Unless you have a fairly large advertising budget you probably won’t be
using the large 20 x 60 bulletins. In a large city they can run upwards of
$4000 per month and even in medium to small cities the costs can add up. And
this doesn’t include the production costs. The regular billboard posters
usually do the trick, along with using either bus benches or bus shelters. The
availability is sometimes restricted due to city or county ordinances. In some
areas no billboards of any type are allowed so you may not be able to
advertiser everywhere you want to. Ideally you’ll need at least one billboard
near your place of business. By the way, the sign on your premises isn’t
defined as “outdoor” advertising. The cheapest form of billboards have always
been bus shelters because they are the least desirable (remember that people
will often be sitting on your advertising message). The cost in some cities can
be as little as $25 or $50 per month. If you buy enough of them they can still
work to get the word out. Bus shelters would be the next step up and again, in
some residential areas, they are the only form of billboards allowed.
They can run from upwards of $200 per month. A regular 14 x 48 poster board can
cost up to $500 per month depending on what city you’re in.
Technology Rules
It wasn’t that long ago that mural artists were very busy in the billboard
industry. These huge paint bulletins were in fact hand painted by these highly
skilled artists, and indeed many consider it a form of fine art. And bill
posters were also busy. Almost all poster billboards were covered with printed
paper delivered to the billboard companies in packets of sheets. Most typically
a 14 x 48 poster board had 30 sheets of paper to cover the board. The bill
posters had to organize them correctly and then paste the backs with glue. Then
it would be a matter of climbing up on the billboards, scraping off the old
paper and pasting on the new sheets. Not an easy job! As you might guess, today
technology has mostly taken over. Today vinyl is king. That means the
advertising messages are printed on huge vinyl sheets and rolled onto long
tubes. The bill posters of today drive out with trucks and simply roll up the
old advertisement and replace it by unrolling the new one. They are hooked
securely around the perimeter of the billboard panel and they’re good to go.