What is the best way to start advertising with billboards?

Short answer

Set a realistic budget covering media, production, and permits. Design for a few seconds of attention: seven words or fewer, bold fonts, high contrast. Then choose placement based on traffic volume and audience fit, and track results with unique URLs or phone numbers.

What programmatic DOOH actually clears at

EV charging screens have no transacted marketplace volume to report. Roughly a third of DOOH spend on the AdQuick marketplace transacts programmatically.

Source: AdQuick marketplace programmatic transactions (completed plans), July 2025 to June 2026. CPMs are delivered-impression CPMs computed from delivered ad plays, not full-loop traffic, and are not directly comparable to advertiser-share CPMs on directly booked digital inventory.

Budgeting and understanding costs

A useful starting rule is to allocate roughly one-third of your total marketing budget to outdoor advertising. Within that allocation, media placement fees consume the largest share, typically 60 to 70 percent of spend. The remainder covers production and permits.

For a static billboard, total production costs generally run $500 to $2,000, broken down roughly as follows:

Municipal permit fees typically add $50 to $300 depending on jurisdiction.

Monthly media placement costs vary widely by market. A useful way to think about tiers:

Regional pricing also varies considerably. Rural highway boards in smaller markets can run $250 to $500 per month, while main-street placements in those same markets range from $500 to $1,000. Highway intersections in small markets typically cost $750 to $1,500 per month, with large-city premium sites commanding higher fees in exchange for greater exposure.

Digital billboards follow a different cost structure. Monthly investments range from roughly $1,000 to $25,000 depending on location and market, but self-serve digital options can start as low as $20 per day, making them accessible to smaller budgets. Static billboards can deliver impressions at approximately $3.65 per thousand views, which is competitive with other traditional media formats.

Defining campaign goals before you spend

Clear objectives shape every downstream decision: messaging, format, and location. Common goals include:

• Brand awareness: prioritize bold visuals, a prominent logo, and minimal text so the brand registers quickly.
• Lead generation: include a strong call to action directing viewers to a website, phone number, or social account.
• Product promotion: highlight a specific offer or new product with concise, benefit-forward copy.

A startup focused on awareness might run a memorable tagline and company name with nothing else. A local service provider would likely lead with a phone number or URL. Settling on the goal before designing the creative prevents the most common billboard mistake: trying to say too much.

Design best practices for billboards

Billboards are typically viewed for only a few seconds. Simplicity is not a stylistic choice; it is a functional requirement.

Keep text to seven words or fewer. Use bold, clean fonts such as Arial or Helvetica for maximum legibility at speed. Employ high-contrast color schemes so text and images register immediately. Colors carry emotional weight as well: blue tends to signal trust, red communicates urgency.

Maintain a clean layout with a clear visual hierarchy. The logo, headline, and call to action should each occupy a distinct zone so the eye moves through them in order. Avoid complex graphics or small details that cannot be absorbed in a glance.

For digital billboards, additional tools are available. QR codes, animations, and interactive features can increase engagement, and the format supports multiple messages rotating across the same unit, which allows creative testing without reprinting vinyl.

Choosing placement and measuring results

Location determines both the volume and relevance of impressions. High-traffic roads and intersections provide maximum reach. Beyond raw volume, the location should align with your target audience's daily routes or areas of interest. Timing matters too: consider whether billboard visibility coincides with your business hours or the specific windows when your audience is most likely to act.

Digital billboard platforms increasingly offer tools to analyze traffic data and select locations based on impressions and demographic profiles, which reduces the guesswork in placement decisions.

Once the campaign launches, longer runs generally improve recall and return on investment by reinforcing the message over time. For measurement, correlate website traffic or store visits with campaign periods, use unique phone numbers or URLs printed on the board, and monitor branded search volume during the flight. Digital billboards add real-time analytics that allow messaging and placement adjustments mid-campaign rather than waiting until the end.

How AdQuick handles billboard advertising

programmatic DOOH on AdQuick gives advertisers a single platform to plan, buy, and measure both static and digital out of home campaigns. The marketplace aggregates inventory across markets, making it straightforward to compare placements by traffic data and cost before committing budget. Campaign tracking tools help connect impressions to measurable outcomes like site visits and branded search lift, addressing the measurement challenges that have historically made billboard ROI difficult to quantify. For advertisers moving from a starter budget to a scaled multi-location strategy, the platform supports both without requiring separate vendor relationships for each market.