Information Directly From the SBA Simple Facts About EMC's
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Is an electronic message center a cost-effective
advertising medium? |
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| Yes. Businesses often select their advertising medium,
and messages, based upon the cost per thousand exposures of their
message to the public. On this basis, no other form of advertising
comes close to matching the efficiency and cost-effectiveness,
dollar for dollar, of an electronic message display. Compare the
figures below: |
Newspaper advertising - the cost on average is about $7.39 for
1000 exposures within a 10-mile radius of the business location. |
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Television advertising - The cost on average is approximately
$6.26 per 1000 exposures. |
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Radio advertising - The cost is about $5.47 per 1000 exposures.
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New LED electronic message center display - The cost is less
than $0.15 per 1000 exposures. How? Assume, for example, that
you spend $30,000.00 on this type of system, and that its useful
life is about ten years. The amortized daily cost of the message
center would equal about $2.74. Add to this the daily cost of
electricity for this new LED unit (approximately $0.20), thus
giving your business a daily message center expense total of $8.82.
With a daily traffic count of 20,000 vehicles passing your business,
you would have a cost of less than $0.45 per thousand exposures
(counting drivers only)! |
| Best of all, with an electronic message center,
a business does not have to worry about missing its target audience,
becoming "yesterday's news," or facing expensive production
costs for changing its message, as happens frequently with the
other forms of advertising mentioned. |
With an electronic variable message display:
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The business owns the form of advertising. |
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The advertising works for the business 24 hours a day, 365 days
a year . |
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The sign acts as the "salesman on the street" attracting
customers into the business. |
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The advertising speaks directly to the potential customers as
they drive past the business location, and the EMC makes the business
a landmark in its community. |
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Customers will remember what type of business you are and where
you are located. |
| Finally, many message center manufacturers provide leasing programs,
which include service and maintenance, thereby providing another
option for covering the cost of usage. |
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How will purchasing an electronic message
center benefit my business? |
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For businesses that choose to enhance their signage
with an electronic message display, the owners typically see an
increase in business of 15% to 150%. Using the smaller
number, consider the following example:
A small business generating $1,000.00 a day in revenue adds an
electronic message center. The business soon increases by 15%,
adding another $150 per day in total revenue. That translates
into an additional $1,050.00 a week in revenue, or $54,600.00
per year.
It has been said that in retailing, "the last dollars are
the best dollars," meaning that each additional customer
adds a greater marginal percentage to the business's bottom line
profit. In the foregoing example, we can only speculate upon the
actual impact upon profit, but assuming that the business was
at or above its "break-even" point before adding the
electronic message center, the addition of $54,600.00 per year
in revenue would clearly add to the business's profit.
Keep in mind that with this example, the investment in the electronic
message center unit would likely be about one-third of the additional
revenue generated in the first year of its operation alone. |
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