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When running marketing on a tight budget, it’s easy to assume that “big moves” are off the table. Billboards? Sounds expensive, right?
But what if you could get the power of significant brand visibility without the hefty price tag? This week, I want to show you how we did that at Thorn Technologies, where I’m the marketing director.
Here’s exactly how we pulled it off (and how you can do the same).
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Small Budgets, Big Moves: Testing Billboards in Vegas
I was in Las Vegas for a tech conference in early April. When I’m not writing this newsletter, I’m the marketing director for a software company called Thorn Technologies.
For the conference in Vegas, we decided to test a no-budget twist on a classic “big brand” move: billboards.
We used Blip Billboards, a platform that lets you run digital billboard ads with flexible budgets and no minimum spend. There are plenty of players in the digital billboard space you can consider for your campaigns.
Let me say a couple of things about billboards first
Most of the time, people are only going to see them for a few seconds as they drive by. And if your billboard is digital like ours, they might get even less time before it flips to the next ad. That means two things:
You’re not going to be able to say everything you want to say.
You have to keep it simple and instantly digestible — think a logo and a concise, sticky message.
You’re not necessarily trying to make someone remember a lengthy pitch. Instead, you're making a quick, strong impression — and that's where billboards shine. This is why I like to use billboards as part of a larger campaign.
Using billboards as part of a larger campaign in a targeted area
Especially when you’re working with a small budget, billboards can be great for hyper-focusing on a specific area and creating the feeling that you’re everywhere.
For example, during the conference we were targeting in Vegas:
We ran a small set of Twitter ads targeted at the event hashtag.
Launched LinkedIn ads with messaging that matched the billboard.
Wore shirts with our logo and a key tagline (“Don't Touch My Data”),
Handed out stickers featuring the same visuals and message.
The idea: If you were at the conference, it would feel like Thorn Technologies was everywhere you looked—even though our actual spending was tight.
And here’s what the one billboard near The Strip got us:
2,128 billboard flashes during conference week.
151,303 estimated impressions.
Total cost for the billboard: $517.
I also ran the same ads on some billboards near the Vegas airport on the arrival and departure days and on several signs in San Francisco and San Jose following the conference, as tech workers arrived home and returned to work.
Did they work? Time will tell. I won’t necessarily have large numbers of people come to us saying they saw the billboard, but if we see a spike in traffic and usage of our software products in the coming weeks, I’ll be able to trace some of it to the Twitter and LinkedIn ads from the same campaign or we might hear about the billboard anecdotally.
This was the second conference where I’ve run billboards. I plan to use this tactic at other conferences, looking to build brand awareness over time by repeatedly getting in front of the same audiences.
We also shared video of our billboards on social media, which created some buzz. Over time, this can add up. If you run a billboard for a few days, there’s a good chance it won’t do much for you unless it’s incredibly memorable. But if you run them repeatedly and wisely as part of targeted campaigns, you can make an impact.
Remember to snap some pictures and videos of your company name in lights so you can share them and make an even bigger splash.
Key Takeaways:
Billboards work best when they’re simple and paired with a broader strategy.
Use them to amplify a piece of your marketing, not to carry all the messaging.
Even a small campaign can significantly impact a targeted area (like during a conference).
Action Idea for You:
Find a high-traffic moment or place where you can stack small touchpoints — billboards, shirts, ads, swag — and create the feeling of a major presence without a significant budget.
If you have any feedback, just hit reply. I greatly appreciate hearing from readers about what they like and don’t like, so I can shape future newsletters to provide helpful content. Thanks for reading!
-Mike
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Find me online: bio.link/mikeholden