Roadside Advertising in a Digital Age

Abstract

Roadside Advertising in a Digital Age is a workshop offered by the Community Economics team that focuses on helping small business and non-profit organizations increase their online visibility by utilizing digital map tools. The workshop is a two-hour in person session that is conducted in a computer lab. Participants learn about how digital map and Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies are changing advertising by opening new opportunities to target customers. Participants are also introduced to the term “Point of Interest” (POI) that is used to describe a location on a digital map. Participants are then asked to immediately interact with the digital map system by assessing their POI on the major map sites, documenting inaccuracies, and submitting changes to the major data providers. The workshop also addresses strategies that can be used to maximize the freely digital mapping tools for small business and non-profits. The initial evaluations that measure participant knowledge gains show consist self reported increases in knowledge as a result of the workshop. The most common action planned as a result of the workshop was to correct existing information about by a POI. The most recent workshops being conducted support a similar finding for knowledge gains and planned actions.