Restaurants can’t rely on online purchases—at least, not entirely. Placing a billboard on busy highways and intersections will give your restaurant the visibility it needs to stand over the competition. Learn more about why billboards are the perfect medium for restaurants.

Reasons Why Restaurants Should Invest in Outdoor Advertising

Restaurants have used billboards for a long time because they work. Here are some of the best reasons why outdoor advertising can help your restaurant stand out.

Targeted Audience

Restaurants are limited by location. You won’t want to advertise your restaurant too far away from where your location is—in other words, you’ll want to make sure you advertise to a local, targeted audience. The good news about OOH is that it reaches a huge percentage of the population, especially when they’re placed near busy highways or intersections. And if the majority of your customers live in a specific part of town, you can use billboards to engage this demographic with astonishing efficacy. Billboards are incredible at geographic targeting, and restaurants can (and should) benefit from that. 

High Engagement

One of the main benefits of billboard advertising is that engagement is high. With social media ads, for example, you can simply keep scrolling and immediately forget about it. With billboards, on the other hand, you’re often more engaged and can remember the brand, product, or even the messaging (if it’s compelling). One reason why this happens is because we’re more active and purposeful when we’re out of our homes. So, translating this to restaurants: people are more likely to book a table or decide on takeout after interacting with a billboard advertisement. And with our digital integration, billboards are also poised to send your audiences online if they want to make a reservation on your website or Resy. 

Affordable and Profitable

Restaurants don’t often have huge budgets to spend on advertising. This is why billboards are the perfect medium for either local restaurants or national chains. Billboards are often more affordable than other traditional advertising mediums, but they’re also more targeted, optimized, and have much higher levels of exposure within their location. Even digital billboards are relatively inexpensive, and the options you can take advantage of with these are huge. In essence: you’ll spend less money with a billboard, reach more people, and engage more of them to take action (whether that means coming into your physical location,  making a reservation, or ordering online).

Quick Outdoor Advertising Facts for Restaurants

• Billboards advertising reaches more than 90% of the population

• People are 28% more likely to take action when viewing OOH media in comparison with social and online ads

• 65% of humans learn best from visual communication 

• People are 33% more alert on average when they’re out of the home

Restaurants do well when they remind their audiences they are an option. Your restaurant locations will be the first to pop in your audience’s mind with our high-impact formats and hand-picked locations.

Billboards

A giant burger or slushie. Food looks more enticing when it’s 14 feet tall. This is why billboards work (and because they’re up 24/7).

Trivision

Add to a billboard: 3 turns. You can either take one slice of the pie or dominate the board with your messaging and branding.

Digitals

The newest tech in billboard display. Use movement to catch your audience’s attention, and change your creative with the click of a button.

HotSpots

Hyper-local meets hyper-effective. Small but relevant, difficult to ignore and easy to enjoy. Found where your audience lives and shops.

Wild Postings

Wide urban billboards, perfect for multiple creative or one bold display. Perfect for younger generations and a city environment.

Wallscapes

Huge displays in urban settings. If you’re looking to make a big impression, Wallscapes are the way to go.

Bus Wraps

A giant, moving billboard. Even better when you consider the affluent neighborhoods these bus routes drive through.

Street Furniture

Affordable and ubiquitous. Street Furniture is the best way to reach underrated audiences outside of the urban center.

Outdoor Advertising Strategies for Restaurants

There are specific and proven strategies that work for restaurants in outdoor advertising. Below you’ll find some of the strategies we believe are the most effective for restaurants.

Go Big with Format

Which of the many formats we offer would you go with? Survey says: the bigger the format, the bigger the impact. Remember, you’re not only building brand awareness for your restaurant, you’re also capturing the attention of the people passing by your billboard. To catch the most attention, you’ll want to go big. Even consider going digital. Any of our large format billboards are huge and will make the desired impression, especially if they’re in prime locations around your neighborhood. With a billboard, you don’t have to share advertising space. You don’t have to share the attention you’ve commanded with another brand. You’ll make a big impression, and you’ll give your audiences a memorable and positive representation of your brand. 

Drive Actions

Because OOH is great at engaging audiences, you’ll want to make sure your call to action drives your audiences to take a specific action. You can ask your customer to stop by your location, make a reservation, order online. There are many options here, and they all often work better when you provide your audience with an incentive like a promotional offer. Include your contact information—your phone number and website—and make sure your customers have all the information they need to take an action that will bring you sales.

Emphasize Imagery

Visual content is much easier for people to ingest. People retain 65% of visual information three days after seeing it, in comparison to 10% of textual information retained. The images you use are crucial to the potential impact of your campaign. As a restaurant brand, use large and bold images of dishes to encourage your audience’s appetite. Maintain a branded color scheme to tell a consistent story of your business, and make sure the images are relevant (don’t advertise a dish when it’s out of season). If you find the right images, most of your work is done. 

Integrate Digitally

One important aspect about billboards that isn’t always taken advantage of is the ability they have to improve the efficacy of other advertising mediums. In other words, when you pair your OOH campaign with a digital or online campaign, you make both campaigns much more effective. Your billboards provide brand awareness and drive action, while your website can then provide further opportunities to close the sale. One easy way to integrate your campaigns is to promote your billboards in local social media groups, while another is to maintain a strong presence on other web services like Yelp or Google My Business. You might be surprised to learn how many people pick a restaurant based on their Yelp review. Either way, by making sure your billboards and online campaigns are working in unison, you’ll maximize sales and increase your ROI.

Make it Easy to Read

Remember that most of the people viewing your billboard are on the move. They’re either driving or walking past, so they won’t have a long time to see your billboard. The general rule is to make sure your message can be read within five to ten seconds. Focus on imagery, quick messaging, and one specific point you want your audience to remember.

Messaging Tips for Restaurants

Messaging is key when it comes to billboard advertising, especially for restaurants. Below are some tips on how to provide relevant outdoor advertising to your neighborhood.

You Don’t Need to Cook 

One of the most attractive selling points about restaurants is that you’re offering audiences an opportunity to avoid one of the most time-consuming chores: making food. Even people who love to cook like to take a day off from making their own food, especially parents. By advertising the opportunity to eat a delicious meal without having to do the prep work, you’re selling an experience as well as the product.

Eat Well (and Healthy)

Another successful proposition is to provide your audience with a selling point. One true and tried message is to advertise a discount or deal where customers can come in and take advantage of that while also spending on other meal options. Another classic is to advertise your healthy options, making the decision to eat out a healthy one as well.

Our Markets for Restaurants

Restaurants do business in specific communities and neighborhoods. Learn more about the markets we service below.

Central Florida

Located between Orlando and Tampa, our boards catch tourists and locals alike. Everyone needs to eat, and this is a great area to find new audiences who will fall in love with your food.

Chicago

The 3rd largest market in the US, with distinct neighborhoods and suburbs filled with foodies, ready to try your restaurant and recommend it to their friends.

Are directional billboards useful for restaurants?

Of course! Those billboards on the highway that say “Take Exit 49” work. People who have been driving for a long time (or have a long drive to go) like easy options, so if they know they can get their favorite burger without having to open Google Maps, that is an excellent messaging strategy. 

What imagery should I include?

Food is often easy in comparison to other industries. Showing a delicious meal is pretty much all it takes to convince your customers that they crave what you offer. They might not come in that day or that week, but once they realize they want your food, they’ll come by at some point to try it.

How many billboards do I need?

This will always depend on your goals. If you have one location, one billboard in the perfect location might be enough. It will do a great job at raising awareness of your restaurant and reminding your customers that you are an option for lunch or dinner. Of course, the more billboards you have, the more effective the campaign will be.

Where should I advertise?

The closer your billboard is to your location, the better it will be at making people stop by your restaurant. On the other hand, if you know where your customers live, you can always advertise there as well, doing a targeted campaign. We can help you find the perfect spots to target your customers and potential audiences to maximize your earnings.

Inquire Today About Outdoor Advertising for Restaurants

Outdoor advertising can make your brand stand out from your competition. Talk to one of our billboard experts today and learn how we can get you results!