The Billboard Space Blog

John McComb’s billboard is creating lots of controversy and raising eyebrows on Hwy 65 and County Road 287 just outside Mobile, Alabama in Bay Minette. John McComb had the extra space so he put up the board due to Hugo Chavez calling President Bush the “Devil” being involved with the Iranian President and just plain hating America. Some people are even turning around after passing by the board just to take a picture. A nearby gas station has complained to the city to have the billboard taken down. What a great way to draw attention to your billboard company and get free advertising! Lots of news stations across America and blogs online such as this one and others are spreading the word about this billboard!

Billboards are income properties without the usual landlording concerns. Perhaps the biggest problem with investing in billboards is that there are limited opportunities to do so in most areas.

I like the idea of a billboard investment. No toilets to fix, no tenants to evict. Just lease the space, let the renter do all the painting, and collect the income. Of course it might be necessary to upgrade the billboard or repair it every ten years or so, but that just doesn’t compare with the regular problems that come up with other rental real estate.

The best way to make money with billboards used to be buying property and then putting billboards on it. However, this is getting more difficult all the time. Many communities are limiting the number of billboards allowed, or just plain outlawing all new ones.

One way around this that I have seen is to have billboards that aren’t billboards. The most common example is old truck trailers that have been made into “mobile” billboards. These presumably don’t fit the definition of a billboard, and so are left alone. It is just a truck trailer parked near the highway that happens to have advertising on it.

I’m not sure if these are legally secure enough to make advertisers fell comfortable. If not, the rates would be much lower. I might try this if I had a property alongside a highway or busy road, but I wouldn’t invest in property based on this scheme.

Buying Billboard Properties

The new laws and regulations almost never make existing billboards illegal. They are grandfathered, meaning they will be allowed as long as they are there. It may not be okay to replace them, but they can generally be there as long as they can be repaired. These are the properties that you will want to look for to making moneywith billboards.

The math is relatively simple compared to most real estate deals. On the expense side, you have your financing, property taxes, insurance, and occasional repairs. Advertising for advertisers is usually done on the vacant sign itself, for the cost of the paint. If these expenses are less than the monthly rent coming in, you have positive cash flow, and it may be a good investment.

You’ll want to know how long the lease has to run. Billboards can remain empty for months, so you have to account for that if you buy one with a lease about to expire. Look around at how many empty billboards there are to get an idea of how easy or difficult it will be to get it rented out again.

Do some research on rental rates before you start shopping for properties. Find out the range of rents in the area, as well as information on vacancy rates, if you can. Then, as you narrow your search, get the average rates for other billboards on the same streets where your prospective properties are for sale.

You want the rates on a property you buy to be in line with others in the area. It’s even better if they are low. In that case you might pay a price based on the existing rates and raise the rent when the lease is up.

Ideally you want a property that will have decent cash flow from day one, and has a long term lease with a client who has repeated renewed the lease. Then you might just take that easy return on your investment for many years as the rent also pays off your loan.

There is a strategy that I hesitate to mention, because it seems unfair to me. But it can be profitable. I heard about from an investor who bought a lot real estate with billboards in Arizona. Once he had enough properties in city, he lobbied for a ban on all future billboards,and joined any groups that were doing the same. He urged the city council to “beautify” the city by banning new billboards, knowing that they would always “grandfather” existing properties, including his.

Once the law passed, future competition was eliminated. No new billboards could be erected, despite a city that continued to gain population and businesses. The result, of course, was predictable. Advertising rates on the existing billboards skyrocketed over time. He said he was making a lot of money on the ones he had.

About the Author:
Copyright Steve Gillman. This article was an excerpt from 69 Ways To Make Money In Real Estate. Want to know the other 68 ways? Visit http://www.99reports.com/make-money-in-real-estate.html

Sometimes you can learn a lesson from a big brother, and that seems to be the case when you consider large billboards -commonly referred to as outdoor advertising, or OA for short- and their smaller plasma and LCDsiblings in the retail environment.

Consider the case of an advertising forcastfor 2007 from Watchfire Digital Outdoors. Makers of outdoor digital signage that’s every bit as large as a conventional billboard, Watchfire Digital Outdoors does for outdoor advertising much of what conventional plasma and LCD digital signs do indoors.

The Danville, IL, company earlier this month published a 10-point forecast for digital outdoor billboard advertising, many of which apply equally well to the indoor digital signage market in retail settings.

Forecasted points that could just as easily been have been made about retail digital signage and advertising include:

* The availability and use of more sophisticated selling strategies;
* Networks of digital billboards rivaling other media for ad revenue;
* Solidifying of revenue models.

With regard to more sophisticated selling strategies, Watchfire Digital Outdoors makes the point that new approaches, including “exclusive category sponsorships, unlimited copy changes and automated database-driven updates” will be used as incentives or upsells to entice advertiser to use digital outdoor signs in 2007. The same is true of retail digital signage networks. As that medium coalesces, retailers will find the same opportunities can be employed to attract and win advertisers. Like their bigger brothers, digital signage networks can be changed in an instant and offered on an exclusive basis to an identified category of advertisers.

Another commonality is in the emergence of digital signage as a rival to existing media, especially radio and television. As I’ve written about in the past, retail digital signage networks are congealing into a quantifiable, measurable, sellable medium that will offer advertisers more than a wish. These networks will deliver concrete demographics and audience numbers.

Just as Watchfire Digital Outdoors forecasts digital outdoor signage networks coming into their own as a competitive medium, indoor retail digital signage networks will offer advertisers a targeted demographic as an alternative to traditional media -one that reaches consumers closer to the cash register.

Watchfire Digital Outdoors also forecasts that revenue models will solidify as outdoor advertising companies get comfortable with offering “board sharing, day-parting, exclusive sponsorships, short-run premiums” and other incentives. Again, retail digital signage networks also are seizing on these types of new product offerings to create an entirely new medium. Tracking retail signage messages to match the demographics of shoppers as they change throughout the day and offering “short-run premiums” are also integral components of retail digital signage that will be exploited to drive ad sales.

Sometimes it’s nice to have a big brother. Finding retail digital signage networks share some vital commonalities with large

LED-based outdoor digital signs that are poised to explode onto the advertising scene should give marketing executives, advertisers and retailers something to smile about as we enter the New Year.

About the Author:
David Little is a digital signage authority with 20 years of experience helping professionals use technology to expand their marketing messages with alternative media. Visit http://www.keywesttechnology.com and find how you can expand your marketing horizons. For further insight, download my free white paper Why Digital Signage Works.

Vinyl banner is an inexpensive form of advertising material. It is commonly used outdoors where crowds of people can see it. Rain or shine, the vinyl banner stays put and stays as an attention grabbing paraphernalia.

Because the vinyl banner is weather-resistant, it can endure longer exposure unlike other materials not meant for outdoors. Nevertheless, they are durable and are flexible enough to be used indoors as well.

Vinyl banners are digitally printed using wide format or large format printers. They can be printed as large as 63×100 and still hold your texts or images with consistency.

Make large format vinyl banners your choice for your advertising needs. Broadcast your events, your stall, your promotions using vinyl banners and see your clients flock to your destination.

Common Uses Vinyl banners are commonly placed or found at the following areas:

• Store entrances and point of purchase displays • Trade shows, conventions, fairs and other organized events • Outdoor billboard and building signs • On vehicles and floats during parades

Vinyl banners, most of the time, used in daytime where people can readily see and read them better. Vinyl banners too are used to draw in people for big attractions, like shows and exhibitions.

Vinyl Banner Tips and Design Ideas

Large format vinyl banner, in itself, can be bulky. Grommets are often added to facilitate convenient hanging of the banner. Putting it up can be easy with grommets which holds onto your vinyl banner without causing the material to tear.

Vinyl banners can also be stitched to accommodate pole sticks. But, there are also accessories to make it easier, such as tapes and glues that will reinforce your vinyl banners.

Large banners, and I mean really large ones, are printed on a special mesh material enabling the wind to easily pass through the banners without ripping it.

Generally used for large advertisements, vinyl design banners contain at least one main image and a few texts.

Texts are short and usually appear as heading and sub-headings describing or complementing the image.

Company and business taglines may also appear as text. Most often, the majority of color comprising the image is in direct contrast with the color of the text to ensure readability.

Vinyl banners put emphasis and focus on a single theme and are less-detailed. It is important that both image (either an easily recognizable person or identifiable object) and text work together to create a high-impact, uniform messages.

Vinyl banner, which commonly recreates the idea that banners are only good when using red bold letters against a white backdrop, is not limited to this. Vinyl banners can act like posters which can hold a tremendous amount of graphic design, along with a wide range of colors.

Vinyl banners can be printed with texts printed in light colors against a dark background that would give it a more dramatic effect.

Also, vinyl banners can be printed in a horizontal or vertical alignment. You can hang it and let it be read from left to right or let it dangle and be read from top to bottom, respectively.

Whatever your choice may be, horizontal or vertical, grommets or poles, and light against dark or the conventional dark against light, be sure that your vinyl banners are only handled by the experts.

Vinyl banners, after all, are never too big or too small to enjoy quality printing. And no occasion is too big or too small as well to use vinyl banners.To find more information about significant procedures and production of vinyl banners please feel free to visit large format posters

If you won your own business, then I’m sure in order to survive you try and make every dollar count. Money can be tough to come by and the last thing you can afford to do is waste limited resources on bad ideas. The number one area of business that people waste money on is in advertising. That’s because they never thought about using billboard advertising.

Billboard advertising is an extremely effective yet cost-efficient way for small business owners to create some buzz for products and services. The Outdoor Advertising Association of America estimates that U.S. businesses spent more than $5.5 billion on outdoor advertising last year. They are expecting that number to rise yet again this year. From the looks of it, billboard advertising is on the rise in popularity and for good reason.

There are a few reasons why billboard advertising has an increase in customer with cost efficiency being the number one reason. Compared to the other types of advertising, billboards are an inexpensive way to reach the general public. Here is a step by step process to help you get started advertising your business on a great big billboard.

• Before you do anything, take a financial assessment of your expenses and mull over whether or a billboard is money well spent. The money you will need to pay for it upfront varies and differentiates depending on the area, the market and the placement. In general, outdoor advertising is more expensive that other types of advertising methods but considering the fact that it’s possible for hundreds if not thousands of people per day will see your billboard advertisement; it can pay off in the long run.
• Decide upon what type of demographic your want your billboard to attract and build your ad’s message based upon that. Once you decide upon the theme, select what size billboard will work best for your needs. Always remember the cost for the various sizes of billboards when making a decision on your ad’s size. If you own a physical storefront location, you can get away with using a smaller sign to direct traffic to your place of business.
• Do some research on billboard sizes and which one work best. You’ll find that typical billboards range from 14 by 48 feet, 12 by 24 feet and 5 by 11 feet. The ones you see spread out along the highways and interstates are the largest ones available. They give you the most exposure but cost the most. The market exposed to your billboard becomes smaller and more centralized when the signs size decreases and becomes more focused because of placement requirements for smaller signs.
• If you don’t think you can design a billboard on your own, hire someone to do it for you. You’ll discover most advertising agencies usually hire in-house designers who specialize in outdoor advertising. Many billboard companies also employ in-house designers to help you out with any questions.
• Make sure you are involved in the project at all steps. The last thing you want to happen is for everything to be finished only find out that the billboard is not what you originally wanted. Don’t get pushed out of the process of the design phase by the billboard company, or if you feel that the placement of your billboards is not adequate. It is your money after all.
• Keep track of the placement of your signs and their regular rotation. If you feel something is not up to par with what you wanted, notify the company immediately.

Channel M Communications at www.channelmcommunications.com, allows you to implement channels of communication with direct mail, digital printing services, response URLS, RSS feeds, and professional graphic design.

Don’t agree?

Please ask your wife, husband or significant other—in other words, the nearest typical consumer—to answer the following 7 questions:

1. Does viewing pop-up ads on your computer curl your toes in orgasmic delight? Yes or No?

2. Does a mailbox filled with junk mail cause your palms to itch and sweat with nervous anticipation? Yes or No?

3. Do you suffer from outbursts of violent anger when a TV commercial is interrupted by a TV movie? Yes or No?

4. Do you prance around the parking lot with ecstatic abandon whenever you find a flyer on your car’s windshield? Yes or No?

5. Does keeping a phone next to your soup spoon on your dinner table (for fear of missing the next telemarketer’s call) help your digestion? Yes or No?

6. Do you drink pots of black coffee at 10 pm so you can stay awake to watch 30-minute infomercials at 4 am? Yes or No?

7. Do you drool at the thought of spending $300 on an iPhone just so you can see interactive ads on its big, cool screen? Yes or No?

Have I made my point? Yes or No?

Advertising is dead. If you’re a marketer… save your money.

Consumers have been over-advertised to and over-sold.

Unless you’re conducting a white sale, fire sale or going out of business sale—and halving or quartering your prices—advertising won’t get you a bang, a whimper or a nickel for your buck. Not anymore.

The only ads that still earn their keep are those in newspapers and on supermarket windows that read:

Big SALE Buy 1 Can of Campbell Soup for 89 Cents and Get a 2nd Can—FREE! Supplies limited! (or something like that)

Beyond that, the first reaction most consumers have when viewing any other type ad is not to believe anything it says.

And if they have no need, desire or knowledge of you, your product or your service, their second reaction is to play basketball. Their arm and hand muscles reflexively contract, causing them to roll up your ad into a tight little ball and shoot for the nearest basket.

Beware the Consumer’s Anti-Ad Third Eye

Because the consumer has become so desensitized to advertisements in general, if you don’t shove your ad, sales letter or flyer directly and firmly into their hands—they won’t even notice it.

It’s as if they’ve developed an anti-ad third eye that instinctively alerts them to an ad’s presence and then immediately shoot’s a signal to the brain—instructing their other two eyes not to see it.

For example…

How often, when surfing the web, have you run across a web page with a bright red, 40-word, one-sentence headline, ending with an exclamation mark or two or three?

Unless you’re searching for that particular web page, the average information-seeking web-surfer will immediately recognize that site as an ad, and click away—without even reading two words of it.

The same thing happens when reading the newspaper, or driving past a billboard on the highway…consumers simply refuse to look at the ads.So What’s a Marketer to Do?

Advertorialize!

Huh? I’ll explain…

The success of the internet has proven one thing above all else. Human beings, which includes consumers, are addicted to information.

Google, the internet version of a library card catalog, exists, thrives, dominates and will eventually own the world, because consumers are in a constant, never-ending search for more and more information.

And why do consumers want ever more information that will convince, compel and persuade them to a certain point of view?

So they can make the most efficient, prudent and intelligent choice about whatever it is they want to own, possess, consume or BUY.

Yes, BUY.

Though consumers hate to be sold; they still love, nevertheless, to BUY.

And their decision to buy is most effectively influenced when they are provided with information that supports, confirms and increases their already resident desire to BUY!

Enter the Advertorial

The advertorial is an ad disguised as an editorial. A cunning wolf in sheep’s clothing. It’s roughly 80% useful, compelling and persuasive information and 20% sales pitch.

It will never mention the name of the product, its features or benefits in the headline. Because that would be too obvious—it would scream ad and will immediately activate the consumer’s anti-ad third eye.

Instead, in a newspaper, in a direct mail promotion, or on the internet the advertorial will attract attention and readership by merely dangling the tantalizing promise of free actionable and profitable information… if the reader will only continue to read on.

An advertorial headline won’t scream: LOSE 10LBS OF FAT IN 10 DAYS OR YOUR MONEY BACK!!

Instead, the advertorial headline will read: John Hopkins Research PhD discovers active ingredient in ice cream that causes rapid weight loss.

Then the advertorial will proceed to show and prove, in pseudo-journalistic fashion, the What, Why, Who, Where and When of how the product or service does precisely what the consumer wants and needs.

The advertorial delivers valuable, documented information that relentlessly leads the reader to the inevitable conclusion that the solution to their problem or need is… whatever it is you’re selling.

It doesn’t look, taste or smell like an ad, and the consumer’s anti-ad third eye will never see it coming.

Try it… you’ll like it.

Barry A. Densa is one of America’s top freelance direct response copywriters. Visit www.WritingWithPersonality.com and see how Barry easily and quickly converts prospects into buyers using “salesmanship in print”. And while there, sign up for his highly regarded FREE ezine: Marketing Wit & Wisdom!

Google has a new mapping system called community maps. It allows the users to input their own information onto a community map and save the map.

This is a valuable free tool for the billboard owner to map and locate his property with interactive mapping. With this tool the billboard owner can create for free, unlimited amounts of information about billboards that need to be sold, rented, or even maintained by the billboard company. The results of this information can be made viewable by the public or kept private. The map links created by the user can also be saved and then the link to the map can be placed into an email or embedded into the users’ website. See BillboardSpace.com for an example. This user generated information saved onto the map shows up with a blue marker instead of the typical red used for their normal mapping system.

If you do not have a Google account it only take less than a minute to create one and get started with interactive mapping. You can use this link to log in and get started from BillboardSpace.com: “Map Your Billboards”

After logging in, go to the top left hand corner of the map and click on “My Maps” which is just to the right of the Search Results button. If you are not logged in click on “Create new map” which will bring you to the login page. You will again click “Create new map” after you have clicked the link you will notice below that you now have a Title and Description block ready for you to input your information and below that you can choose you privacy settings.

On the Google map itself you now have some new buttons at the top left of the Map. Click once on the blue marker that looks like an upside down tear drop. You can now drag and drop this place mark where your billboard location is on the map. You should now see a new window open with another Title and Description block for you to edit. You can use plain, rich text, or html. I have found the rich text as easy as composing an email. You can insert a picture and link to it also. I have linked my billboard to my BillboardSpace.com site that has all the pertinent info for would be renters to see. When you are finished click ok at the bottom then click the “Done” button above the title you created to the left of the map.

Congratulations! You now have linked your billboard to an interactive map which the whole world can see!

About the Author:

Loy Ripple was inspired by the good people at OutdoorBillboard.com to create his own site at: BillboardSpace.com which is a free classified ad service for the outdoor advertising media industry and operated by his company at: FreewayBillboard.com