Even a Hospital Billboard Can Be Engaging

Posted by: Bryan Waldon Pope in Untagged  on Feb 1, 2010  

I was driving just north of Miami last week when I saw something interesting--a billboard for a hospital with a live, digital readout of the current wait time in their ER. While I can't imagine anyone making a decision to go to an ER in a moment of need based on a billboard they happen to see, I do see great value in this approach.

As long as the billboard is truly working in real time and doesn't always say there is a 15 minute wait, as it did that morning (and assuming the wait time is always relatively short), this message is much more powerful that simply having a billboard that says, "Short wait times," or something similar. The message is developed in the minds of the billboard's readers over time so when they do have an emergency, this hospital is the only place to consider going.

What if a restaurant billboard had the same thing right before the offramp to which it is located? What about a mortgage broker who has the real-time average timeframe of mortgages completed that month, or a real estate agent who marks how many homes she has sold that quarter? The opportunities are limitless. How can this idea apply to your business?

Here's to your marketing success!

Bryan Waldon Pope

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Hospital Billboard - DRA
written by David thompson, February 01, 2010
As I learned from you at the Entrepreneur\'s forum, last year at UVU, the billboard is DRA (delayed response advertising), patterning the mind for a future purchase. If I remember correctly the DRA works when you have time & money. I don\'t suppose there is a great need for IRA in the context of an emergency room?
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A couple of thoughts, David
written by Bryan Waldon Pope, February 01, 2010
You bring up some good points, David. Billboards have traditionally been delayed response advertising vehicles, although with the new electronic boards, I\'d like to see some immediate response applications. I\'m sure it\'s been done. I\'ll be looking into that. Thanks for the mind prompt.

As for immediate response advertising with an emergency room, you\'re right; the patient has already made up his/her mind where to go in advance, or will go where he/she is taken. That\'s the beauty of the advance advertising.

You bring up another point that bears some consideration. You mentioned that DRA works when one has TIME & MONEY. The time factor is naturally there (thus the \"delayed\" in DRA). But I wonder about the money part. What are some of the ways to effectively engage in DRA w/o money (or with very little)?

You\'ve got a great mind and I appreciate your input and thoughts. You always keep me thinking!

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