Gas Station Advertising

Most businesses start out small, and let’s face it, even when a business starts out with big funding there is no guarantee that it will succeed.  The key to small business success is getting noticed, but because you can’t afford Super Bowl advertisements, you have to think outside of the box.  Advertise your business in places your customers frequent, but don’t think this just means billboards, posters, and people waving cardboard signs.  Be creative when advertising a small business, think about sidewalk art, gas pumps, dartboards; these advertisements are noticed, while more conventional advertising is often ignored. 

It’s also a great idea to think about advertising online on websites your target customers frequent.  You can have great visibility and in turn, great sales by using contemporary advertising techniques.  If you’re not the advertising type, consider hiring an advertising company to do it for you; the return is often much greater than the initial investment!

For hundreds of years advertisements printed in magazines, journals, or on flyers was the only way to get the word out about your product.  However, in the digital age, when the world spends more time online than it does looking at all the forms of print media, digital advertising is king.  The exposure a company receives from digital advertising is much greater than that of print advertising, and it’s also cheaper.  Instead of spending an arm and a leg to purchase a page in a popular magazine, you can spread out that money between dozens of different websites.  When the next issue of that magazine or journal comes out, the amount of people reading the old one will take a dramatic hit, which wastes money.  However, websites aren’t time sensitive, and people will continue to visit the website and see your advertisement long after they’ve dropped a magazine.

If your company doesn’t have a website of yet, you shouldn’t be reading this, you should purchasing a domain!  Exposure on the web through links and searches will increase consumer awareness of your product and in turn your revenues. 

During the daylight hours most consumers are at work or in their homes, however, at night consumers venture out to bars, restaurants, and clubs.  Because of the overall increased activity at night, locations frequented during nighttime hours can be ideal locations for advertising.  Bar, restaurant, and nightclub advertising through dartboards, LCD screens, or even drink coasters provides maximum exposure and time spent with the advertisement.  In addition, advertisements are more likely to implant suggestions with consumers under intoxication. 

Focusing on nighttime advertising will overall increase your exposure to the general public, and allow you to target specific demographics of people and geographic locations throughout the United States.

Advertisers have a very interesting job.  They have to know not only what will motivate people generally, but what will motivate certain groups of people.  Studying the demographics of high-traffic businesses such as nightspots, health clubs, sports and music venues, malls and movie theaters can help them target customers and create effective marketing campaigns for the products of their clients.

Indoor advertisements get noticed by sometimes thousands of people in any given month.  If people have to wait in line, they will study displays and signs at or slightly higher than their eye level.  If the advertising firm has accurately assessed the consumers at a venue where their indoor advertisements, such as high-quality posters, are displayed, great success can be achieved through the advertising campaign.

I was visiting the local pub the other day and noticed framed posters above the urinals.  The one board in front of me had a 17 x 22 poster for MSN and the logo for Pacific Media that included their phone number.  The ad had a tear off pad for filling out a chance to win a trip to the super bowl.

 Their was also a board above the urinal next to me.  That board had two ads that were 17×11 in size.  What a great way to get you message in front of potential customers.  I have never seen a more captive audience.  My wife said they also had them in the women’s rooms and they were on the back of the stall doors.  Very creative.