Outdoor Billboard Investment Articles

Electricity was first made commercially available in 1879. Billboards – as we know them today – began in the 1920s, to there was never a moment when you could not illuminate a sign. However, the initial problem was how to do so effectively, as the early lights were not very good. Here’s a run down on the history of lighting billboard signs:

Not all billboards are created equal and some have some really big hurdles to get over in order to find a suitable advertiser. These hurdles can include poor visibility, low traffic count, bad demographics and other features that make them less than appealing to most advertisers. However, every sign has a logical user if you think hard enough. So how do you rent the “impossible” billboard?

One thing I learned from past recessions is that billboard revenues are extremely “elastic”. They can go up or down significantly based on how the economy is doing. Although there is typically a renter for every sign, what they will pay is all over the map and is derived from a number of factors. So what do you need to know about billboard elasticity and how to plan around it?

People have been making big money with billboard signs for over half-a-century. Owning a billboard – in many cities and towns – is like a license to make money. This significant stream of income has been used to build empires as well as college funds and cash for luxuries. So why do billboards so regularly make money?

We’ve all heard the old adage that once you learn to ride a bicycle you never forget it. Well, the this is also true with the entire “out-of-home” advertising industry. The skills from one segment of the industry are the same in the other sectors – it’s very efficient in that regard. So what are the skills that you need to know in order to start a billboard business?

Making money is the goal of building or buying a billboard sign. However, if you don’t know what you’re doing you can actually lose money instead of making it. So what are the top six ways to screw up your billboard investment and make it go from cash producing to cash losing?

Billboards have always been based on extremely long ground lease lengths – as long as 30 years or more. While that’s great for the billboard owner, it can sometimes be a challenge to explain to the property owner why they are so lengthy. So what are the explanations?

Industry veteran Mark Boidman recently stated that “the billboard audience is clearly back” and a “9% to 16% billboard income growth projection” should hold true for 2021. That’s a pretty bold outlook given the Covid-19 pandemic. So why is he so optimistic?

Billboard leases, while long-term, typically have an end date. This necessitates the billboard owner obtaining a renewal of the existence lease or forging a new lease altogether. So what are some solid tips to renewing your billboard and continuing your structure of paying ground rent to the land owner?

Billboards have very few management responsibilities. You build the sign once every 30 years or more, and you rent the ad space typically only once per year. So after that, you simply need to casually watch over the sign to make sure that 1) it has no storm damage and 2) the lights are working (if there are any). So how can you minimize that time obligation?

Most people start small and then think bigger over time. I’ve always found it better to think big and then work backwards to ascertain what you have to accomplish to get there. So here’s how that would work as far as building up a billboard portfolio to create a new income street.

Billboards can do many great things for your finances, but there’s one thing they can’t do: screw up your day job. There’s probably no easier solution to mixing a day job and a side hustle, for many reasons. So why are billboards not a threat to your day job?

As we approach election season, it’s important that billboard owners remember the old adage “never discuss sex, religion or politics” because it can be bad for your sign business. Political billboards can often lead to complications you had not anticipated, such as happened to this sign owner. So what are the rules on political advertisements?

Here’s a note we received recently, from someone who had taken our outdoor billboard course: “I would never be where I am today without your mentorship. Building the billboard business has given me the flexibility to have a better life. Thank you again for everything!” -Steve B. So how can an investing course on outdoor billboards actually change your life?

So you have a billboard with one side facing traffic going into town. There’s a ton of potential advertisers, and it never seems to go empty. However, the other side is heading out of town and there are no immediate advertisers for miles and miles. How do you rent that type of sign?

Many businesses use tactics to make the cost seem like less than it is. For example, flying in a private jet from Los Angeles to Las Vegas only costs $10 per minute (instead of $1,800). And your cell phone only costs $3 per day (instead of $1,000 per year). But in the billboard business, sometimes it’s all about making things sound bigger than they actually are – and sometimes not. Here’s a list of times in which you want to make things sound big and others when you shoot for small.

The whole point of renting a billboard is to have a successful ad message. Yet many advertisers fail in this mission. When an ad is not good, it sells nothing, and the advertiser doesn’t renew. It’s basically a wasted opportunity on the part of everyone involved. So what do advertisers do that is wrong and how can you improve on that?

There I was, minding my own business trying to keep a bunch of billboards rented when Texas was hit by the 1988 Savings and Loan Crisis and the resulting depression. Billboard rents fell 50% in just one year, while the Texas economy was wiped out with a collapse of oil and real estate values. But I had to keep the signs occupied to pay my bank loans, and failure was not an option. In desperation I configured some new ways to make my billboards affordable for advertisers. In many ways, it’s similar to the Covid-19 crisis, only there were no programs to ease the burden like the Cares Act back then.

I have long been a believer in this quote by Andrew Carnegie, the founder of U.S. Steel “problems are only opportunities in work clothes”. What that means is that you can look at U.S. recessions as either something to cry about or something to celebrate. I choose not to cry. Indeed, recessions such as the Covid-19 pandemic are great buying opportunities for billboard signs. You just have to know what you’re doing.

What’s the value of $3,000 of lumber? Around $3,000. But not if it’s assembled into a billboard sign. Then it becomes an income property that can pay out dividends forever. So how is all that possible? What’s the story of wooden billboards?

There’s no purpose in proposing to rent some land to build a billboard, or put together that great artwork for that potential advertiser, unless you actually close the deal and get a signed contract. But closing deals is not a class in high school or college and most people don’t know how to get the job done. So here are some helpful hints to help you be a successful deal closer.

The Covid-19 pandemic has made many unusual niches of the American economy more in-demand (such as toilet paper) and others completely undesirable (airline revenues are down 90%). One lucky recipient of positive momentum from the nation’s quarantine has been the rural billboard. Why is that?

One of the most common questions I get from investors is “should I buy or build this or that LED billboard?” They are often shocked when I say “not if you’re trying to make money”. Isn’t LED the future of the billboard industry? Although many would like you to think that, it’s far from the truth in terms of creating wealth with billboard investing.

For decades McDonald’s has ranked at the top of billboard users in the U.S. Day in and day out, they are the benchmark of a strong user of the outdoor advertising medium. But why are they so aggressive with this form of advertising? And what lessons can be learned from this?

What’s better than one billboard? Sometimes the answer is two. “Stacked” billboards – like the one shown above – are a common sight on some sections of highway in the U.S. But why aren’t all signs “stacked”? And what are the things to watch out for with these unusual units?