In order to obtain a position in outdoor advertising you must understand outdoor advertising as an advertising medium. Typically outdoor advertising is thought of as billboards, big, bright in your face billboards. There are many other forms of outdoor advertising out there, they include transit advertising, benches, signs, etc. Outdoor advertising reaches an audience as an element within their surrounding environment. Unlike other advertising mediums, it doesn't have to be invited into the home or turned on nor does it need to entertain as other advertising mediums do. Outdoor advertising has its advantages and disadvantages you must study them closely to understand the medium as a whole.
Advantages outdoor advertising has over other advertising mediums include, outdoor advertising is always there no matter what an audience does they can’t turn it off. This can be a good reinforcement to other forms of advertising. Another advantage to outdoor advertising is a billboard or sign can be posted directing consumers to the store or showroom. Outdoor advertising is a great example of frequency in an advertising campaign typically the advertisement or billboard is placed up and will stay there for about a month or more, think of how many times someone traveling that route to and from work will see it. Outdoor advertising thrives on this frequency and can work wonders with other advertising mediums to get the word out.
As with any advertising medium outdoor advertising has its disadvantages. With outdoor advertising typically it is only glanced at so the consumer is seeing the advertisement for two to three seconds as the most, this is why the frequency is so important to the outdoor advertising medium . Outdoor advertising doesn’t work good on small advertising campaigns like a short sale or promotion, being the advertising contract for a billboard is usually three months or more, and the cost of a “wrap” or billboard graphics costs too much for setup to only run for a month or shorter.
