The Takeaway
Family Roots Conference needed more people in the room for its annual family history event and the free local events around it. Amy English ran two campaigns on five digital billboards in St. George, Utah, carrying performer imagery, event details, and the conference web address. The boards delivered 5,362 blips and 18,243 estimated impressions at an average of $0.05 per play. The Vocal Point event sold out, which Amy attributes in part to the billboard advertising, and registration data showed a quantifiable return.
Why Family Roots Turned to Billboard Advertising
Family Roots Conference is an annual family history conference in St. George, Utah. It teaches and encourages people to connect with their ancestors’ stories. Amy English learned that love of family history from her father, and has helped run the conference since 2015.
Events have a hard deadline. Every seat that is empty on the day is gone for good, and the only fix is telling more people in advance. Amy needed awareness for the paid conference and for the free local events she organizes alongside it.
The conference already advertised online, and used flyers, TV, and radio. What that mix lacked was something visible to everyone driving through St. George in the weeks before the date, which is the job an event billboard does. Most event advertising ideas reach people who already follow you.
How Family Roots Built Its Billboard Campaign
- Boards selected: Five of the boards in St. George, the town where the conference is held.
- Campaigns run: Two campaigns on the same five boards, supporting the conference and the free local events Amy organizes.
- Creative approach: Imagery of the performers or of the family nature of the conference, with the event details and familyrootsconference.com.
- Budget approach: Pay per play at an average of $0.05 per blip, alongside the existing digital, flyer, TV, and radio activity.
Running two campaigns rather than one gave the boards more than a single date to work with. A conference billboard has to carry a name, a reason to care, and a place to register. Spreading that across two campaigns meant Amy was never asking one board to do everything at once. The setup follows how Blip campaigns work for anyone running more than one message.
The Creative
The boards used imagery of the performers or of the family side of the conference, with the event details and the web address familyrootsconference.com.
Faces work well on event boards because they tell a driver what kind of occasion this is before they read a word. The web address then does the practical job of taking them somewhere they can register. If you want help making details readable at speed, the billboard design guidelines are a useful reference.
What Family Roots’ Billboard Campaign Delivered
Across two campaigns on five digital billboards, the ads delivered 5,362 blips. Each blip is one eight-second play, so the conference appeared on boards in St. George more than five thousand times.
Those plays produced 18,243 estimated impressions at an average cost per blip of $0.05. For an annual event that has to reach the same town every year, that repetition is the point.
The Vocal Point event sold out. Amy attributes that in part to the billboard advertising, alongside the digital, flyer, TV, and radio work running at the same time. Additional registration data confirmed a quantifiable return from the Blip campaign.
Amy’s broader read is about how the conference is perceived. The boards helped the event establish a presence and build market awareness she does not believe it would have reached otherwise.
Blip helps you appear professional and larger than life. These billboard campaigns have helped us establish our presence and build market awareness that would likely not have been possible otherwise. Blip helps companies of any size get their message out there so that they can become well-known in different markets without some of the restrictions and frustrations that can happen with other types of broadcast advertising.
Amy English, Founder and Event Coordinator, Family Roots
Why This Billboard Campaign Worked
- It ran where the event happens: Five boards in St. George reached the people most likely to attend, rather than spreading across the state.
- Two campaigns, two jobs: Two campaigns gave Amy room to promote the conference and the events around it without crowding one board.
- Faces first: Performer imagery told drivers what kind of event this was before they read the details.
- It sat inside a wider mix: Digital, flyers, TV, and radio kept running. The boards covered the people those channels missed.
- Registrations made it measurable: Because the boards pointed to a registration page, Amy could look at the numbers rather than guess, which is what made billboard advertising ROI measurable here.
What Conference and Event Organizers Can Take From This Campaign
- Buy the town, not the state: An event billboard works hardest close to the venue, where the people who can actually attend will pass it repeatedly. Blip’s guide to advertise an event on billboards covers the rest.
- Start early enough: Give a conference billboard several weeks before the date so the same commuters see it more than once and have time to register.
- Split your messages: Promote separate parts of your program as separate campaigns so each board carries one clear idea. It is one of the few event advertising ideas that gets easier the more you run.
- Point at a registration page: It is the only way to see what the boards contributed once the event is over, and registrations are the cleanest billboard advertising ROI signal an event has.
Fill Seats at Your Next Event Like Family Roots Did
Choose boards in the town where your event takes place, put the date and a registration address on them, and start early enough for people to see it more than once. Submit your campaign for review and start displaying after approval.
Frequently Asked Questions About Family Roots’s Billboard Campaign
How many billboards did Family Roots use?
Five digital billboards in St. George, Utah, across two separate campaigns. Together they delivered 5,362 blips and 18,243 estimated impressions.
What did Family Roots’ campaign cost per play?
The average cost per blip was $0.05. A blip is one eight-second play, so spend followed how often the ad ran rather than a fixed monthly rate.
What results did Family Roots see?
The Vocal Point event sold out, which Amy English attributes in part to the boards. Registration data confirmed a quantifiable return from the campaign, which ran alongside digital, flyer, TV, and radio advertising.
Is an event billboard effective for a conference?
It works well close to the venue, where the same residents pass the board repeatedly in the weeks before the date. An event billboard builds recognition through repeat exposure, so book it early rather than in the final week.
What should a conference billboard say?
The event name, the date, and where to register. A conference billboard has about three seconds to work with, so leave the speaker list and the agenda for the website.
How do you measure billboard advertising ROI for an event?
Count registrations. Amy English had additional registration data confirming a quantifiable return from the Blip campaign. Billboard advertising ROI is easier to read for events than for most businesses, because the sale has a deadline and a form attached to it.
What event advertising ideas work alongside billboards?
Family Roots kept digital ads, flyers, TV, and radio running. The strongest event advertising ideas stack rather than replace, with the boards covering the people the other channels never reach.
When should an event start advertising on billboards?
Early enough that regular commuters see the board several times before the date. Awareness builds over weeks, so a longer run at a steady daily spend usually beats a short burst at the end.
Do I need a contract to advertise an event on a billboard?
No. There are no contracts and no minimums. You choose the boards, the dates, and the spend, and you can adjust as the event approaches.