Billboards

Billboards impact an increasingly mobile population. Billboard signs offer repetitive presence and the visibility to influence commuters every day all while fashioning brands into household names. Even though your business' storefront may be off the beaten path you can draw customers from a high traffic count area to your store with a monthly advertisement on a billboard in a metro area.  If you own land or have land that you are willing to lease you can turn a stagnant investment that you are responsible for yearly taxes on into a lucrative business with little overhead cost, especially if you are in a favorable location with a moderate traffic count enabling other business' to advertise their services/ product.  A billboard is like adding another tenant to your property except this tenant is like a triple net tenant.  The key driver of billboard value is location and traffic. A highway billboard generates more income than a wooden pole billboard in a small town. If your property is in an ideal location, you may even have a bidding war for your location because only one billboard can be built by one company.   

In general, expect to receive somewhere between 15-20% of the gross revenue per year. If you're not sure how much this is, you can call the outdoor advertising sales departments of these companies to see how much they would charge you to advertise in your area.  Once you know if this is an investment you are willing to make then the next step is to see what your restrictions, if any, your local zoning municipality may have.

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First, you need to check with your local city planning department. Don't just ask them if they permit a billboard. Instead, ask to see the local sign ordinance and read through that section from beginning to end. You are reviewing the sign ordinance to see if billboards are explicitly prohibited in the sign ordinance. The sign ordinance is black and white. Either the ordinance will prohibit billboards or they will permit them.   In most cases a variance meeting is needed to approve the billboard permit, even more so if you are interested in a digital product rather than a static.   For our local NEPA areas PENDOT's off premise and on premise application on line must also be approved.  PSC is very well versed in the ordinances put forth by PENDOT and after a site survey of the location being proposed we can discuss the likelihood of your project being approved with or without a variance meeting. See the links below to PENDOT's online application.

 

Types of Billboards

 

There are two main types of popular billboards, static and digital.  There are pros and cons to each type.  

 

Static are the most abundant type of billboard as they have been around longer.  Static refers to the face of the billboard being exactly that, static and non-rotating.  With static billboards there is a less up front out of pocket expense since you are not having to purchase the LED digital faces.  Instead your project will include the infrastructure, typically a mono-pole set up, excavation/installation of the structure, and then the first month's advertiser's paper ads installed.  With  a static billboard you can potential showcase one business per face per a month so 2 business a month on the structure.  This type of billboard is more prevalent in suburban locations and non-state/interstate roadsides. It is a good option for clients that have extra land either on their own personal property or business' property and want to offset the cost of the extra property.  If you have land located on a road or interstate that has a high commute volume on it and would have more demand than only two business' advertising a month then a digital product is more the route you would be interested in.  Besides erecting an entirely new static structure we also offer face swap out services for static billboards that are pre-existing and need to have new ads showcased.

 

A digital billboard enables you to showcase multiple business  on the same structure as a static, so in turn it generates more money for the owner.  A digital billboard using PENDOT's suggested slide time lapse gives the opportunity for a Double sided billboard to showcase around 16 business' ads enabling the owner of the billboard to have 16 paying advertisers monthly.  A digital billboard is a heavier up front out of pocket expense however since you have the potential to have more accounts a month paying for your billboard space you can offset the loan costs for the billboard and still make profit within the first couple months of set up.  Typically a digital billboard pays for itself within the first year of its completion enabling the owner for a full profit business afterwards. 

 

Pocono Sign Company understands that with this type of project a lot is on the line for our clients.  This is not a standard sign budget but an advertising investment and we do suggest that no matter the size of the billboard or type you research and make sure that your media sales group and erector are stand up companies.  We suggest to all new clients to call previous and or current clients of ours for references.  Check out some of our recent projects below in the gallery!!!
 

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