Newspapers, television, radio, web—what’s the best way to reach your audience? There’s no end of advertising choices out there, some of which promise high exposure, but come with a budget-busting price tag. Others might be affordable, but provide very little reach.
It seems one of the best-kept secrets in the promotional arsenal is bus advertising. We are huge fans of this marketing vehicle, for good reason. Often relegated to stepchild status—particularly in today’s electronic environment—bus advertising really offers the best of two worlds: affordability and extensive local coverage.
Here are just a few reasons to consider advertising on public transit:
Buses travel where the people are. In Chittenden County, the average CCTA local-route bus spends about 18 hours on the road, traveling more than 600 miles. Almost every bus travels through high-density downtown Burlington dozens of times each day, as well as to major shopping centers in the area. GMTA runs its many bus routes through the capital district of Montpelier, as well as dozens of other communities throughout northern Vermont.
Your ad will get noticed. The size of ad space on a CCTA bus sign is 108” x 30”. That’s 22-1/2 square feet to deliver your message. Think of the impact that much advertising real estate can make! You’re all alone up there—not shoved together with six or eight other advertisers on the same page—so there’s no competition. And that’s just an ad on the side of the bus. Go for a full bus wrap and suddenly your message has the entire community talking!
Your ad really gets around. CCTA and GMTA regularly rotate their buses among their local routes. So, an ad that gets seen at UMall today might be viewed tomorrow in Winooski or Essex. It’s like getting multiple bus signs for the price of one.
It’s a great value. Run a small black-and-white ad four times in one week in Burlington’s largest daily paper and it can cost you around $1,000. When the week is over, your message is gone. But, on a bus sign—in full color and more than 50 times larger—you can run your message daily for three months. And, it would still cost about 40% less than the newspaper ad.
You don’t have to stay local. You can plan a bus advertising campaign on a regional or even national scale, simply by utilizing transit agencies in any metropolitan areas you wish to target. Many national brands have chosen bus advertising as an effective way to reach their audiences.
Summer is the best time to capitalize on bus advertising. So, if you want to get your message out in an impactful way, consider bus advertising as the best marketing vehicle for the job.
