Public transport is essential to the way we navigate our cities, our towns, and our villages. Where our buses, trains, and taxis go, hundreds of people follow! This means that when advertising your business or services through the medium of public transport – ideally through a great billboard poster or a few bus stop ads! – the likelihood of reaching new consumers is extremely high.
But, you can’t just put any old billboard up there. You need to be engaging, vibrant, compassionate, and human. Potential consumers have to connect to your advert between one second and the next, which can leave you and your marketing team in quite a difficult position.
Still, creating engaging ads on public transport doesn’t have to be difficult, time-consuming, or even an impossible task. In the hope of making things easier for your business, we have collected 6 of the most tried-and-tested tips on how to create engaging ads on public transport.
Read on for more…
Select your customer demographic
Where do you want your advert to be seen, and by who? You can’t engage a target demographic you haven’t chosen!
Place your billboard or other advertisements on transport that you know your consumers will see. This could be a bus, a boat, or a train! Make sure this transport travels at the time your potential consumers will be traveling, too.
Your advertisement will be seen by people who already want to engage with your product or service, which means making your advertisement attractive will be much easier.
Choose your ad format carefully
Which advertisement format would best display the qualities of your business? What about a bus stop ad, bench advert, or train advertisement?
A big part of engaging your audience is meeting them where they’re at. Don’t overpower your consumers with information, but – with whatever format you choose – be short, snappy, and vibrant. Pops of color, a memorable slogan, and a beautiful image that represents your business can go far in catching and keeping your future customers’ attention.
Calculate your budget
You can’t be engaging with your public transport advertisements if you overstretch yourself. Calculate your available budget in advance, and work with that. A good estimate for the cost of an engaging, wide-reaching public transport ad is around £6000 for a month, but prices do vary depending on your needs.
Hire a graphic designer
Talking about budget, if you have the money spare to hire a graphic designer, we highly recommend you do. Graphic designers can create engaging public transport ads that really speak to you as a business, and lure in more consumers as a result.
Be honest and truthful
For example, if you choose a billboard on a bus to advertise your business, which would give you a lot of room to describe your services, be honest and truthful in the catchy statements you make.
If something you claim sounds feasible – that you can solve an issue your customer demographic has with a specific product, for instance – potential consumers are far more likely to engage with you.
Put your advertisement out there at the right time
If you really want your advertisement to make waves, and you’ve settled on an ad design that represents you best, put it out there at the right time. Choose the advertising period that meshes well with your business goals. An important tip is that, if you want to boost profit, secure a public transport ad around Christmas time or Valentine’s Day.
Engagement with customers, ultimately, is about choosing a good ad design and picking your time wisely!