By Scott Bell, CEO, Bell Media
Billboard company owners are often apprehensive about investing time, energy, and resources into building a strong online presence. This apprehension is understandable given most new business sales have historically been sourced through cold-calling, networking, referrals, and self-promos on billboards. I’m here to share why building a stronger online presence will help you generate new sales opportunities and improve your close win rates.
Top 3 Reasons Why Your Billboard Company Needs a Strong Online Presence.
1 Prospects search for Outdoor Advertising companies on Google.
Did you know that there are 790,000+ annual Google Searches in the U.S. for keywords related to “billboard advertising” and “outdoor advertising”? Many of these searches are likely local businesses or ad agency media buyers doing a Google search seeking the services you provide. Check out the Google search volumes by keyword below:
Annual Google Searches in the United States
| Keywords being searched on Google | Number of annual Google Searches |
| Billboards | 241,583 |
| Digital Billboards | 72,523 |
| Digital Billboard Advertising | 47,816 |
| Out of Home Advertising | 81,533 |
| Outdoor Advertising | 327,850 |
| Billboard Companies | 21,543 |
| Digital Billboard Companies | 6,706 |
With a strong online presence, your company should be showing up on the top of Google when someone is searching for outdoor advertising vendors in your area. We’ve seen firsthand how a local billboard company can outrank the national companies and generate more new business opportunities with improved Google visibility.
2. You can educate prospects online
Do you know how long your sales cycle is? When I was in the billboard business the typical sale took between 30-60 days. Sometimes a bit shorter and sometimes quite a bit longer waiting on budgets to reset. Between your first interaction with a prospect and the time you close the deal (won or lost) you have a tremendous opportunity to stay connected with them through social media posts, remarketing (showing them online ads after they visit your website), and email marketing all in the hopes of nurturing the prospect and bringing them back to your website.
A prospect who is engaged with your brand through the sales process will be more likely to choose you as their outdoor advertising partner. When a prospect visits your website to learn more, what do they see? Do you have great content, fresh blog posts, client testimonials, etc? Are you positioning yourself as a great service provider and thought leader in the industry? If not, it’s time to start building a better website experience so you can educate your potential customers on the value of outdoor and why they should partner with you.
3. Your online presence should help improve your win rates
Take just a moment and do a quick Google search for your business. When you type in your outdoor advertising company name in Google, what do you see? Are you seeing your brand at the top of Google with a strong headline, is your business listing showing on the right side of the page (or at the top on a mobile device), and finally does your business listing showcase a large quantity of Google reviews? Did you know that 90% of consumers do research and read reviews about a product or company before they decide to buy? When it comes to attracting and nurturing new customers, you should make improving your online reputation a priority as it plays a major role in convincing prospects to work with you.
What can you do today to start improving your billboard company’s online presence?
- Improve your website – Customers respond well to websites that have great content, are easy to navigate, are lightning-fast, and help educate. In addition, your website should be optimized to improve your rankings on Google so that new prospects can find you when conducting an “outdoor advertising” search.
- Set-up and optimize your Google business listing – Your Google Business Listing can play a major role in your rankings on Google. Ensure you’ve claimed your business listing, upload your logos and billboard images, add your primary services, and have consistency between your business address on your website and the address on your Google Business Listing. (Ensure it’s an exact match – What is NAP Consistency?)
- Solicit customer reviews for Google – 3rd party positive reviews on Google go a long way in building trust with a prospect. Use a Reputation Solicitation platform to help improve the number and quality of 5 Star Reviews on Google.
- Regularly post new blogs on your website – New website content improves your chances of ranking on Google as the platform likes to see that you’re consistently updating your website. In addition, posting education blog content on your website will help position your company as an expert in the advertising field and a thought leader in the industry. If you’re having a hard time finding the time to come up with or write blog posts, rely on an expert Content Marketing agency.
About the contributor: Scott Bell is the CEO of Bell Media, a digital marketing agency crafting and implementing winning marketing strategies that deliver measurable results for its customers. Scott was the Co-Owner of a billboard company in Alabama and Georgia that sold to Link Media in 2015.
[wpforms id=”9787″]
Paid Advertisement
