Posters and billboards

Posters and billboards are large outdoor adverts placed where many people will pass them, such as on a bus shelter, beside a main road or on the side of a shop. A billboard is a very large poster, often beside a main road, read from a distance.

Why a business might choose them

• High visibility: a big, bold advert is hard to miss, so it can build awareness quickly.
• Local targeting: you choose the site, so you can place the advert near the customers you want.
• Repeated viewing: the same poster stays up for weeks, so the same people see it again and again and the message starts to stick.
• Relatively cheap per view: one site fee can put the advert in front of thousands of passers-by, so the cost for each person can be low.
• They suit a short, simple message — a name, a picture and a few words.

Where they fall short

Viewers pass quickly, so there is often only brief exposure — a driver gets a few seconds at most. That means a poster cannot carry detailed information such as prices, opening times and terms. How well it works depends on location and footfall: a site on a busy route into town reaches far more people than a quiet side street. Posters can also be damaged by wind and rain or torn by vandalism, and because anyone can see them, targeting is limited to whoever happens to be in that place.

For example, a new climbing wall opens near a retail park. A large poster at the entrance to the car park is seen by families who already drive there each weekend, which is exactly the audience the owner wants. A poster in a distant village might cost just as much but reach almost none of them.

Posters and billboards suit a business with a simple, visual message that wants to build local awareness, such as a shop, an event or a local service. They are less suitable when customers need detailed information or are spread across the country rather than gathered in one area.