The Importance of Billboard Spec Art
What is billboard spec art? Spec art in the outdoor advertising industry is simply a series of ads created for a potential customer. The customer generally doesn’t know you are creating the ads, as you are using them as a tool to help get in front of the client.
Spec art is a vital piece of any successful outdoor sales process. It is much easier to approach potential clients and customers when you have some professional ads about their business ready for them to look at. You give them the impression that you have done your homework and care about their business. It’s a great icebreaker.
How to create effective spec art for your potential billboard customers:
If your sales lead is hot or cold, it doesn’t really matter. This process uses information about the potential advertiser that is already available online. Start by browsing their facebook and other social media profiles. Facebook is usually your best bet. See if your lead has any sales going on, employees they have recognized, or products/services they feature. Your billboard spec art should be simple and to the point. See this post for info on creating great-looking ads!
Use some of the info you find to create your ads. Perhaps it’s a big sale they are advertising online or elsewhere. If it’s close to a holiday season like Christmas or Independence Day, go ahead and make an ad for that as well. Just a simple “Happy Holidays” with their logo and contact info is fine. It’s a good idea to create a simple logo ad as well. Something they would run in between sales and special events. Create at least 3-5 pieces of spec art. The more the better as you will have a higher chance of creating something they really like.
Here’s a recap of what type of ads to create…
- Any sales or promotions the client has going on
- Holiday or seasonal ads
- A simple logo ad with their logo displayed large and some contact info
- Use a photo of the business owner or employees with a “Meet Our Team” headline
- Feature one of their products or services with a photo that goes along with it
- See also our list of 100 billboard ad ideas here.
Tasty Ad is a spec art power tool!
You might say we created Tasty Ad for creating spec art. And you would be right. Tasty Ad was designed to create great ads very quickly. We know how valuable your time is. It was something many outdoor companies struggled with. The sales staff would have to wait for a designer to create their spec art for them, which could take days. Some outdoor companies don’t have designers on staff so paying an outside designer for spec out is out of the question. That’s where Tasty Ad comes in. Now the entire sales staff, the owners, the designers, and anyone else can create outdoor spec ads that look great. And the best part is it only takes minutes instead of days to do it!
