More often than not, people ask questions about billboard ads and Facebook ads, which is more effective? It is very much the same as asking which one is more effective between traditional marketing and digital marketing? This is not one of those articles where questions are asked. In this article, we seek to answer the question.
Since the start of the 19th century, billboards have been considered an effective advertising platform. Many businesses and organizations use them for their brand awareness campaign and to show their business to the world. These boards are usually placed in areas that have very high traffic. So, it was one of the most effective ways to reach many people and generate significant impressions.
The problem with this form of advert in this present age is that not many people go out as often as they used to in the 19th and 20th century. Those places that we are termed high traffic areas no longer have as much traffic as they used to. This implies that billboard advertising is no longer as effective as it was in the past.
We are now in a digital age, and people tend to spend a lot of their time on the internet than off it. So digital advertising is the ideal way to reach out to your audience.
There are currently more than 2.7 billion Facebook users worldwide. No matter how populated a city is, you can’t get such coverage for a billboard ad. Therefore, social media platforms such as Facebook give the platform to reach out to more people and help your company expand its reach.
We’ll continue to discuss how Facebook ads are different from billboard ads in this article so you can determine which is best for your marketing strategy. Read along.
Advertising cost
Without mincing words, it is clear as day that the advertising cost for billboards is high and too expensive, especially in comparison with Facebook ads.
The average cost of billboard ad in Columbus, Ohio, for instance, are:
Small-sized billboard – $300-$800
Medium sized billboard – $700-$3000
Large-sized billboard – $1500-$5000
Digital billboards – $2500-$8000
Billboard ads are expensive. If you have to spend up to $8000 monthly for business adverts within a mid-sized city, imagine how much you will spend for a bigger city? Also, this doesn’t include the cost of installation n, property tax, electricity, maintenance, etc.
If you spend anywhere as much as this on digital marketing, you best believe you’re reaching the whole world at once. For Facebook ads, you are only spending an average of $3-$5 daily for one month. That’s between $90-$150 per month, and you will be reaching thousands of people with your campaign. Now compare this to the $5000 that you will be spending monthly on billboards. The price difference is staggering, not to mention the staggering difference in effectiveness and ROI as well.
Audience targeting
When it comes to targeting an audience, Facebook ads are also way more effective than billboard ads. With billboard ads, it is impossible to target a particular kind of people. There’s no special demographic that you are looking at. It’s just everybody passing by and seeing the ad. So, the massive sum of money you are paying is for everybody and anybody passing by to see it. This often includes children without buying power. Also, if your product is made for a particular kind of people, too many people will see your ad and find it useless. Many other people will pass by the billboard without paying attention to the ad or even look at it for a second. If it’s around a highway, you best believe that people have less than 2 seconds to view the ad before zooming past it. These are the many problems with billboard ads.
However, with Facebook ads, you don’t have to face any of these problems. It is effortless to target your audience or reach a specific demographic based on their location, online behavior, interests, gender, age, etc. This way, your ad will be more effective as you can reach out directly to the people that need it and are very likely to patronize your business or buy your product. So, you’re sure that Facebook ads give you all the assignment help online that your business needs. So, you aren’t spending large sums of money for just anybody to see your ad even though most of them don’t need it or you are not even trying to reach them.
With Facebook ads, you are not just spending a meager amount compared to billboard ads. You are also sure that you are optimizing each dollar that you spend. Although you can place your billboards in areas you feel your target audience is, you are never sure that enough of them are getting the message.
Tracking ad effectiveness
There’s not one sure and effective way to track the effectiveness of billboard ads. So, you are paying thousands of dollars monthly for ads, and there’s no way to ascertain that you are getting your money’s worth back. While some billboard ad companies might giveyou a breakdown of the average people driving by the billboard daily, weekly, or monthly. There is still no way for you to be sure that those people are the audience that you’re targeting or if they’re even looking at the billboard as they pass by.
One thing that you can do is to ask each of your customers how they found your business. Try to get the number of customers that come to you as a result of your billboard ads. After some months, you can add up all your sales from those customers that found you through the billboard ad. Then ask yourself if you are making enough from that ad to continue investing so much into it. Are you making enough to even pay for the monthly amount?
There are some other options to track your billboard ad. Even if they are not so effective, it’s better than not tracking it at all.
- Include a QR code on the board that takes the audience to a webpage or shows them directions to your location.
- Add a specific phone number strictly for the billboards, so you are sure that any calls you get on that number are from the billboard.
- Include a specific web address for the billboard, so you know that whatever traffic you get on that web address is from the billboard.
These are the closest options that you can get to tracking your billboard ads. It requires that you take that extra step; otherwise, you will keep pumping out money to billboard ad companies with nothing in return.
On the other hand, tracking your Facebook ads is relatively easy. Tracking this allows you to see the number of people that saw the ad, engaged it, clicked on it, etc. You’re also able to track the total sales that you make from those that saw the ad.
You can measure numerous metrics for your Facebook ad, such as the reach and impression of the ad, cost per result, ad clicks, ad frequency, cost per click, click-through rates, conversion rates, cost per conversion, etc.
There are also several tools that you can use to track these metrics, such as Facebook Insights, Google My Business, Google Analytics, etc. The metric that you track will depend on what you focus on for your digital marketing.
You need to track your advertising and marketing efforts. Otherwise, you won’t know what is working for you and what isn’t working for you. This means that you might be spending less where you should be spending more and spending more where you should not even be spending at all.
Audience engagement
With billboard ads, it is impossible to interact or engage with the audience and potential customers because you don’t even know who they are. If they have questions or queries, there’s almost no way for them to reach out to you, so they keep their questions to themselves till they completely forget about it. The only way you can engage with people through the billboards is if they call the phone numbers that you put on the billboard (which is rare). If they don’t, you can’t engage them in any way.
This is unlike what you have with Facebook campaigns in which you can reply to the comments that your audience makes on your posts. You can relate with customers and help them with whatever needs they have, and answer their questions. It is also possible to invite the audience that engages with the ads to follow or like your Facebook page. When it comes to branding, it has to do with people’s perception of your business, and the best way to give the best perception of your business is to interact with them directly.
Conclusion
Far gone are the days when billboard ads were effective and were the best way to reach many people. In this modern and digital age, the best form of marketing is digital marketing, and Facebook ads are a prime example of this. Many people spend their spare time online than on the road, so it’s ideal for reaching them online.
Arthur Evans is a veteran British writer in self-development and digital marketing. He’s a firm believer in science and advocates intellectual freedom wherever possible. Arthur is an avid fan of history documentaries and old-school sci-fi TV shows.