Bill Board Advertisement - Fighting for Customers

Who is Bill Board Advertising aimed at? People in cars and mostly car drivers.

When I say cars let's include SUVs, pick-up trucks and vans.

That means the main target for bill board advertisements are vehicle drivers.

Those people might be sipping the coffee that they just picked up at the drive-through. They might be stressing about the other guy who just cut them off. They might be lost in the tunes blasting from their CD player. They might be engrossed in the talk show on their radio. They might be arguing with their spouse or lecturing the kids in the back seat.

Hopefully they might be checking their sight-lines (front, back and sides) for other vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians.

Unfortunately, too many will be engaged in phone calls or texting.

We know one thing for sure - they are not searching for the next bill board.

Yet, it seems to me that many bill board advertisers ignore reality in favour of their own sense of self importance. They create or accept an advertisement that was created to talk to a buyer relaxing in the easy chair with nothing else to think about except your ad.

Look at the above bill board advertisement for three seconds. What do you see? Where did your eyes go? What message did you capture?

A bill board needs to first grab attention, offer a solution and then direct the action - all in about 3 to 5 seconds.

Grab Attention?

What might grab your attention on this sign? The word "Fighting". Who might be attracted to the word "Fighting"? The first thing that came to my mind was Mixed Martial Arts. The next thing was people who are angry.

The image on the right side is a suit of armour but it is difficult to see. The image is made more difficult because there is no head. Why is there no head on this knight? My eyes bounced between the word Fighting and the image a few times while trying to distinguish the message.

Once I realised that it was a suit of armour I wondered if the advertisement was for the dinner jousting program. You watch armoured knights on horseback enact a medieval joust while you enjoy a sumptuous meal. I've heard of it.

By the time the five seconds elapsed the impact was lost.

I later walked past this sign to take this photo and I had time to study this bill board. I think the ad is for a law firm. I think the target audience is accident victims. The text reads "Fighting honourably for accident victims. I wonder if accident victims really care about how honourably the law firm acts. I think they want their money.

In the Olympic spirit, on a scale of 0 to 10 I would give this bill board advertisement a two.


George Torok Keynote Marketing Speaker Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing
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Grand Opening PostCard Design gone wrong

Perhaps it's not fair to criticize others but I accept the gifts that I receive. Sometimes those gifts are examples of smart marketing and somethings those gifts are examples that we can learn from.

This postcard from Walkers Medical Pharmacy about their Grand Opening is a gift. It is a good example of a bad example of postcard marketing design.

First - what they did well. Postcard marketing is smart marketing. It's an inexpensive form of direct offline marketing. The postcard is attractive with the white on bright red.

The first question you need to address before creating any marketing piece is "Who are you trying to reach?" What is their pain or need that you promise to satisfy? This postcard doesn't target an audience. The words "Grand Opening" don't trigger an emotional need in your audience. It only pleases the business owner.

The bright red background is attention grabbing, but the text is hard to read. Your eyes search for a scan pattern on this post card and might end on the heart in the bottom right corner that promises "Free Giveaways". You might wonder, "Of what?"

The timing, red background, the scroll and the hearts in the background suggested that this might have something to do with Valentines Day. My first thought was "spa".

The second question for your marketing piece is "What do you want people to do?" The next challenge for you is, "How will you move their eyes through this to get them to act the way you want?"

So look at the postcard again. Where do your eyes go? They might first land on the words "Grand Opening" then they might jump to the scroll at the right, then down to the scroll at the bottom left and perhaps to the heart at the bottom right. That heart says, "Free Giveaways". You might think "So what?" or "What giveaways?"

If you are still there, you might move your eyes to the left of the heart and read the words, "Your satisfaction is our philosophy". What the heck does that mean? Philosophy? Who cares about your philosophy? If you cared about my satisfaction, why did you send me this confusing postcard?

My blind guess is that they wanted people to attend the Grand Opening. But it's not clear why anyone would or should. The other thing that you might notice is that there is no built in measurement of the success of this postcard. (Bring this postcard for your free gift.) Perhaps the designers intended it that way so they couldn't be held responsible.

Let's look at the back side of the postcard.

I don't know what is on the left side. It looks like a spine. The map is a good idea but poor execution. I can't read it. The map needs to be zoomed in. They might as well have stated, "Third rock from the sun." I still don't know where Walkers Pharmacy is. Do you?

I used Google maps to search the address. I think it is "on Walkers Line just x feet south of Upper Middle Road". But it doesn't say that. It is probably in a new plaza - but which? What is the most noticeable shop in that plaza? Do they want to make it easy to find?

The postcard is completely impersonal because I still don't know any body's name. Who's the boss? Who can I talk to if I have any questions?

The postcard seems to have a Valentine's theme. But what is the connection? Your opening is Feb 11 not Feb 14. How do you relate to Valentine's Day?

I know that it's just not fair for me to critique this marketing design. I think it's not fair for good business to waste their money on poor marketing. That's why I help business owners gain an unfair marketing advantage over the competition.

It might not be fair - but it's winning the marketing battle that counts.

George Torok Keynote Marketing Speaker Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing
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