To celebrate National Small Business Month, SCMC is highlighting the small businesses helping shape South Carolina.
This week, we’re spotlighting Grace Outdoor Advertising, a family-owned business that has spent decades helping companies across the Southeast make their message impossible to miss.
Founded by Hal and Diana Stevenson, Grace Outdoor Advertising traces its roots back to the early 1980s, when the couple worked in billboard site development in Colorado and California before returning to Columbia in 1987. After saving enough money to build their first billboard with a group of partners, the business grew from a small operation into a leading outdoor advertising company.
Today, Grace Outdoor Advertising operates more than 500 traditional billboard faces and 70 digital faces across South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia.
For the Stevensons, the business has always been about more than billboards.
“We are inspired every day to serve our clients, property owners, investors, and the communities we are in,” said Hal Stevenson.
That community focus has remained central to the company’s growth. Grace Outdoor Advertising sponsors local events, serves on community boards, and takes pride in being a South Carolina business that understands the communities it serves.
”We are here and know the community. Organizations like SCMC give larger corporations an opportunity to know their smaller counterparts, appreciate the role of small business, and work together cooperatively in a way that works for everyone to thrive.
Hal StevensonCheif Development Officer, Grace Outdoor Advertising
Stevenson said business associations and chambers have also played an important role in helping Grace Outdoor Advertising grow across South Carolina.
“We are big believers in business associations that give you opportunities to know other businesses that you may not have an opportunity to meet otherwise,” said Stevenson. “I have been in the state chamber for over 25 years, and we are members of many local chambers and networking groups. These associations have been invaluable as we expanded across the state.”
Over the years, the company has navigated significant challenges, including the Great Recession.
“The biggest challenge was absolutely the Great Recession,” said Stevenson. “My wife’s gifts of organization and discipline, our employees’ hard work, our local bankers that worked with us, and our clients that trusted us brought us through that period, and we are grateful to be in a position to give back to the community for the support we have been shown.”
After decades of growth, the Stevensons are now focused on helping lead the company into its next chapter.
“Diana and I will stay active with the business but are in the process of helping the next generation take Grace Outdoor Advertising into the future,” said Stevenson. “We believe that we have laid the groundwork for our family to expand regionally, nationally, or internationally.”
