Less is More: The Art of Cutting Words and Prioritizing Copy on Billboards
Prioritizing copy and eliminating verbiage that isn’t needed is an important skill when it comes to designing billboard ads. It can be learned if you follow a few tips, but it’s something that you’ll get better and better with the more you do it.
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What does it mean to prioritize copy? It simply means to lay out your text in size/color/boldness/etc. in a way that the billboard information is read by the viewer in a very specific order. This helps the viewer understand the ad, remember it, and know what action they need to take as quickly as possible.
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How do we prioritize copy? the largest words on the billboard ad should be your headline. Next in size would be your call to action or subheading. Followed by the contact information (website/phone).
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Eliminating copy. As a billboard account rep or designer, much of your job will be receiving a lot of information from an advertiser, then cutting that information down until only the most essential parts remain. It’s very common for an advertiser to send you a flyer with a ton of information on it, asking for it to be turned into a billboard ad. When too much information is used on a billboard ad, the wording gets so small it can’t be read, and the viewer doesn’t have time to read it.
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One easy way of doing this is to print out whatever the advertiser has sent you, an email, a flyer, etc. and begin marking out parts that aren’t necessary. Keep doing this until only 2-3 key points are left.
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Condensing copy. Another aspect of eliminating copy is to take sentences/paragraphs that the advertiser sends, and re-wording them into much shorter/easier-to-read sentences.
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For example…
An advertiser (let’s call them Bob’s Deli) sends a billboard ad request and wants the following statement displayed on the design:
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“At Bob’s Deli, we guarantee the freshest meats and vegetables, or we’ll give you your money back”
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We can condense that sentence to:
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“Fresh Meat & Veggie Guarantee”
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Condensing Copy Tips:
• Abbreviate wherever you can. (Street – St) (Building – Bldg) (Vegetables – Veggies)
• Area codes aren’t necessary and can be left off if the advertiser is a local business advertising on a local billboard.
• Practice makes perfect!
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