Billboard Business: What I’ve Learned Over the Years
Home > Outdoor Billboard Articles > Billboard Business
By Frank Rolfe
Many people ask me how I started my own outdoor billboard business. Truth be told, it all started as a resume builder for graduate school applications. Fourteen years later I sold my billboard empire to a public company. Along the way, I learned many things about what works and what doesn’t work in successful billboard deals.
When I got into this business, I thought it would all be about building cookie-cutter signs on the freeways, and then leasing the space. I had no idea how competitive it was. There were sixty billboard companies in my market! The competition was so crazy that you had to have a gimmick in order to survive.
I can’t tell you how many times I hear people ask me if there are still opportunities left. Absolutely! On average, I was able to pull of a deal each month for fifteen straight years in a competitive market. My secret was thinking “outside the box” and coming up with creative game plans.
This is also why I wrote my book, “Big Bucks from Big Signs”. In the book, I will show you the wide range of deals I completed as well as the lessons learned from each deal.
I’m a big history buff; I read mostly biographies and books on warfare. What makes it fun to read these things is to gather the lessons learned by many famous and successful people. By doing so, one can overly what worked for them and apply it to your own life plan.
After you’ve read a lot of these books, you start to see certain patterns emerge that seem to show signs that an idea or action is going to be successful. SImilarly, you’ll see what actions do not appear to be good ideas if you want to win.
I wrote my book to give real-life examples of what seems to be the pattern for success in building a billboard company. All of the case studies are true stories; all of the lessons learned happened to me. I know I’m not the only guy who has made money in this business. However, I know I’m the only one who seems to want to write about it and share this knowledge openly!
My formula will give you a much greater chance for success than any other avenue. I believe that if you study the deals in my book carefully, you may identify a deal in your market that meets the same criteria.
About Frank Rolfe
Frank Rolfe became the one of the largest private billboard operators in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He eventually sold his billboard empire to a public company 14 years later. Rolfe is sharing his expertise to anyone interested in getting involved with outdoor billboards. He is the author of the book, “Big Bucks from Big Signs”, which contains everything you need to know in order to get started.
Copyright secured by Digiprove Billboard for Sale: An Amazing Deal that Anybody Could Have
Home > Outdoor Billboard Articles > Billboard for Sale
By Frank Rolfe
Although I spent my career in the Dallas / Fort Worth, Texas market, I discovered one of the greatest billboard for sale deals in Los Angeles, California.
It all began with an ad we were running that said, “We Buy Billboards”. The caller was a guy who had inherited about twenty-four billboard units in Los Angeles when his brother was killed in a car wreck. This guy had no idea how to run an outdoor billboard business, so he stopped taking calls, paying ground rents, and let all the ads go empty. He saw my ad and was intrigued.
He threw out a price and I accepted it at full price because it sounded low. The important part to me was what he agreed to. He allowed me a six month due diligence period to try and re-paper the ground leases.
When I flew out to Los Angeles, I found that the locations were pretty decent with three of them standouts. The risk management part of my brain went to full speed; I quickly decided to try and sell these three standout locations to a big outdoor billboard company to reduce my investment in the remaining signs. So, I packed up these three signs (after re-negotiating their ground leases) and met with the biggest sign companies in Los Angeles. My hunch was a good one, because the biggest company offered me as much for the three signs as I was paying for the whole operation: $250,000.
What made this an amazingly great deal was the fact that I didn’t have to put one cent into buying these signs. I did a simultaneous closing of the three signs and the entire operation. In one day, I had gone from no signs in California, to a major player in Los Angeles. The best part is that I had not risked one penny.
I found that operating billboards in Los Angeles was extremely difficult. After a few years, I sold the operation off for a $300,000 profit. That amount was not very impressive, except for the fact that I had not put one dollar in the deal.
You’re probably asking why didn’t the big local companies contact the guy directly to buy the signs before he ever called me? After closing, I asked them. They told me they only wanted the three signs that were standouts. They guy would not offer three billboards for sale by themselves. So why didn’t they just buy the whole group and sell off all but the three signs? Chalk that up to the amazing dynamics of big companies (and an opportunity for you and me).
The lessons I learned here were as follows:
- Thinking outside the box is very profitable.
- Buying a group of assets and selling a few off to pay down debt is a great strategy.
- Big outdoor billboard companies can make stupid decisions.
About Frank Rolfe
Frank Rolfe became the one of the largest private billboard operators in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He eventually sold his billboard empire to a public company 14 years later. Rolfe is sharing his expertise to anyone interested in getting involved with outdoor billboards. He is the author of the book, “Big Bucks from Big Signs”, which contains everything you need to know in order to get started.
Copyright secured by Digiprove Outdoor Billboard Teleseminar – FREE
In this free one hour teleseminar where I discuss the outdoor billboard business. During this call, I will share:
- Why this business makes sense
- How to get started
- Some of the best deals I ever did (and how much you can make)
Building Billboards – Better Safe Than Sorry on Setbacks
Home > Outdoor Billboard Articles > Building Billboards
By Frank Rolfe
Don’t get caught on the wrong end when building billboards. Spending just a few extra minutes on laying out the placement of you new billboard sign can save you thousands of dollars and lots of anguish down the road – maybe even save your whole sign!
There are some common misconceptions out there that can be impossible to fix inexpensively once the billboard sign has been cemented into place. You must understand these billboard construction issues to avoid getting off to a terrible start in you outdoor advertising business.
LIGHTS
Most billboards have lights on them. These huge fixtures stick out several feet from the billboard face. When calculating your side setback from the property line, be sure and include the additional feet for the lights in you calculation. You would not believe how many people forget to add in this measurement. As a result, they build a billboard that overhangs the neighboring property from day one. Of course, when the neighbor finds out, several awful options all come together at one time: he may require you to pay him rent, or he may require you to remove the lights. He may also sue you for past rent for the period you have been overhanging his property. And then there’s the problem that by taking you lights off, you may be in violation of your billboard ad lease as well as you loan agreement. Now, wouldn’t it be easier to take the time to figure out how many feet to add on for the lights on the front end?
CATWALKS
Just like the light fixtures, most signs have catwalks. The one that most people forget is the front walk-around catwalk. Look at you engineered drawing – it’s that walk nearest the street. You have got to find out how much additional setback this walk requires and load that into you numbers. Otherwise, you will end up with the same problem shown above, but with one extra terrible wrinkle. Often the front setback relates to right-of-way, and you cannot just pay them off if you get caught. Additionally, like we’re going to cover next, the front setback normally includes power lines, and you will have a disaster if you allow a walk too near the lines – someone might get injured and killed and your screw-up could make you responsible.
POWER LINES
Power lines pose an extra risk for calculating setbacks. The first problem is that different types of power lines require different kinds of setbacks. You need to consult with the power company to find out how powerful the lines are and how much setback is needed. You need to also consult with OSHA to see what their requirements are as they may be more stringent than the electric companies’. And make sure that the setback they tell you is from the actual lines and not the center of the pole – that’s a huge difference. I know people who had a worker get electrocuted on their signs, and their businesses were ruined. Don’t do that to yourself.
PROPERTY LINES
It may be hard for you to accept, but the property owner doesn’t really have a clue as to where their property lines are. If you don’t want to have a problem later, spend some time to truly find them. Look for some tangible signs like a steel stake, or a power pole or some other type of item that normally goes on the right-of-way. Look for a fence line. Better still, get a copy of the survey and find that property line. If you don’t have a real handle on it, then it is worth the money for a surveyor to find the line for you. Spending $250 to find the line is a lot cheaper than $10,000 to move the sign backward.
SOME FINAL THOUGHTS
Since we are talking about setbacks and construction, and I wanted to remind you empathetically to make sure that you are clear of all underground utilities. If you hit a fiber-optic phone line or a major gas line it can bankrupt you. Call DIG Test or One Call, or whatever the underground locater is for you area, and even then ask around at the city to see if there are any other utility lines that aren’t on the radar.
Another point I would like to make is that a billboard is a big thing, and an extra 5’ of setback is not going to hurt it one bit. I always tack on a few feet of setback even after doing all of my homework, just for the heck of it. This is definitely one time when you are better to be safe than sorry.
About Frank Rolfe
Frank Rolfe became the one of the largest private billboard operators in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He eventually sold his billboard empire to a public company 14 years later. Rolfe is sharing his expertise to anyone interested in getting involved with outdoor billboards. He is the author of the book, “Big Bucks from Big Signs”, which contains everything you need to know in order to get started.
Copyright secured by Digiprove Profiting with Outdoor Advertisement – How to Make a Fortune in Small Town Billboards
Home > Outdoor Billboard Articles > Outdoor Advertisement
By Frank Rolfe
Many people think that only big cities can support the launch of a profitable outdoor advertisement business. This is a misconception. Some of the finest, most profitable billboards in the U.S. are located in small towns. As long as you adjust the economics of your billboards to meet the realities of advertiser budgets in towns as small as 1,000 population, then there is no reason you cannot attain financial security and independence as a small town billboard owner/operator.
Assume Lower Advertising Rents
Most small town advertisers do not have huge budgets, since a smaller population means lower sales volume. In smaller markets, advertisers will be unwilling to pay more than $200 to $300 per month for a billboard. Don’t argue with them. Use that budget as your roadmap to success. Once you have established the going rate in that small market, the new target revenue will influence all of your other strategies.
Do Not Allow Ground Rents To Exceed 20% of Revenue
Going back to our example of $200 per month advertising rents, then you cannot pay more than $40 per month in ground rent, which equals about $500 per year. While that may sound embarrassing to a big city dweller, remember that the property owner in a small town pays greatly reduced costs as well, such as property tax. So $500, in relative terms, may mean as much to that property owner as $5,000 would in the city.
Build Only What The Economics Dictates
In some small towns, the income and expense numbers will limit you to a wooden sign that’s 8’ x 24’ in size (six sheets of plywood across on three wooden telephone poles). There is nothing wrong with that. Hopefully, the economics will allow for the billboard construction of 12’ x 24’ “30 sheet” structures – which are a standardized size of the large billboard companies. Never build a sign structure that does not cash flow based on the lower ad revenues. Sometimes, development never catches up and the ad rents may remain at those levels for decades.
Remember That You Can’t Burn Any Bridges
Small towns have fewer advertisers than big cities. So you cannot afford to alienate anyone. Listen to what advertisers have to say, and always remain pleasant and thoughtful. If they turn you down today, that does not mean they’ll do so tomorrow. If there are 50 advertisers in your town, then you need all of them as potential customers. And when you do get one up on the sign, be sure to make sure the lights are working and that they are 100% happy. Remember about small town gossip. You want your reviews to always be favorable.
Like All Outdoor, It’s All In Volume
If you assume that one double-sided structure at $200 per month ad rents yields $3,000 per year of net income, then 30 of them would earn you around $100,000 per year. I know of a man who started building billboards in his retirement over in rural Illinois. He now has 100 of them, which net him around $300,000 per year in income. He told me that it was funny that he slaved away at a job he hated his entire life, and then struck it rich after he retired, doing something he enjoyed.
If you only had 10 double-sided signs, in this example, that would be $30,000 per year to you. Think of how $30,000 per year could affect your life, and improve your family’s financial security.
Use Big City Tricks To Rent Signs
In the big city, where signs cost much more, advertisers have labored over creative ideas to rent them in recessions. Use that knowledge in your small town. For example, find out which stores in town have access to matching “co-operative” dollars. For example, many western wear stores have access to up to 50% of the sign cost if they display the logos of such manufacturers as Levi and Stetson. And the same is true of grocery stores, sporting goods, and many other categories.
Another trick is to “combo” a sign – share it between two or three advertisers. Let’s say that there are three stores in a strip shopping center. None can afford even $200 per month by themselves. So why not combine them into one ad and pool their money. You’d promote the exit and location, and they split the sign up three ways.
Conclusion
Many billboard investors have no idea of the success that can be found in small town America. If you know what you are doing, and focus on translating the different economic realities to your billboard operation, you can do quite well in small town USA. Just ask Sam Walton. That’s where Wal-Mart began and flourished, long before it moved into urban areas. Don’t turn up your nose to small towns – you’ll be passing up a golden opportunity.
About Frank Rolfe
Frank Rolfe became the one of the largest private billboard operators in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He eventually sold his billboard empire to a public company 14 years later. Rolfe is sharing his expertise to anyone interested in getting involved with outdoor billboards. He is the author of the book, “Big Bucks from Big Signs”, which contains everything you need to know in order to get started.
The Secrets of Winning Outdoor Billboard Artwork
Home > Outdoor Billboard Articles > Outdoor Billboard Artwork
By Frank Rolfe
Great outdoor billboard artwork is a combination of simple concepts steeped in decades of research. As long as you follow these basic, time-proven steps, you will always deliver your client an outdoor billboard that is attractive and effective. And if you fail to utilize this outdoor billboard advertising information, your client’s billboard may be illegible and ineffective.
Keep It Simple
You should not put more than a few words on a billboard. Why? Two reasons. First, you can’t grasp more than a few words while reading and driving at 55 mph. Secondly, the size of the words is very important – you want to keep the main copy at approximately 36” character height – so the fewer the words, the larger the type and the better the visibility. To make this happen, you have to distill the advertiser’s message down to its simplest form. This is one of your key goals in creating great artwork – what is the key message and how can you express it in the fewest possible words?
Legible Typestyles
There are a lot of typestyles out there – and most of them should never be used on a billboard. The typestyles you use must be easy to read. Those include simple styles such as times roman and universe. Always use styles that have very bold, thick strokes – they are easier to read at far distances. Most of the highly stylized typestyles that are popular in print advertising are completely inappropriate in billboards, although many graphic designers refuse to acknowledge this. If the viewer can’t read your copy, what it the point of the billboard?
High Contrast
The Outdoor Advertising Association of America in 1928, published their findings of exhaustive research into what color combinations are the most legible on a billboard. The best colors, in order of success, more maximum contrast are
- Black on yellow
- Black on white
- Yellow on black
- White on black
- Blue on white
- White on blue
- White on green
- Green on white
- Red on white
10. White on red
When the words and background on a billboard have little contrast, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to read the message. And it you cannot read the message, the ad is a total waste.
Graphic Must Convey
If you are going to put a picture in the ad, make sure that it compliments and helps tell the story. For example, a restaurant might want to show a plate of appetizing food as the graphic. The graphic should help sell the product or service, and make the ad memorable enough that you can remember the name of the company.
Test and Re-test
Once you have a design that meets these criteria, you have to test it on some sample consumers to see if it works. These may be, in the simplest form, some of your co-workers. Tape the finished artwork to a distant wall, and then have the guinea pig walk toward the wall and tell you when they can see it clearly and what it means (try as best as you can to replicate the distance and size that the billboard will be seen). Be sure to use color artwork, so you don’t cheat with the simple, high-contrast black and white version. A winning piece of art will have good visibility at a distance so far that most of the copy is illegible – yet just the headline grabs the viewer’s attention and makes them want to read the balance of the ad.
Conclusion
There is no magic to producing great billboard ad copy. In fact, when you get away from the simple, time-proven roots of great copy is when you fail in your mission. You may be tempted to stray from these logical benchmarks to create “breakthrough” advertising – but instead all you will create is an embarrassment. Due to the difficulty in reading an ad at 55 mph from 1,000’, a lot of the creative things that work in print ads just don’t apply here.
So if you want to be known for having happy customers with ads that really sell, you need to stick to the points outlined above.
About Frank Rolfe
Frank Rolfe became the one of the largest private billboard operators in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He eventually sold his billboard empire to a public company 14 years later. Rolfe is sharing his expertise to anyone interested in getting involved with outdoor billboards. He is the author of the book, “Big Bucks from Big Signs”, which teaches you the secrets of outdoor billboard advertising and how to build a successful billboard business.
Billboard Rent – Make Money with Billboards that Nobody Wants
Home > Outdoor Billboard Articles > Billboard Rent
By Frank Rolfe
Do you have an outdoor billboard that has been vacant forever? Maybe you need to change your outdoor advertising marketing strategy to get billboard rent. After all, everyone would be interested if you gave the space away for free, right? Of course they would! However, you have a resource that everyone needs.
So, why was the billboard undesirable in the first place? The answer is the pricing strategy–not the billboard itself. I assure you the demand is there if a few tweaks are made. Once these changes are made, you’ll be able to find the advertiser that will pay you more than any other advertiser for that sign.
You’re probably asking yourself, “How?” In order to find the advertiser that wants your billboard, you have to focus on three primary objectives: 1) promote the space effectively; 2) seek out and prioritize potential advertisers; 3) close the deal.
Promote, Promote, Promote
If you sign is vacant, you need to place the following message on your sign right away: “FOR RENT (XXX) XXX-XXXX”. This message should be printed in large typeface and can be in the form of a vinyl or paint job of the entire billboard face. Your message will now be seen thousands of times per day and you have effectively used your own billboard to rent itself.
Finding and Prioritizing Potential Advertisers
My technique for seeking out potential advertisers starts with making a list. In fact, I don’t just create one list; I create three. The first list is all of the advertisers who are on another billboard in the area. These are pre-qualified prospects and my mission here is to call each one. My goal is to find out if they would be interested in my billboard location. After all, these prospects may want to expand their advertising reach. Or, they may want to move from the competitor’s billboard after their lease expires.
The second list is comprised of individuals who call you from either your “for rent” sign or the direct mail campaign. Since these prospects are contacting you based on your marketing message, they are pre-qualified because they have some form of interest.
The third list is created based on companies that seem most likely to want to advertise on the sign, based on your guessing of who they would be. You can buy a prepared list, or you can type it yourself from the yellow pages.
Closing the Sale
It is now time to think like an auctioneer. Your goal here is to get the highest price and the longest term on the lease. Call everyone on all three lists and qualify the prospects by determining their interest level. You can also use this script, “I’ve got a billboard that I know would work for your business, and I know you’d take it if it was free. I can’t rent it for free, but what would it take for you to be interested in renting it?” Be confident and tell yourself that someone is going to rent this billboard. You just have to find them.
Once you get a bid, immediately set up a meeting to sign the lease agreement, as long as it is within reason. Don’t wait a long time to follow up and close the deal with your customer, or they may change their mind.
Some Final Thoughts
By using techniques from my own playbook, you will start to get bids. Take the best offer and don’t hold out for a higher offer. The longer a billboard remains vacant, the greater the opportunity cost to your billboard business.
About Frank Rolfe
Frank Rolfe became the one of the largest private billboard operators in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He eventually sold his billboard empire to a public company 14 years later. Rolfe is sharing his expertise to anyone interested in getting involved with outdoor billboards. He is the author of the book, “Big Bucks from Big Signs”, which teaches you how to rent a billboard and build a successful billboard business.
Billboard Construction – The Truth About Monopole Foundations
Home > Outdoor Billboard Articles > Billboard Construction
By Frank Rolfe
In billboard construction, there is nothing scarier than digging the monopole foundation for your first outdoor billboard sign. An augur pulls up and starts drilling a hole in the earth about five feet in diameter, and you have no idea what’s down there. Here are some ideas on what you’ll hit, and what it may mean.
Utility Lines
I’m hoping that you never forget to call to get all underground utilities located. Hitting a utility can be a very expensive problem. Or, in the case of fiber-optic phone cable, it can easily bankrupt even a moderate size company. Before you ever dig, speak with the call center for underground utilities in your market, as well as city hall to see if there are any utility.
I’m sorry to say that I have hit almost every utility over the years except fiber-optic cable and natural gas. Even if you get the utilities marked by the utility company, they often miss the target and you can still hit them while drilling. You often also hit utility lines that are really abandoned, but they scare you to death until you realized they are de-activated.
It’s always a good idea to stand by the edge of the hole you are drilling and look down it each time the augur pulls the drill out to throw the dirt off. You will see any utility line you have hit, or any water or other item gushing into the hole. Not that you can do much about it, but it makes you feel good when you’ve reached the bottom and not hit anything. If you are going to hit a utility line, except for a main transmission line, you will hit it in the first six feet or so. Since most monopole foundations require drilling to 15 feet or so, the pressure is off after about 1/3 of the way down.
If you hit a utility line, do not panic. First determine if the line is still an active line. Over the years, there have been millions of lines laid that have been replaced with newer, bigger ones. A 1930s water line has probably been replaced with a new, bigger one in the 1970s. If you hit a line and it is bone dry, it’s a good bet that it is no longer in service. If you hit a utility line and stuff starts pouring out, then stop digging and call the utility company. If you hit anything but fiber optic phone cable, then you will survive the hit, even though you are going to get yelled at. As long as you had the utilities mark their lines, and you do not dig where they marked, you should be O.K. on liability.
There are several utility lines that can cause extreme damage or death if you hit them, and you must be extra careful when digging near them. The first is natural gas. If you hit a natural gas line, it is very likely that it will kill the guy digging the hole, and the resulting fireball may burn down half the block. If you see gas meters in a line, and you are digging in that straight line between meters, then you need to double check your line locate. The same is true with underground electricity. If there is any question in your mind that you are clear, then don’t dig until you are 100% sure. Also look for small warning signs that may be on poles in the vicinity that you are digging that say “warning –underground gas line”. Even though you may be held innocent in the trial because you had the utilities marked, causing a major explosion and fire will tie you up in court for years, and certainly put an end to your billboard project.
Water
Even if you don’t hit a water line, your hole may start filling with water during, or after, the digging has commenced. This can be the result of high levels of water in the soil, or an underground aquifer. Most drilling companies can handle this problem – but at an extra, significant cost. They put a steel pipe down the hole as they dig it, a process called “casing” the hole. This keeps the sides of the hole from collapsing. The water itself will not harm the drilling machine. But you can’t drill in mud unless there is pressure on the sides to contain it.
In minor cases of water, a simple solution is to order custom-crete, as opposed to concrete, to fill the hole after you put the sign’s column in. You can order this dry, and the water in the hole mixes with the concrete and soaks it up. This process works really well in the right application, but requires an experienced concrete guy to monitor the mix and the amount of water. When you consider the fact that they build bridge piers under water, you can see that your project is not that big a challenge.
Occasionally, the sides of the hole will collapse near the bottom of the hole, due to water seeping in. This normally has no negative impact on the foundation, as long as the depth does not change. You just pour the concrete anyway. Effectively, you have a bigger foundation now, shaped like a bell. Some consider this a better foundation, since you can’t really ever pull it out of the ground.
Rock
Rock is very scary, because you can feel the cost of construction skyrocket when rock is struck while digging. Again, don’t panic until you get the facts together. Sometimes, the “rock” is an old concrete slab, which can be knocked out in a few minutes with a jack-hammer. Other times, the rock is a boulder, which can be pulled out. And some rock is fairly soft, like limestone, and digging, while slower, can continue along just fine (although they are still going to bill you extra for it). The worst rock to hit is just that – solid rock. It requires a special rock cutting blade on the augur, and very time-consuming methods of drilling tiny coring holes, and then expanding them. How much more will it add to your project? Many thousands of dollars. It all depends on how far down you got before you hit rock, and how far you have to dig to hit bottom.
If you are terribly concerned with the possibility of rock, you can ask neighbors who have built buildings and fences if they hit any. Or you can have a soil sample done to determine if there is rock and, if so, how deep it is under the surface. These test are expensive, so I would consider them a last resort, unless the economics of the sign are so marginal that you would not want to build it if rock is present.
Conclusion
Digging a hole is filled with uncertainty. But as long as you have had all the utility lines located, there is not much more you can proactively do except to stay close by and watch. If you see any evidence of utilities being present, even if you had a line locate performed, hold up on drilling until you get a second opinion. Unless you are scrambling to build the sign before the permit runs out, there is no reason you can’t wait one more day.
And if you hit anything, don’t panic (with the exception of fiber-optic phone cable), until you get the facts. There is nothing out there that has not been hit before, and there are a million quick fixes to every eventuality.
About Frank Rolfe
Frank Rolfe became the one of the largest private billboard operators in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He eventually sold his billboard empire to a public company 14 years later. Rolfe is sharing his expertise to anyone interested in getting involved with outdoor billboards. He is the author of the book, “Big Bucks from Big Signs”, which contains everything you need to know in order to get started.
