Little did Andrea Lieberman know that her son’s spontaneous idea of marketing their family’s newly inherited condominium complex would develop into a business model too unique to pass up.

In this week’s Small Business Spotlight, Andrea Lieberman, Founder & President of Biking Billboards, will take us through the story behind her bicycle billboard advertising business, how they get your message rolling, and what’s in store for the future.

The Beginning of Biking Billboards

It all started in 2009, during the economic downturn, when Andrea and her family inherited some real estate that they didn’t know how to handle. She was at a loss for how to successfully market the new condominium building to a middle-aged target market.

However, that all changed when she and her family were driving by Chateau Ste. Michelle before one of its concerts. Right in front of them were tons of people that fit their condominium’s demographic perfectly. Without skipping a beat, her son had the bright idea of attaching the sandwich boards advertising the condo complex to his bicycle and riding it amongst the crowd of people.

Their sales traffic increased 3x for that month! Andrea even says that one of the passerby’s wanted to hire her son to do the same thing for his business.

And thus, a business model was born! They operated the early ‘Biking Billboards’ out of their garage for two years – originally being run by Andrea’s son, who mainly thought of it as something that would look good on his resume for college. As the business began to grow, her son was becoming busier with SAT’s and college applications. Andrea decided to take over the main duties and run the execution of the business.

In 2012, Biking Billboards entered University of Washington’s Foster School of Business competition where they placed third with a $5,000 prize. Over one hundred different teams entered, making for a stiff competition. Other than leaving with some cash in their pockets, Andrea says that the competition provided a great amount of networking opportunities. Talking first hand to venture capitalists and the like gave Biking Billboards bright ideas for the future.

A Business Model That Can’t be Beat

When a client walks through Biking Billboards’ doors, the first thing at hand is to pinpoint their marketing goals.

“We represent a very unique way of engaging with people and advertising. If we can pinpoint exactly who (the clients) want to talk to and what (the clients) want the message to be, than our goal is to get in front of as many people in their target market as possible” says Andrea.

At Biking Billboards they have a handful of employees who are “brand ambassadors”. These are the people who are out on the field riding bikes and engaging with a client’s target market. This position requires a certain kind of person.

“There is a rigorous interview process. We aim to hire college aged kids or recent grads who have very flexible schedules, are outgoing, and are totally willing to go out in front of a bunch of strangers on bicycles and talk to them” says Andrea.

The client, either through a face-to-face meeting or training deck, trains brand ambassadors on the messaging they need to deliver to potential customers.

“We have passionate brand ambassadors who deliver the message as if they own the company,” states Andrea.

On a quarterly basis, Biking Billboards hires Jet City Improv to come in and teach tools and tricks beneficial to the brand ambassadors. According to Andrea, the exercises and skills that are taught have strengthened brand ambassadors’ engagement immensely.

Biking into the Future

So far Biking Billboards has already expanded its services to Portland and opened a new “office” in San Francisco. They currently travel all over the state of Washington, and have done pop ups in Utah and at the SXSW convention in Austin, TX.

Long term, it has been recommended to Andrea to start a franchise. But she says franchising could decrease the level of quality since she doesn’t know first hand who handles the operations. She is looking at doing a licensing model because they will have full control of whom they license. Regardless, they would like to expand Biking Billboards services all over the country one day.

It’s no wonder 70% of Biking Billboards clients return, this unique business model delivers results and provides an unheard of way to reach customers. Andrea says one of the best parts about running the business is seeing clients take a chance on Biking Billboards and trusting them with their brand.

If you are interested in Biking Billboards services, check them out at www.bikingbillboards.com.

You can find them on Facebook & Twitter! 

 

Here's a couple pictures from when we used Biking Billboards at the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce Annual Business Tradeshow: