The Watchfire digital billboard replaces Burkett’s previous trivision billboard, which was in the same location. 

“Our trivision billboard had a year-long waiting list of companies who wanted to advertise on the billboard,” said Beau Burkett, president of Burkett Media.  “With that many customers waiting to advertise, along with the positive feedback we received from clients and advertising agencies, I knew a digital billboard would work well at this location.”

Burkett pre-leased three of his six available advertising slots on the digital billboard before it was installed March 1, 2010.  The billboard now is completely leased through the next 12 months and Burkett has a waiting list of advertisers.  Current advertisers include a hospital, restaurants, a beverage company, a national homebuilder and bank. 

Burkett selected Watchfire for his first digital billboard because the company provides a combination of quality manufacturing and superior customer service.

“With a digital billboard, you can’t afford for the board to be down, so quality manufacturing and uptime are important, and so is customer service,” said Burkett.  “Watchfire’s customer service has been flawless.  They even flew down a technician to help me with something that probably could have been handled on the phone to ensure there were no issues.  That’s how much they care.  I would definitely recommend Watchfire to anyone considering a digital billboard.”

The Killeen community also loves the digital billboard. “We haven’t gotten any negative calls about our Watchfire board.  People are impressed with how good it looks.  This is a booming market and the city and citizens are excited to have an LED board in their market.”

Because of his success, Burkett has a second digital billboard ordered from Watchfire.  The 10′x36′ billboard should be installed at the beginning of June.

With its True-16mm, True-19mm and new E-16mm, Watchfire has an entire line of digital billboard products to suit almost any need.  All Watchfire Digital Outdoor billboards produce 281 trillion colors and utilize state-of-the-art whole sign color calibration.  Watchfire is the only manufacturer that fully encapsulates its LED module in a thick bed of silicone gel, enabling the modules to operate reliably even in the harshest conditions.  Durability is further enhanced by Watchfire’s streamlined engineering, which focuses on driving down the number of parts and connections, improving projected reliability.  All Watchfire boards feature lightweight extruded aluminum cabinetry that complies with IBC 2006 standards and allows for low cost, fast installation and streamlined maintenance.  Watchfire’s warranty, lead-times, customer support, and software are considered to be the best in the industry.

For a free video that shows how Watchfire Digital Outdoor installs the best-looking, most durable digital billboards in the industry, go to www.watchfiredigitaloutdoor.com/burkett.

About Watchfire Digital Outdoor
Watchfire Digital Outdoor engineers and manufactures the best looking and most durable digital billboards available anywhere.  The company is the digital billboard division of Watchfire by Time-O-Matic, which has been manufacturing outdoor electric signs for more than 75 years, has been manufacturing LED signs for 12 years, and has more than 30,000 outdoor LED signs in daily operation throughout North America.  Watchfire Digital Outdoor is located in Danville, Ill. with marketing and sales operations in Indianapolis, Ind.  For more information, go to http://www.watchfiredigitaloutdoor.com.

What is bigger than a bread box, made out of wood, and creates cash flow? The answer is a wooden outdoor billboard sign. No other pile of wood can create up to a 100% return on investment annually.

So how does it work? Here’s the basic steps to building a wooden billboard.

Find a legal billboard location

What makes one location legal and another illegal to build a billboard? The answer is the Highway Beautification Act, originating from Ladybird Johnson in the 1970s. Prior to the establishment of this act, you could put a billboard anywhere you want in the U.S. without any permits.

The Beautification Act regulates the spacing between signs, as well as the maximum height, size and other features. It also requires signs to be in certain zonings. And on top of that, most cities have their own ordinances on signs that give it even more specification. The first job is to learn all these rules and how to work around them.

Sign a ground lease with the landowner

Once you have found a legal location, it’s time to contact the person that owns the land and see if you can enter into a lease to build the billboard and pay them rent. Typically, the amount you pay is around 20% of the gross revenue of the sign.

You’ll need a standard billboard ground lease document, and be able to identify where to put the sign and how you’ll access it through the property.

Get the permit

When you have the fully executed ground lease in hand, you’ll need to get the construction permits. In some areas you have to get both a state and city permit, and in some areas just a state or city permit. It’s the scarcity of the permits that creates the value.

Build the sign

A 10′ x 24′ wooden billboard costs about $4,000 to $6,000 to build, depending on who does the work. These signs are traditionally non-lighted, so there really is no cost except the sign itself.

Rent the advertising space

The final step is to rent the advertising space. Wooden signs such as these normally rent for about $2,000 per year per side. Advertisers are normally local in nature, and would include restaurants, gas stations, stores, tourist attractions, lawyers, doctors and car dealers.

How the numbers work

The numbers on a wooden billboard are pretty easy to calculate. In most markets, these type of signs rent for $2,000 per year per advertising face. The expenses are very slight. There is the ground rent to the land owner – the biggest of the line items – at 25% of the revenue – although this is normally in the form of a fixed annual amount of, say, $500 per year. There are no lights so there is no electricity charge. Repairs are slight or non-existent. You have to install the vinyl copy on the sign at a cost of around $200.

So here’s how it looks in most markets. The revenue is $4,000 per year ($2,000 per side with two sides) and the expenses are $1,000 – so the net income is $3,000. If you built the sign for $4,000, then your return on investment is 75% per year. Rent it for a little more, or build it for a little less, and your return is 100% per year.

The key is volume

So if that is how wooden billboards work, then let’s say you build more than one. Then what? Well, if you built ten billboards, you would have invested $40,000 and earn $30,000 per year on your investment. If you invested in CDs at 2%, that same $40,000 would earn you $800 per year.

And the upside unlimited

There are individuals in the U.S. that own hundreds of these units. I know one individual in Illinois that has 100 of them. That’s a $300,000 per year income. Sure, it took him years to build it up, but it takes decades to build up your IRA or savings, and they don’t provide even 1/10^th of that amount.

Conclusion

There’s lot of use for lumber. You can build a tree house. You can build a doghouse. But nothing you can do with that lumber is more profitable than building a billboard. Shouldn’t you investigate that as an alternative investment?

Digital billboards are unique to the outdoor advertising industry and deserve creative messages that capitalize on qualities found only in LED boards. With a palette of trillions of colors, images on digital billboards can appear to jump off the board, and other design elements offer a richness, timeliness and flexibility not available on vinyl billboards.

So, when I see a traditional billboard ad replicated on a digital billboard, it makes me feel a little sad. The advertiser is missing out on the many benefits that make digital billboards such an effective medium.

In my quest to improve advertising displays on digital billboards, I’ve put together some tips to help advertisers and digital billboard operators create advertising messages appropriate for digital billboards, and help to move audiences to take action.

• Target customers with relevant and timely ads. The day part capability of digital billboards should be used to target customers with relevant messages. For example, place an ad for breakfast sandwiches during the morning drive time and dinner specials during the evening rush hour.

• Take advantage of digital’s color spectrum. Use color gradients and shading to create the illusion of dimension so the ad literally pops off the board. Utilize photos to grab the attention of viewers.

• Use multiple ads to tell a story. For example, a restaurant can run one ad message with name and location and another ad with a lunch special.

• Keep content fresh. Digital billboards allow you to change messages instantly, so use specific sales and price points on ads because they drive immediate traffic and produce a significant ROI.

• Stick with one idea per ad. Don’t overcrowd an ad by trying to include too much information. Decide on one main message for your ad: an offer, event, sale, etc. Don’t overcrowd your ad with logos, photos and contact points.

• Integrate outdoor with other media. Use timely, short-term promotions that tie into a broader campaign. For example, a weekend-only automotive price promotion can be pre-scheduled to go up on a Friday and down on Monday, and can tie in with TV and newspaper advertising.

• Use digital outdoor to test. Since digital creative can be changed easily and quickly, use it to test ad concepts, messages, colors and images. In addition, advertisers can test lunch menus, auto rebates, and other offers. Finally, advertisers can test dayparting and frequency to come up with the best combination.

More ideas are available in a free design guide. Design to Win: How to Get the Most From Your Outdoor Digital Design is available at http://watchfiredigitaloutdoor.com/BWOffer

Darrin Friskney is director of Watchfire Digital Outdoor. He can be reached at darrin.friskney@watchfiresigns.com or at 866-949-9282.