Setting up your first billboard for your gym or fitness business means you’ve made it to the big leagues. Maybe you started with Facebook ads and AdWords, but now you’re moving up in the world of advertising. You’ve shown that you know how to run a successful business and now you’re ready to start increasing your membership to the next level. Leasing a billboard for your business isn’t the most difficult process. However, it will take you quite a while to get all your T’s crossed and I’s dotted. If you need some reading on the subject, check out AdMen, MadMen and Billboard Marketing. Below you’ll find the three basic steps to getting a marketing billboard for your gym.

Search & Locate Your Desired Billboard Location

The first step to buying your first billboard marketing spot is to figure out where exactly you want to be advertising. Get into your car and go for a drive around your city, looking at the current billboards around the city. Most cities have billboard legislation, where you can’t build new signage. Taking that into consideration, you’ll want to find current billboards that you like, and then figure out who owns the billboard property. Most have the name of the media company in the bottom right corner of the billboard. The biggest billboard companies these days are OutFront Media, ClearChannel and Lamar. You’ll want to take into consideration the amount of eye traffic that hits the billboard, as well as the location. If you’re advertising on a billboard that’s 10 miles from your gym, you might be too far from home. Advertise closer to your business and you’ll get seen by more relevant eyes.

Negotiate Advertising Terms with Media Company

Once you find the billboard property that works for your gym, you’l need to contact the billboard media company and set up a meeting. Since you’re the underdog in this situation, you won’t have much power in negotiating your advertising terms. However, it always pays to negotiate. You might be able to get some extra time for free, or you might be able to get them to include lights in the cost of your advertising fee. Some basic rules. You’ll normally pay less per month if you sign a longterm advertising agreement. It takes quite a few man hours to put up a billboard. That cost needs to get divided over the course of your campaign. If you only advertise for a month, that setup cost all gets added to the first month. However, if you sign a 6-month contract, it’ll get spread across all months.

Work with a Trusted Graphic Designer to Produce Billboard

Last but not least, please, for the love of God, hire a quality graphic designer. You’re already spending a lot of money on a billboard, the least you could do is pay fair amount to create a stunning eye-catcher, and not some amateur-hour joke that people laugh at when they drive by. Another thing. Trust you graphic designer. There’s a very good chance that they know more about advertising that you do. For all you gym owners that think you’re also MadMen-level creative, I introduce you to The Oatmeal, a cartoon about web design.

Image Credit:
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