How Much Does It Cost to Advertise?

Billboards or outdoor advertising are priced based on location, size and amount of traffic the ads will receive.It costs between $650 to $950 to print and install a billboard. Digital Billboards don’t cost anything to produce since there is nothing to print. You simply pay for the monthly advertising costs.

Billboard sizes and costs will range as follows: (based on a four-week period)

As you can see, depending on the market size you want to advertise in it will cost $650 per month for a main street in a small town and $20,000 or more per month to be on the Interstate.
It’s important to note that billboard ads get sold out for longer terms than other advertising outlets. Many advertisers lock up prime locations for a year or more. You need to be prepared to take advantage of an opening quickly. There are limited locations and usually high demand.

Usually 30 days. However, some locations have a 90-day minimum.

We suggest every 60 days. Well-crafted creative can help increase results substantially. You will also want to drive your locations to make sure the colors you are using grab attention.

For example, we had a client who wanted to use white as the background color for their billboard. However, the locations we were buying had high desert as a backdrop. The white boards completely blended in with the scenery around the outdoor ads. It washed the creative out and you hardly noticed it was there. We changed the background to black to make the creative stand out.

Keep it simple. Limit copy to nine words or less. Use colors that have strong contrast like black and yellow, red and yellow, orange and white, and black and white. Use fonts and images that are easy to read and see. Use an image that grabs the viewers’ attention. Write copy that makes them want the product or service, and make the advertiser name and logo easy to read.
Effective Outdoor Ads


Ineffective Outdoor Ads

Exit here strategy. If you have a retail location that you want people to exit for, outdoor advertising is very effective.

Small cities and towns can be as low as $5 to $10 per 60-second spot. Mid-size cities and markets will range from $50 to $100 per spot, and large markets will go for $150 to $750 per 60-second spot. Rates vary based on demand, time of year, time of day, audience size, ranking and ratings of the station. You will get the best value on radio if you negotiate based on the audience size per average quarter hour (AQH). And remember: Don’t pay rate card.

It’s also smart to let a professional media buyer do all the negotiation for you. They do all the hard work–negotiating back and forth. You get the benefit of someone who has the latest audience ratings and insider knowledge of what the market is going for in regard to pricing and demand.

In the following table, we’ve provided sample cities, stations and planning rates. Full disclosure: Rates will vary by time of year, demand on inventory, audience fluctuations and ratings. This information is for planning purposes only, so you can get an idea of how much various markets and market sizes cost.

There are about 6,000 radio stations in the United States. This table provides general prices based on market size and format.

$0 to $500 depending on talent and script elements. Some radio stations will produce at no charge.

The talent gets a weekly fee on top of the cost of your schedule. Typically, that’s $250 to $5,000 per week, depending on talent and market size.

165 to 170 words. 30-second spots should be 80 words max.

25 to 45 spots per week, Monday through Friday, 6am to 7pm.

Nine to 12 local radio spots per week. Save your money if you can’t afford at least 15 spots per week.

Buy fewer days of the week and fewer weeks of the month, but don’t scrimp on frequency. Focus your spots on Wednesday through Friday or Saturday and Sunday. But make sure you have at least four to eight spots per day.

$2,500 to $3,500 for 10 to 15 pages. This pricing does not include a shopping cart function.

In the US, the average cost per click on Facebook is $1.17. CPC will vary by target audience and quarter.

$500 to $3,000 depending on elements, animation, voice work, and talent.

Yes. It’s harder than it used to be. But you only pay based on the audience that’s left. It still works. Especially for audiences that are aged 45-plus.

Depending on the elements of the spot, it will cost $1,500 to $50,000 or more. Some cable outlets will produce at no charge.

Local cable spots can be as cheap as 75 cents to $5 per 30 seconds, per network, per zone. National networks will run $500 to $12,500 per 30-second spot depending on daypart, audience size, audience ratings, time of year and demand on inventory.

January. Most companies spent their budget on Christmas advertising. The networks don’t have as much demand on inventory and are more willing to negotiate.

May, October, November and December.