Have You Tried Guerilla Miniature Billboard Advertising?

Whilst driving to Mount Maunganui yesterday I spotted these tiny billboards strapped to street light polls and road signage opposite Mount Maunganui High School:

4 Lessons You Can Learn From These Guerilla Miniature Billboards

What can you learn from this clever “guerilla” method of advertising? Could you replicate this strategy for your business?

1. Do it cheap.

• They are made of the core-flute just like real estate signs.
• There is no graphics.
• You could get them made for about $10 each.
• Budget looking can be very effective. When you get junk mail in your letterbox at home do the crappy hand-written flyers get your attention first before the sleek professional Warehouse/Dick Smith/KFC flyers? For sure.

2. Keep your message simple.

• Mountain bikers know what “MTB” means so this headline captures the target audiences attention.
• On a full size 6m x 3m billboard your word limit is about 11. So in this case you have about 5 words.
• What simple 4 or 5 word headline can you use to cut through to your target audience?

3. Choose a single call-to-action.

• In this case, you just visit the website if the headline “MTB Downhill Racing” appeals to you.
• The website address is related to the headline so it’s reasonably easy to remember.
• On a website you can state 5 or 6 different ways to contact you, on a miniature billboard you must choose just one.
• A website address is very good. A phone number could work but many people prefer to check you out anonymously via a website rather than call a number and get “sold to”.

4. Repeat your message.

• Normally you don’t get the chance to repeat a standard 6m x 3m billboard 20 metres down the road, because it’ll double your costs.  So you are only giving your billboard one chance to be read as your potential customers zoom past at 50 kph or 100 kph.
• In this case there were 3 miniature billboards about 20 metres apart.
• I didn’t really notice the first, but I quickly read the second, and I read the third carefully.
• It made an impression that a single exposure would not have.
• In fact, I turned my car around and stopped on the side of the road, took some photos, wrote this article and visited www.mtbtauranga.co.nz.  That’s the magic of repetition.

“Great, but are these billboards legal?”

Probably not. The Tauranga City Council probably has a bylaw which prohibits this sort of guerilla advertising, and other councils around the country do too I bet.

If they get a complaint from the public (or your competition!), the council will take them down for sure (you probably won’t even get fined!).

But until then, you’ve got yourself some very cheap and effective advertising, so go for it!

Like this idea?

I have a million more.  Give me a call on (07) 575 8799 to tell me about your business and we can think up some clever ideas about how to generate more sales for you. At the very least sign up to this blog using the form on the right!

– Sheldon.