Billboard advertising is an exciting and effective way to reach large numbers of prospective consumers that may not have otherwise stumbled upon your business or product. However, some locations not only make better areas for billboard advertising, but also have their own niches that are important to factor into your marketing strategy. One of these key locations is Detroit, Michigan. As the most populated city in the state of Michigan, as well as a social and cultural hub, billboard marketing in Detroit can be a game changer for your business, regardless of whether you are a local, digital, or nationwide business. Here are a number of tips for your next eye-catching billboards in Detroit.
1. Different Kinds of Traffic
There are a number of different types of traffic for you to take advantage of when utilizing billboard marketing strategies. One of the biggest mistakes you could make with a billboard advertising campaign is to only focus on one of these. Let’s talk about the different forms of traffic you can market to in Detroit, MI.
First, the obvious, highway traffic. Detroit is full of dense, heavily trafficked highways and potent rush hour periods. This means that you can effectively market to a large number of drivers and commuters on a daily basis by ensuring that your billboard can be seen from the most populated highways in the city. Or, alternatively, that you can cycle your billboard between highways and highway locations to find the best location for your advertisement. If your business is local, make sure that your billboard is within a few miles of your business, directing your new customers to your place of sale.
The second type of traffic to look for is foot traffic. Detroit is a highly populated city with a number of people walking from location to location. If your billboards are highway access only, you may be missing out on a large demographic—especially the younger generations. Taking full advantage of this foot traffic may mean downtown billboard placement, the usage of digital, multi-location billboards, or even branching out to digital and physical posters.
Lastly, public transportation poses a fantastic opportunity for billboard marketers. Spend time researching public transportation routes—buses and trains—and place your billboards at key points to reach daily commuters and weekend warriors. Intentionality with all of these steps can help your billboard bring big wins for your business.
2. Know Your Audience
Especially in a densely populated sociocultural bubble like Detroit, it is critical that your billboard not only markets to your target audience, but to the specific city. Understand that Detroit is made up of a mixed age demographic, and examine what percent of that demographic you are attempting to reach. Take advantage of digital billboards and relevant terminology. Regularly update your strategy based on your target demographic and audience, and ensure that you are engaging with the individuals you reach, supplying opportunities for improvement and revaluation.
3. Tie in Your Various Strategies
No brand or business should have one marketing strategy. Doing just social media, just word of mouth, or just billboards are all weak marketing strategies. If you are seeking to create eye-catching billboards in Detroit, you want to tie these visual representations of your product in with your social media channels, website, and any other marketing campaigns you are running.
Doing this may mean utilizing QR codes, deals that are only accessible via the billboard, or billboards that direct a viewer to various other channels. Fostering consumer engagement is one of the best ways to create long term customers, and to cement your space in your consumer’s mind.
Examine your billboards as an important, broader aspect of your whole marketing campaign. Integrate these together, and you will be able to create an entertainment marketing tool that can even become self-sustaining.
4. Visually Pop
The use of a billboard is all about the visual. You may think that the right bit of text will do all of the work for your business, but without eye-catching visuals, your billboard’s success will be lackluster. Examine other billboards in the area, look at the colors surrounding the highway or downtown area you are marketing in, and choose colors that stand out for your billboard. If you are utilizing a digital billboard, an animation can be a great tool for gripping the eye of your viewer.
Hiring a competent, talented visual designer to create your billboard is well-worth the money, so ensure that you produce high quality content before you invest in the location and medium.
If you keep all of these steps in mind, you will be sure to find your billboard catching eyes throughout Detroit!
