Last week we shared a blog from Kopywriting Kourse, (KK). OOHToday’s post, Why Do We Need OOH Buying Services?, was less than the candid and straightforward style you have come expect from us. Some of you thought we were promoting KK’s Guide. Far from it. Today, we are removing the gloves and taking issue with the misinformation provided by Kopywriting Kourse.
Why… Buying Services? A simple answer, because of inaccuracies like KK’s ‘Guide’. Hold on, it’s not KK which first created this question. It is an age-old contention. Chalk up the lack of knowledge, difficulty to plan, buy, manage, and as much as we dislike hearing it, sometimes we just make OOH tough to buy. These issues create a place at the table for specialized Outdoor buying services. Back to editing Kopywriting’s eBook on Billboard Advertising.
Eight corrections to Kopywriting’s Complete Guide to Billboard Advertising.
1. No billboard brokers. When buying one billboard for one 4 week period in a small market where you live, you do not need a ‘broker’. FYI, we refer to ‘brokers’ as OOH Buying Services.
2. Begin with the legacy OOH company. In Austin, the two legacy billboard companies are Reagan and Lamar. The local billboard company sales rep should be more than capable in helping you.
3. Broker fees can be worth the added expense. A broker’s fee is typically between 4 and 10%. Your broker should have NOT taken any fee. We like brokers, Bill used to be one. They serve an excellent purpose guiding advertisers through what you discovered to be a lengthy, and difficult process.
Most good OOH buying services, know what it is, you don’t know, well enough, to ask about what it is you don’t know, about OOH. huh?
4. Don’t pay install fees for initial installation. Very few companies charge or succeed in charging an initial installation fee.
5. Price check on aisle P, Production. The market rates for printing is typically less than $1.00 per square foot. Much less. A good broker would have negotiated and shared the square foot cost from one of the dozens of large format printers.
Want to know real printing costs? Click- OOHToday Subscribe and send a note in subject, Print Rates Please.
6. Size matters. Contrary to KK’s list of the top 10 largest billboard companies in the United States, the actual largest billboard companies, in no particular order are:
a. Outfront Media
b. Lamar Advertising
c. Clear Channel Outdoor
d. Adams/Fairway Outdoor
e. All other billboard companies are significantly smaller than the four listed above.
7. Sheets are for toga parties. The term ‘sheets’ is old school and no longer used when describing posters. The single printed vinyl (which KK purchased) has replaced both the process and the term, to just poster.
8. OOH Associations. Anyone interested in billboards should begin with a visit to:
a. www.Geopath.org, Geopath, provides audience location measurement, consumer insight and innovative market research for Out of Home. They have tools which measure and analyze audience location and show how consumers engage. Kym Frank’s (Geopath president) team is superior. Check out the tools Geopath offers like, Inventory Explorer. Click here for a search of Austin started for KK.
b. Outdoor Advertising Industry’s trade association known as the OAAA, or Outdoor Advertising Association of America. Their website, www.oaaa.org is excellent.
Hopefully, we have not sent KK and his Readers, with all their ad budget, to Online Digital or worse, Print. We are delighted you are using billboards. We want to make it the most seamless and successful use of your advertising dollars.
Contact us anytime for any OOH/Billboard questions.
phone: Bill at 202 840 3901 or email: billboard@oohtoday.com