The Power of Transit Advertising

Transit advertising is a powerful up and coming advertising method. What exactly is it? What makes it great? Who offers it? Where can I get it? These are all great questions and all in the scope of this article.

First, what is transit advertising? Transit advertising is an outdoor advertising medium that consists of placing advertisements on the outside of buses, cabs, fleet vehicles, and other vehicles, as well as inside buses, bus shelters, trains, and train stations. Basically the term "transit advertising" refers to placing an ad on anything with wheels.

There are many benefits to transit advertising. One of them is the fact that it is good for all ranges of a businesses advertising budget. With the average price range of $500-$1500 many companies can afford this. If you choose to use transit advertising there are many options. If you advertise with a bus company, $500 per month will typically get you an ad on the back of the bus and $1500 will get your ad wrapped on the whole bus. Its worth noting that these prices reflect the cost of the service, not including the cost of the wrap; it’s an additional fee. If you want your advertising budget to go further, you can work with smaller transit advertising companies like Mobile Ads (http://www.mobileads.tv) or Nomad Advertising LLC (www.NomadAdvertisingLLC.com). They may offer only one or two sizes, but the full vehicle advertisement will cost less than half that of a full bus ad.

The cost of Transit Advertising is reasonable to good, but how does it compare? First we look at the price comparison of advertising techniques. Let’s start with coupons and direct mailers. It typically costs something like $300-$400 to reach 10,000 households in a specific zip code. Next let’s talk about radio and television commercials. You may pay $1,000 to $20,000 per minute for video production, depending on the quality. Most small business owners don’t have advertising budgets that large. Price-wise, transit advertising gets your advertisement to more people for less.

If you’re reading this and thinking "You get what you pay for" you’re wrong. I’m sorry to have to tell you, but it’s true. Direct mailers typically have a response rate as low as 5 responses per thousand mailings. In other words you have a success rate of 0.5%! $400 spent to get only 50 responses.

When small business’s look at using radio and TV, they find that these two effective methods can pose many problems. First, you must consider you target audience. Then determine which radio station or TV channels they watch and when the listen or watch them, just to make sure you're reaching the right listeners or viewers. Next, you must figure out your "angle." Is your advertisement going to be funny, educational, real-world; after all, you have about 60 seconds to impact your audience. To add to the pressure and uncertainty of these options is the fact that most people do not listen to or watch commercials. They find another station playing a song they like, they leave the family room to go get a snack, or they just fast forward past your $2000 commercial that lasted 60 seconds.

Herein lays the beauty of Vehicle Advertising. It can not be tuned out, it can not be ignored. It does generate conversations. It engages the viewer. It is affordable.

There are many places and ways for you to implement transit advertising in you advertising campaign. If you already have a fleet of vehicles, you can get them wrapped. Wrapping is the process of printing you ad on vinyl film and having it placed onto your vehicles. To find locations in your area try looking in the phone book or online for vehicle graphics or car wraps. A lot of times the places that perform the wraps are sign companies. Typically it takes under 5 business days to create and apply your wrap, but it can vary by size and complexity. If you do not have your own fleet, many companies rent advertising space on their fleet. These companies can be found again in your phonebook or online by looking for transit advertising or vehicle advertising. You can also call companies who perform wraps and ask if they can suggestion a transit advertising company as sometimes they refer customers for each other.