is outdoor advertising only for large corporations?

bus ads to digital screens

Outdoor advertising includes everything a consumer encounters away from home. From bus adverts, digital screens in prime locations such as the iconic London Underground, to roadside billboards, Street Hubs, kiosks, trams and airports.

Article Summary
Outdoor advertising isn’t just for large corporations—it’s a powerful tool for SMEs too. By choosing the right local formats (like billboards, transit, and street furniture), small businesses can target their communities with memorable, trustworthy messaging. Consistent presence builds recall and credibility in ways digital alone can’t match. Global helps make outdoor advertising accessible, strategic, and impactful—so local brands can shine as brightly as national ones.

Outdoor advertising is a silent, ever-present source of brand promotion. But it’s only for big companies with big pockets, right?

One common misconception is that if you want to grow your business and are not a huge corporate or household name, then Google, Facebook and other digital advertising platforms are your only marketing choices. Billboards or bus ad campaigns always mean huge budgets, design agencies, creatives, high costs and headaches, right? Wrong.

familiar faces

If you look at many billboards and bus adverts, you will see brands and companies you are familiar with. The perception is that if big brands use it, it must be expensive and out of reach for smaller, local businesses.

Yes larger companies have larger budgets, so you are more likely to see their adverts on certain formats in certain locations – like Manchester’s Digital Wonderwall or the West London towers straddling the Hammersmith flyover. Some outdoor advertising formats and locations are intended to give the big wow factor.

But I’m sure you don’t have to travel far in your local area to see an outdoor advert. They could be regulars on your daily commute, taking the kids to school or on the way to your weekly shop.

Local positions for local brands.

large scale effectiveness

The reality is that Outdoor advertising can be equally as effective on a local scale to target a local audience.

Because brand fame is all relative. Think of the companies local to you and how many have made a name for themselves in your town or city. By getting your brand across local buses, billboards, trams, etc, you can generate the same local WOW factor.

At Global we’re experts in creating local heroes. And with 84% reach across the UK, our outdoor estate reaches in to the heart of communities across the UK.

So give us a call today to discuss how we can help your brand.

Brighter marketing starts here!

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