Chicago Billboard Cost & Locations
Chicago, like any big city, is not easy to maneuver—there are many different neighborhoods with different audiences, waiting to hear about your brand. Lucky for you, we are the neighborhood experts, with market competitive pricing. Read below for more information about billboard cost factors, billboard prices, strategies for targeting by location, and audience metrics.
How Much Does A Billboard Cost?
Billboard prices are not often understood by many business owners and even seasoned marketers. Since outdoor advertising is so flexible and personalized to your demands and goals, prices depend on the following factors:
The Location Of The Billboard
Billboard prices depend largely on location. You’ll never pay the same amount for a billboard in Cheyenne, Wyoming, because the population in Chicago is much larger. Even within Chicago, there are areas that are more densely populated than others, and those locations will also change the cost. In essence, keep in mind that the busier a location, the more expensive it will be, while less busy locations are often more affordable.
The Format Of Billboard
At View Chicago, we have five different formats to fit your advertising needs. Each format has different strengths based on their size, shape, and their strategic approaches. Our neighborhood signs like our HotSpots and Wild Postings and our Street Furniture Panels are smaller than our other billboards, but they pack a hyperlocal punch and reach your audience where they live. Our larger formats, like our Wallscapes and Bus Wraps, make bigger and bolder impressions which is why they’re most costly.
The Audiences You Are Trying To Reach
Audiences are not all the same. Some audiences have higher buying power, which means they are more likely to make purchases and engage with your brand. With more disposable income, these audiences are more expensive because they are more likely to invest in your products. In Chicago, this can boil down to specific blocks or intersections where affluent audiences live.
The Quantity Of Ad Spots
The larger the quantity of billboards you select, the more your value increases. This is where you get to make strategic choices, because for the price of one Wallscape you can select multiple Street Furniture panels instead. Depending on the results you seek, you can select different strategies and use your marketing budget wisely.
The Length Of Time You Want The Billboard To Run
At View Chicago, we rent billboards for a period of 4 weeks at a time. If you’d like to limit your billboard by that time, you can save yourself some overall cost. Advertisers who are looking to promote an event or a seasonal product are often able to do this. The longer you keep your billboard up however, the more value you get from the marketing campaign based on pricing deals we can provide you. However, we are always flexible and can change ad copy halfway through your campaign to get you better results.
How Soon You Were Looking To Start
When you start your campaign, there are several situations to consider. If you’re looking for a rush job, that might increase the price because it’s more expensive to print and set up a billboard campaign in a hurry. Another element to consider is the season during which you are starting your campaign. A summer campaign in Chicago is more likely to cost more than a campaign during January or February, colder months when people aren’t spending as much time outdoors.
Pricing
Here’s a rough breakdown of billboards and other outdoor advertising signs in Chicago with an approximate cost range:
Neighborhood Signs (HotSpots & Wild Postings) - $1,000 to $6,000/4-weeks
Bus Shelters - $400 to $1,000/4-weeks
Bulletins (14’x48’ on pole) - $2,000 to $10,000/4-weeks
Wallscapes & Spectaculars - $5,000 to $50,000/4-weeks
Let’s break these prices down for a minute. If you take a look at our Street Furniture (Bus Shelters), the price is similar to our neighborhood signs like HotSpots. This opens up strategic options. For instance, with a budget of $5000, you could invest completely in Street Furniture, a combination of Street Furniture and Hotspots, or you could make a big splash with a Wallscape in one location. Everything depends on the results you seek and the Chicago audience you want to reach.
The ranges are broad and the price within that range will largely depend on the particulars of your campaign. We are here to make the campaign fit your advertising goals and your budgetary needs. When you speak to one of our local experts, we can craft a custom quote for you and give you exact numbers depending on your campaign objectives.
Interested in a Custom Quote?
Have our experts develop your unique billboard strategy in Chicago.
Is The Price of Billboards Worth It?
There are so many advertising options out there, including social media, TV, and radio. Why, then, invest in an OOH campaign? The truth is, OOH is cost-efficient, increases engagement on other media platforms, and increases your reach.
Cost Efficiency
Cost-per-impression, or CPM, is the way advertisers compare the entry cost of each advertising medium. OOH has the lowest CPM of traditional formats, very similar to some forms of online advertising. For example, CPM for outdoor advertising is often between $3 and $8, while other forms of advertising can go up to $17 per thousand impressions. Furthermore, OOH brings you quality impressions—these are real people with measurable demographics, which you can then use to improve the quality of your marketing campaign.
And it’s not just CPM. Outdoor advertising brings you a return on your investment. For every $1 spent, you’ll make $2.80 back in returns. An investment in OOH really makes financial sense.
Engagement
The true marker of efficiency is whether or not your audience takes actions after seeing your advertisements. Outdoor advertising is incredibly effective here as well. After seeing an OOH ad, 35% of people looked up information on the advertiser via a search engine, 22% used an advertised coupon or discount code, and another 22% pulled up the advertiser’s website. OOH is also great at driving actions in the real world, causing people to visit stores, call phone numbers, or recommend products to others.
OOH isn’t just effective on its own, but it also increases the efficacy of other advertising media. Out-of-home ads have been found to increase the potency of online campaigns by 40% and TV ads by over 300%. An investment in OOH is worth it because it makes your marketing campaigns stronger as a whole.
Reach
Other traditional media have trouble reaching their target audience. OOH doesn’t have that problem. 91% of US residents over the age of sixteen report noticing outdoor advertising. 79% of them report noticing an OHH in the past week. This is a powerful reach that is worth the cost.
If They Do It…
If all of these factors don’t convince you, take a look at the top brands using OOH. If the biggest companies in the United States think OOH is necessary for their campaigns, you’ll know it’s a winning strategy. You don’t have to be a huge company to use outdoor advertising to grow your brand.
How To Choose A Billboard Location In Chicago
Location is the name of the game. What good is it to spend money on advertising if you won’t reach your (future) customers?
Here are a few questions to ask yourself if you target by location:
What’s Around the Billboard?
If there are a lot of competing outdoor ads in this location, your price is likely to be lower than other locations. However, lively locations with a lot of action (near restaurants and other active businesses) can actually give your ad more bang for our buck because there are more eyes to catch. Furthermore, you might be interested in advertising where your competition advertises and fight their growth.
How Visible Is It?
Visibility is key with outdoor ads. For some formats, street-level ads are more efficient because they catch your audience at eye-level, like our Wild Postings. On the other hand, a Wallscape in a higher location might be visible for much longer distances, and could get you more impressions than a smaller neighborhood sign. The more impressions your ad receives, the higher the price.
How Fast is Traffic Going?
Generally speaking, ad locations where traffic is slower will have a higher cost because it means people are spending more time looking at your ad. This applies to vehicles but also to pedestrians. As mentioned above, ad spots near restaurants and other businesses that slow down pedestrian traffic can be more powerful because they make your audience spend more time engaging with your brand.
What Are Your Strategic Options?
This is where you really get to make your campaign your own, and where the results you seek take a front seat. Are you looking to make a big impression to millions on the side of a highway? Or would you rather make a surgical approach and target a specific audience frequently? This will determine how much your investment will be.
For instance, if you are looking to target trendy millennials in Chicago, there are several paths you could take. We could set you up with some Wild Postings close to where your audience lives, giving your campaign a hyperlocal approach. Or we could set you up with a Bus Wraps, making a big impression near your audience’s workplace.
Depending on your target demographic, you might consider different creative. For instance, if you wanted to advertise in an area with a lot of Spanish speakers, we can help you create ad copy in Spanish to reach that audience more effectively. Location doesn’t have to be a burden—rather, it can be an opportunity.
The options are truly endless—it all depends on your needs and your goals.
Perks of Targeting By Location
Save Money
If you know where your audience is, you can focus your budget in those specific locations without overspending. We can help you target specific locations and keep you under budget.
Location-Specific Ads
Customers respond to personalized ads based on location with messages like “Delicious sandwiches two blocks ahead” or “Find us in Pilsen”. These messages are especially effective because their purpose is clear and simple. No need to go online or make a purchase—all the audience has to do is find your location.
Different Neighborhood, Different Campaign
You might want to change the ad based on the location. If you’re advertising in a Hispanic neighborhood, why not change your messaging to Spanish? There are many options if you are aware of your location’s strengths.
