New York City is the hub for major brands and advertisements. It has a long history of innovating traditions in advertising being the home of many of America’s first major marketing and advertising agencies. For many companies, getting your ad placed in New York’s famous Times Square seems like a far away dream. For any brand, having an ad on Times Square billboards would be an ideal situation. For how long your ad can be placed, and on what displays depends entirely on your standing as a business and the growth you’re potentially facing to consider advertising on such a large scale. Let’s look at a few key points to make sure of when looking to advertise your brand on a Times Square display.
Consider Your Finances
Advertising is an expensive commodity and requires ongoing commitment. An ad in NYC can run you upwards of $50,000 for a day depending on where you place. Typically, brands that can pay for the service will do a two to three day run for anywhere between $5,000-$25,000. Consider how much you will spend and how much you stand to gain from advertising in Times Square. If the return on investment seems worth it, and your business can afford the expense, it’s a prime place to run an advertising campaign.
Determine Where the Best Placement Is
There are tons of options in Times Square. From big LED billboard displays to smaller billboards on bus stops and subway stations, you should consider where your brand will be best noticed. It’s tempting to aim for bigger, brighter placements, but consider the fact that you might get better noticed on the ground level. Especially if you are a modestly sized business, starting at smaller levels may be a smarter way to explore advertising in this unique hub of entertainment and marketing.
Get Creative
Make sure your content is exciting and engaging for viewers. If thousands of people are going to be seeing your ad for the first time on a multiple day campaign, you’ll want to make sure it grabs attention quickly. Something that a lot of brands do is following and mimicking viral trends. This is a great way to grab the attention of younger audiences. Also consider hiring a team of trusted creatives to help with your advertising projects. Having a network of designers, filmmakers and producers will put you ahead of the competition.
Target Your Audience
Who are you trying to reach with your billboard? Are you targeting an older audience or a younger one? What demographics are primarily consuming your products? These are all things that will determine where you place your advertisements. For example, if your target audience is children, you’ll want to place your advertisements closer to outlets that have a lot of stores for kids. Similarly, if you’re targeting a young adult audience, you might have a bit more flexibility as to where you can place your billboard.
Network As Much as Possible
Meet people in the advertising and marketing industry. As a business owner, you should be networking and partnering with other agencies whenever possible and necessary and it’s especially important when exploring how to get placed on a Times Square billboard. Veterans in the industry might know insider tips on which billboards historically do the best with new campaigns and which ones are harder to access.
Strategize When Your Billboard Goes Up
Placing advertisements arbitrarily won’t necessarily add to your business’ growth. Try to strategize when you place your ads. Summer, holiday seasons and seasonal school breaks are prime opportunities for brands to place visually stimulating advertisements. Consider planning your campaigns around the beginnings and ends of seasonal breaks. Winter holidays are an obvious choice for retail sales, but if you offer some kind of service or subscription based product planning near the start of the school year would be a smart thing for brands to consider.
Know the Competition
Be aware of what brands you’ll be competing with in adjacent spaces. Especially if you are advertising in an area that hosts ads for similar brands, that might not be the most ideal place for you to advertise if those brands are bigger names than yours. If not, it might be a perfect place to advertise. Know who you are competing against to determine the best location to attract new customers and give you a return on your investment. Advertising is expensive, and you’ll want to make sure you get your money’s worth.
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