up to Christmas, of course, tends to see a spike in demand for mobile billboard advertising, and so costs can rise in accordance.

Conversely, the opposite is true if you run a mobile billboard campaign at an off-peak time of the year – you may well pay less for it.

Different billboard truck companies charge advertisers in different ways. Some charge per impression, so what you end up paying depends on how many people see your ad.

Others prefer you to pay for a set amount of time, such as a whole day or whole week, even though your ad may only be shown for several hours or you’re sharing the space with other advertisers.

As we have seen, there are many factors that affect the cost of mobile billboard advertising with prices varying from one market to another and dependent on the area, time of year, and duration of your campaign.

But is advertising on billboard trucks worth it?

Yes. Absolutely. Mobile billboard advertising allows you to reach thousands of people in just one day. This is extremely beneficial for SMBs that need a brand message delivered quickly, cost-effectively, and with impact.

Other benefits of mobile billboards include the fact that they are highly targeted. With today’s technology you can precisely target specific audiences with dynamic content. In addition, mobile billboard trucks can go where static billboard ads can’t – including suburban, residential, and other hard-to-access places that advertisers often struggle to reach with traditional OOH advertising.

Read more: 4 Great Reasons for SMBs to Consider Digital Mobile Billboards

If you think advertising on digital billboards is a great investment, you’re in the right place.

The Neuron is a programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) platform that enables SMBs to buy, manage, and plan DOOH advertising in real time. Providing direct access to premium DOOH inventory, which includes mobile digital taxi-top ads, advertisers can launch a campaign in their ideal location in a matter of minutes, with just a few clicks.