Author: Priceadvertising

I recently was directed to an article by Digital Synopsis. It illustrated 51 brilliant outdoor campaigns from full bus sides to billboards to bus shelters. 

In most instances, outdoor campaigns are limited by budget constraints but every now and again campaigns are not driven by budget constraints and agencies are given permission to be creative. The agencies showcased below have come up with ingenious and unexpected ways to capture eyeballs and deliver their message in the best possible way. At Price Advertising we also enjoy being creative and are always looking for creative opportunities, so let us help you bring that idea to life.

If you are looking for a bus/public transport campaign, a billboard, bus shelter, shopping centre or anything in between, please consider giving us a call on 08 9382 8880. 

Here are a few of our favourite campaigns taken from the Digital Synopsis article.

Please visit our website and see some of our outdoor campaigns.

Click here to see the full selection of 51 Brilliant Outdoor ads that will make you stop and notice.

This is the second year in a row that Lumen Christi College has run an outdoor campaign on billboards and metrobacks. Each burst lasts 4 weeks and they run 3 bursts in a year.

With an understanding of their target and demographic, we are able to target specific suburbs and bus routes to maximise their reach, exposure and ultimately show a positive return on their spend.

You will be amazed at how affordable an outdoor campaign could be, we can tailor each package to suit your budget and we will help you maximise on your return by offering you advice on locations, durations and frequency. There are many outdoor options that could be of interest, some of which are; digital and/static billboards, Transperth busses (which come in range of sizes from Metrobacks to full back, full sides and even full bus wraps), bus shelters, shopping centres, Transperth train stations to train interiors.

If you think this is something you would like to consider then please call us on 08 9382 8880 or email us on enquiries@priceadvertising.com.au.

Here are a few questions we will ask you. This will help us to determine the best outcome and quote you as accurately as possible:

1. What is your business name?
2. What is your business website address? (We need to do a bit of research on your brand and this is a good place for us to gather background information on your business.)
3. What is your budget? This is important, even if it is a ballpark figure.
4. What are your objectives?
5. Who is your target audience / demographic?
6. Do you have a specific area / suburb you would like to target?
7. Will you be supplying material? We have an experienced team of designers who are on hand to assist with creatives.
8. How long would you like the campaign to run?
9. When would you like the campaign to begin?

If you’re a business owner on the fence about creating a website, I’ll save you some time – you need one.

Here’s why:

Consumer behavior changes over time to adapt to modern technology, and consumer behavior has changed to adapt to the digital age. I’ll give you an example – the Yellow Pages. The telephone was a disruptive new technology in the late 1800s and changed the way consumers did business. As more and more households began to use the telephone directory to find local products and services, business owners realized advertising in it was a smart bet. By the 1930s, advertising in the Yellow Pages was standard operating procedure for most businesses. It made perfect sense – the majority of U.S. households used the directory on a daily basis.

Then came the world wide web and a new disruption to the commercial status quo: the digital transformation. As more and more consumers realized they could find what they needed online faster and more effectively than a phone book, behavior shifted away from using the printed directory. By 2011, 70 percent of all Americans rarely or never used printed phone directories. Also in 2011, more than 59 percent of consumers were already going online to find local businesses.

Fast-forward to 2019, and the number of consumers that go online to find a local business has jumped to 97 percent. If you want them to choose your company, you need to be found online – meaning you need a website. 

REASON #1:  30 PERCENT OF CONSUMERS WON’T CONSIDER A BUSINESS WITHOUT A WEBSITE

Your website is your number one marketing asset because we live in a digital age. Americans spend on average 23.6 hours online per week and are on their mobile devices for up to five hours per day. By now, consumers expect companies to have an online presence (including a website) and will consider a company that DOESN’T have one as less professional.

REASON #2: PEOPLE ARE SEARCHING FOR YOU ONLINE

One of the benefits of having a website for small businesses is to be where your consumers are. There’s a reason so many companies invest in a website with search engine optimization (SEO): 97 percent of people go online to find a local business, and 93 percent of online experiences begin with a search engine. Believe it or not, there are 3.5 billion searches on Google per day, and at this very moment, there is someone in your area online and searching for your exact service. Guess who’s getting their business? Not you.

REASON #3: THE MAJORITY OF OF CONSUMERS USE WEBSITES TO FIND AND ENGAGE WITH BUSINESSES

Yup. According to LSA’s (Local Search Association) April 2017 report, “The Digital Consumer Study,” 63 percent of consumers primarily use a company’s website to find and engage with businesses. That’s a pretty big chunk of consumers. Combine that with the fact that 93 percent of online experiences begin with a search engine – you do the math. Another compelling reason your business needs a website? Research by YellowPages and LSA found that, on average, consumers use approximately three sources before making an individual purchase decision, and 30 percent automatically strike a business from consideration if they don’t have a website.

REASON #4: COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS IN EVERY INDUSTRY – INCLUDING B2B, INDUSTRIAL, AND MANUFACTURING – ARE INFLUENCED BY DIGITAL WEBSITE CONTENT

The majority of companies that don’t have a website say it’s because their industry isn’t online. I hear this mostly from business owners in the B2B, industrial, and manufacturing industries.

If that’s you, I’m gonna have to call you out on that.

A full 75 percent of B2B buyers say digital website content significantly impacts their buying decision, and 62 percent say they can finalize their purchase selection criteria based on a website’s digital content alone. 

The average B2B buyer now makes an average of 12 online searches before interacting with a vendor’s website, and they are already 57 percent of the way through the buying process before they want to speak with a sales representative. Even for industrial and manufacturing companies – 67 percent of purchases are influenced by digital. Not only that, but half of all B2B customers today also expect a supplier’s website to be a helpful channel and more than a third expect the site to be their most helpful channel.

REASON #5: 75 PERCENT OF CONSUMERS ADMIT TO MAKING JUDGMENTS ON A COMPANY’S CREDIBILITY BASED ON THE COMPANY’S WEBSITE DESIGN

Not having a website makes consumers trust you less. In fact, in 2018, 75 percent of people admit to making judgments on a company’s credibility based on website design. People are more likely to do business with a company they trust, and a website is the first place they go to check for credentials, reviews, and awards.

Beware, though – if you have a bad website design, it won’t help you at all. You have 10 seconds to leave an impression on website visitors and tell them what they’ll get out of your website and company. After this time (and oftentimes before), they’ll leave.

REASON #6: YOU NEED TO ANSWER BASIC QUESTIONS QUICKLY

This is especially true for B2B companies. People visit your website when they want to know something or do something. They also expect immediate gratification, which means visitors should be able to answer three questions within three seconds of landing on your website:

• Who are you?
• What do you do/offer?
• How do I contact you?

We live in an age of NOW, where consumers want the information they seek immediately – meaning your company’s website should answer each of the questions above without the user needing to scroll down the page at all.

REASON #7: IT WILL HELP YOU BEAT THE GOLIATHS IN YOUR INDUSTRY

Did you know that having a website can help you beat the Goliaths in your industry? It can if it’s optimized for search. Take Villa Lagoon Tile. They compete heavily with big-box tile stores but have no trouble holding their own thanks to their website and their prominent position in the search results page.

REASON #8: SOCIAL MEDIA REACH IS DIMINISHING

So, you think you don’t need a website because you’re on Facebook. 

Great, so is every other business in America. You need a website even if you have a Facebook page.

And guess what? It’s getting harder for businesses to connect with users on the platform. Within a week of the last Facebook algorithm update, organic reach plummeted lower than it was already. Another bummer? In 2018, people spent 50 million fewer hours on the platform than they did in 2017.

While social media can help your business grow, don’t bank on using it as your sole marketing channel, especially in the future.

How Much Does a Website Cost?

A website can cost anywhere from free to upwards of 100 grand. 

For example, if you choose to DIY with a platform like SquareSpace, you’ll pay a low monthly fee to lease a spot on their platform. On the other end of the spectrum is a completely custom website from a professional website design company tailored for your business needs. With these, you’re looking at an investment of a few thousand dollars.

Do not let a price tag deter you from creating a website. If you’re a one-man operation with zero budget, at least get a basic website that you can jazz up later when you have a better cash flow.

Here’s what goes into the cost of a website:

• Hosting  –  This is the service or company providing space on the internet for your website. Hosting providers include GoDaddy, InMotion, and others. We recommend you use GoDaddy. Hosting is charged monthly and typically costs $7 and up.
• Domain name – This is shown as www.yourcompany.com, and is usually a yearly payment. WordPress, as an example, charges $14.99 per year for your domain name.
• Design – Some designs are free, other cost money.
• Plugins and extensions – Typically, the more plugins you want, the more expensive a website gets.
• Complexity of design – The more customized your website is, the more expensive it is

How to Make a Website for Your Small Business

When starting out in web design, the first concept you need to understand is website ownership. A lot of small businesses dig themselves in a hole because they don’t know the jargon of web contracts. You can learn about website ownership here.

BEST WEBSITE PLATFORMS

Not all website design platforms are created equal, but there are four that work better than others, especially for beginners:

WordPress: Most of our clients are hosted on WordPress. They’re upfront about website ownership, and the structure of the websites is extremely user-friendly and adaptable. You can create everything from basic, free websites to one like ours.

Learn to set up a WordPress site from start to finish »

SquareSpace: This is excellent for beginners and ecommerce. It’s extremely easy to use and is easy to transfer to a more robust platform when you’re ready. Be careful, however—you typically do not “own” your website on SquareSpace, you lease it.

Learn to set up a SquareSpace site from start to finish »

Unbounce: Unbounce is great for small projects and single web pages. It’s what we use when we want a one-off landing page campaign or a microsite campaign. It has website templates you can choose or you can build one from scratch on your own.

Learn more about creating an Unbounce website »

Drupal: While Drupal is more advanced, it’s an excellent alternative to WordPress. We do not recommend you attempt to DIY on this platform.

Learn more about creating a Drupal website »

Final Takeaway: The Price of Having a Website Is Much Lower than the Price of Getting Left Behind

Written by: Betsy McLeod – Blue Corona’s Digital Content Manager.

Please see below two, single page examples of very cost effective websites. 

Recently we were approached by a client of ours who had changed their business name and needed a rebrand. We redesigned their logo and branded their new trailer.

TOYOTA HAVE TAKEN OVER

A few smart, cost effective marketing ideas for Local Small Businesses can help you gain exposure and increase ROI on your marketing.

The key to boosting your chances of surviving and thriving is to have clarity, consistency and to make every marketing dollar count by only focusing on opportunities right for your business.

1. Get to Know Your Desired target markets

Eliminate the scattergun approach in your marketing by being clear about who your ideal client is and where you can find them. Spend time to profile your ideal clients. Work out which social networking platforms they use, what they read, what they listen to and what they watch. Start to engage with them on a personal level.

2. Use Cost Effective strategies

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are free, and advertising on them is very targeted and cost effective. Paid ads or sponsored stories on Facebook can provide you with many leads. If you provide something free or something of value that showcases your expertise, you will get people wanting to engage with you. Free publicity is very valuable, gives you credibility and is easy to get if you develop the right relationships, have effective writing skills and remember to follow up.

3. Be Found Online

Get you website optimised using basic SEO practices so that you can be found online by potential clients when they search for words and phrases related to your business. List your business with free online directories like Bloo, Hotfrog, Gumtree and Google Maps or use Google Adwords to advertise your business online.

4. Develop Partnerships

Strategic partners will help your marketing dollars deliver a better result through joint promotions. Your partners should offer services that are complimentary to your business. Ensure they are reputable, deliver on their promises and will add value to your brand image.

5. Test and Measure Your Campaigns

Set up criteria for every marketing campaign you plan and test the results you get. You will see what worked well and what needs to be changed the next time. It can be as easy as just asking the question “How did you hear about us?”