Why Signage Advertising is Better Than Pay Per Click

As a signage retailer, you know your prospects and customers have multiple advertising media options. Your signage products compete with those media for the advertising budgets. Our earlier post listed compared both the cost and the efficiency of signage (including channel letters) vs. some of the other “old school” local media options.

Your clients and potential clients also have another advertising option available now. That is Pay Per Click search engine advertising. This newer media has some important qualities vs. other media. For example, the advertisement impressions are displayed in a unique context. Only someone who has searched on a given set of keywords will see the ad, so a higher percentage of the ad impressions have the potential to become clients.

TWO PAY PER CLICK SELLING POINTS Here are the two primary pay per click selling points. First, people who search on a specific set of keywords tend to have something in mind. Though some people will conduct an internet query out of curiosity alone, most will search because they have something in mind. It is a compelling argument for search engine (Pay Per Click, or “PPC”) advertising. Second, the ad is shown only to people who have searched on those keywords, so the display of the ad is “selective.”

So how does signage (and signage impressions) compare? Here is an important point to consider: while pay per click searchers often have something in mind, there is also the quality of the search ad impression. How does a channel letter sign advertising impression compare to a Pay Per Click impression?

HOW DOES SIGNAGE COMPARE TO PAY PER CLICK? Here is the critical difference: signage advertising impressions give the consumer the information they need to take action right now. Not tomorrow, not next week, but right now. For example, upon viewing a Home Depot channel letter sign, she may say to herself “I need to pick up that paint anyway. May as well do it now.”

A Pay Per Click ad impression does not have that ability. The information provided is targeted and actionable, yes, but not actionable right now. The pay per click impression may put you on the prospect’s list of potential vendors, but it is inferior to signage in the sense that immediate action is not possible. That is a critical advantage for signage advertising impressions. The viewer of an online pay per click ad may be 10 miles away from the business, but the viewer of a sign is in immediate purchasing proximity. That is a critical signage selling advantage.

SIGNAGE HAS A CRITICAL ADVANTAGE So the “right now” nature of signage advertising impressions is an important selling point for you to emphasize. Signage is the only media that offers that critical advantage, and it does it with a far lower cost per impression. This is particularly true for impulse purchases, but is true for other business types as well. So don’t let the local Pay Per Click argument get in the way of your excellent signage sales presentation. Your sign still has some important advantages. Both on a cost per thousand impression basis (CPM) or on a “consumer proximity” selling point. It works.