Do elevator advertisements need to be submitted on a monthly basis? Scientific decision-making method for unlocking cycle selection

Mr. Wang, our new product will be launched next month. Is investing in elevator advertising for one month enough
Manager Li, the other party said that investing in a three-month unit price is more cost-effective, but our budget is only enough for one month. What should we do
As the most common community-based media, elevator advertising has become a marketing choice for many local brands and startups due to its forced reach and high-frequency exposure. But when it comes to actual execution, the question of "Should elevator advertising be placed on a monthly basis?" often becomes the first obstacle in decision-making regarding the placement period.
The answer is: there is no absolute yes or no, only the strategy that best suits your current goal. Blindly choosing short cycles may lead to unsatisfactory results, while hastily signing long cycles may also result in budget waste. This article will systematically break down the underlying logic of elevator advertising cycle selection, allowing you to bid farewell to blindness and make wise business decisions.

1、 Why is "advertising cycle" the core lifeline of elevator advertising?
Before discussing the specific number of months, it is necessary to understand the basic principles of elevator advertising effectiveness - "repetition effect" and "saturation attack".
Elevators are a typical enclosed, low-frequency (limited daily rides), but stable contact environment. A resident may come into contact with advertisements 2-4 times a day. The "pure contact effect" in advertising psychology suggests that repeated exposure to a certain stimulus can increase people's favorability towards it. However, this process of becoming familiar with trust takes time.
One month of investment: The advertisement may have just established a preliminary brand awareness among community users, from "unfamiliar" to "familiar", but trust and impulse to consume have not been fully established, and the advertisement abruptly stops.
Investing for more than 3 months: Users have gone through a process from "familiarity" to "memory", then to "interest" and even "active inquiry", and brand information has effectively penetrated their minds.
Therefore, choosing a cycle is essentially choosing how deep the imprint you want to leave in the target audience's mind.
2、 Three Step Decision Making Method: Scientific Answer to "Should I Vote Monthly"
Don't make decisions based solely on intuition or unit price. Please follow the following three steps to find your optimal solution.
Step 1: Clarify your core marketing objectives (which are the primary determining factor)
Please compare your goals and review the suggested cycle:
Goal: Short term promotion, quick acquisition of new customers (such as new store openings, limited time discounts)
Suggested cycle: 1-2 months.
Analysis: The goal is clear and timely, requiring concentrated firepower to ignite the volume in a short period of time and attract surrounding customers. After the advertising ends, the discount also ends synchronously, which is in line with the pace of the event.
Goal: Establish brand awareness and promote new product launches
Cycle recommendation: At least 3 months (one quarter).
Analysis: This is the most common misconception. Establishing cognition is a gradual process that requires crossing the user's' forgetting curve '. Three months can cover the complete "contact memory reinforcement" cycle, which is the most cost-effective basic choice.
Goal: Long term deep cultivation of the community, shaping brand image (such as real estate agents, decoration companies, high-end education)
Cycle recommendation: 6 months or more, even an annual framework.
Analysis: This type of brand has a long service decision-making cycle and is highly dependent on community trust. Long term and stable existence is itself a proof of 'strength' and 'reliability'. Annual contracts usually offer the best unit price and best point guarantee.
Step 2: Calculate your actual budget and cost structure
Monthly investment may sound flexible and have a low threshold, but from a cost efficiency perspective, it may not be optimal.
Media unit price comparison: Almost all legitimate elevator media companies (such as Focus, New Tide, etc.) adopt a pricing strategy of "longer cycle, better unit price". For example, a single monthly quote for a location may be 300 yuan/month, a quarterly contract may drop to 270 yuan/month, and a six-month contract may drop to 250 yuan/month.
Calculate an account: Assuming you have a budget of 15000 yuan locked in.
Plan A (monthly investment): 5000 yuan/month, invested for 3 months, covering a total of 3 months.
Option B (Quarterly Signing): Utilizing quarterly discounts, signing a contract for 15000 yuan at once may buy the same amount of resources for more than 4 months.
Conclusion: With a fixed total budget, making a one-time commitment for a longer period often results in more total exposure. Simply choosing monthly payment out of fear may incur higher unit costs.
Step 3: Analyze your audience and product decision-making path
High frequency and low decision products (such as community group buying and fast-moving consumer goods): Users make quick decisions, and monthly advertising may yield quick results, making them suitable for testing market response.
Low frequency and high decision services (such as home decoration, early education, and automobiles): User decision-making cycles can last for weeks or even months. After only one month of advertising, when users generate demand, your advertisement has already been taken down, and the initial investment is basically in vain. Long term coverage is necessary to ensure that you are in the customer's view at every stage of decision-making.
3、 Effect matrix and applicable scenarios for different advertising cycles
In order to gain a more intuitive understanding of the characteristics of different cycles, we have divided them into four main stages for analysis:
1.1 months (short-term blitzkrieg)
The core advantage of this approach lies in its high flexibility and low initial threshold, making it very suitable for testing market trends or executing highly time sensitive activities. However, the risks are also evident: advertising effectiveness often begins to ferment and is forced to terminate before reaching its optimal state, resulting in limited return on investment in the early stages. Meanwhile, this is the method with the highest unit exposure cost. It is most suitable for businesses with clear and short-term promotional milestones, such as new store openings or holiday themed promotions, with the core goal of attracting customer flow in the short term.
2.3 months (quarterly standard offensive)
This is considered the "king of cost-effectiveness" and the gold choice in most cases. One quarter is long enough to allow brand information to cross the audience's "forgetting curve" and complete the complete cycle from initial recognition to consolidating memory. In terms of cost, you can enjoy significant price discounts compared to monthly investment, and with the same total budget, you can leverage more exposure resources. Therefore, it is perfectly suited to the core goals of the vast majority of brands: establishing a solid brand awareness and systematically promoting a new product. It should be noted that for products or services with a particularly long decision-making chain, three months may still not be enough to cover all decision-making stages.
3.6 months (semi annual deep penetration)
Choosing semi annual advertising means that what you are pursuing is to establish a strong brand presence and deep trust penetration within the community. Your brand will become a 'part' of the community environment, and this stability itself is a symbol of strength that can effectively influence high-value customers who make cautious decisions. From a cost perspective, you will enjoy the most favorable media unit price. This requires brands to have sufficient budget and must plan several rounds of creative updates to prevent "aesthetic fatigue" caused by long-term playback. Community service brands, such as real estate agencies, decoration companies, and high-end training institutions, are typical beneficiaries of this cycle.
4.12 months (annual strategic layout)
This is a strategic choice. Its goal goes far beyond marketing effectiveness itself, but also includes considerations of monopolizing core point resources and establishing industry entry barriers. Through annual contracts, you can lock in the highest quality neighborhoods and elevators in advance, preventing competitors from entering while minimizing unit costs. This will undoubtedly consume a significant amount of marketing budget and provide clear planning for the brand's long-term market strategy. Usually, this is the choice of industry leading brands with sufficient budgets or enterprises that must occupy specific high-end community scenes for a long time.

4、 Key Reminder: Common Misconceptions and Avoiding Pitfalls Regarding Cycles
Misconception 1: Persisting in monthly payments for the sake of "flexibility".
Fact: True 'flexibility' is not about short cycles, but about being flexible in media composition and creativity. Splitting the long-term budget into different combinations of communities and forms is more effective and flexible than investing only one month at all locations.
Misconception 2: One idea should be invested to the end.
Important principle: If the contract is signed for more than 3 months, it is necessary to plan at least 2-3 versions of creative rotation (such as brand awareness in the first month and main product/activity promotion in the second to third months). Long term playback of the same image can lead to blindness and a decrease in effectiveness.
Misconception 3: Only focusing on the unit price of the cycle, ignoring the cost of "effective outreach".
Please clarify the daily rotation frequency (such as 120 views per day) and single video duration (15 seconds or 30 seconds) included in the publication price. A point with 60 broadcasts per day and a unit price of 200 yuan may have a much higher "single exposure cost" than a point with 120 broadcasts per day and a unit price of 300 yuan.
Misconception 4: Not setting up an entrance for effect monitoring and adjustment.
Even if it is an annual contract, it should be agreed with the media to reserve a certain proportion (such as 10-20%) of the budget for optimizing the location after mid-term performance evaluation (replacing poor performing communities with other high-quality communities), and dynamic adjustment is the scientific long-term investment.
5、 Final conclusion: action recommendations for entrepreneurs at different stages
So, should elevator advertisements be submitted on a monthly basis?
If you are a small and micro entrepreneur with extremely limited budget and only want to test a core community, you can choose one month as a low-cost market test. But please lower your expectations and prepare for subsequent conversion scripts.
If you are a growth oriented enterprise and need to open up regional markets or promote flagship products, do not hesitate to choose 3 months (quarters) as the starting point for investment. This is the optimal solution to balance effectiveness and cost, ensuring that your advertising expenses are not wasted.
If you are a mature brand aimed at consolidating the community base or conducting strategic defense: actively negotiate a 6-month or annual framework, lock in core points, gain maximum cost advantages, and build a brand moat.
Please remember that elevator advertising is a 'mental infiltration battle', not a 'meteor show'. Running a marathon with a 100 meter sprint strategy is destined to fail. The smartest approach is to match the corresponding advertising cycle according to your strategic goals and match it with a carefully designed creative rhythm.
Now, please re-examine your marketing plan and stop asking 'Do you want to invest on a monthly basis?' Instead, ask yourself, 'My goal is, how much time do I need to spend to capture the minds of users?' The answer is within your business logic.