Parking Lot and Indoor Advertising

Hope all is well,

I am located in Dallas, TX and am interested in starting a small business offering wall mounted and podium style advertisements approx. 60’’ X 40’’.

My question concerns the appropriate permits, license’s and any other steps I need to take to ensure I am abiding by all state and city laws. The only information I have found regarding permits or license’s is for large billboards next to highways or rural roads. Are there separate permits for the smaller advertisements I am wanting to build? I am wanting to put up the ad space in parking garage’s, in parking lots of shopping centers etc, and also possibly in the lobby of office buildings.

What steps should I take? Tips? Advice?

Thank you in advance for your help,

Robert

Robert,

The normal billboard ordinances that we talk about only apply to things seen from a road. Indoor advertisements are, therefore, not bound by these same ordinances. However, anything that can be seen from outside a building may need a permit, so be sure and ask first before building anything.

Indoor advertising is not new. There are already such advertisments in virtually every office building, shopping mall, parking garage, and airport in the U.S. of any size. You will need a solid business plan, and test and refine your concept, before gambling too much money on it. You should begin by figuring out how these competitors run their businesses, and then seeing if you have a way to improve on it.

I appreciate the response, and the advice to take careful steps in pursuing this business. I have found my target market with property owners that do not yet have advertising on their property.

Do you know which type of city department, or employee position handles the permitting or ordinances for indoor, and smaller sign advertising?

I have not been able to track down anything on the City’s website.

Thank you,

Robert

Robert,

My bet is that the city does not control it. Here’s why: 1) it is not visible to the public outside of the building 2) it is not on or in city property 3) it is not a historic site. I’m thinking that they are going to tell you that it is on private property and, as a result, does not need a permit to exist. But to be safe, I would do the following: 1) apply for a permit 2) they will wrote on the permit that it is not applicable 3) you can keep that in your safe as proof that no permit was required.

When you are saying “smaller sign” advertising – do you mean inside buildings or property, or on city streets? If you mean on streets, then I’m sure you do need permits for that. Most cities regulate any type of signage, whether it’s premise or non-premise.

Hello,Robert,
You meant the LED sign,right?
I have exported many kinds of the LED light box ,LED sign,and others to USA.
And I never heard my client tell me that what premise.need to get before sell.
If you have any question about the advertising sign,manybe you can contact with me,
I will try to offer you some suggestion.

MSN:elainelee-0301@hotmail.com
Email:elainelee-0301@hotmail.com

Hi there…

I am new to this biz and this forum… Seems like a great venue!
I have developed a product I think will work well for this exact type of advertising - Parking Lot and/or Indoor.
It is an innexpensive, weather-proof, stand-alone video projector with on-board video player. This means content can be loaded via USB connection to a host computer, then when powered up - stored videos (up to 2GB) are played sequentially, continuously without user interaction.
Please take a look and tell me what you think…
http://www.AdProjector.com

It looks like a neat product, but I don’t know if it will work in those applications. You’ll have to secure one and do a prototype there and see what happens. If you make it work, and sell the space, then you can expand on it.

Thanks Frank…
Since this is a new product - I’m still not sure of the target audience. I know there are many markets that can probably use them. Parking Garages are ideal due to low light levels.
I’m pre-selling many now for use in Halloween props and displays (who would of thought?)