Out of home advertising has long been a staple for many brands looking to gain recognition and get noticed by consumers.
Out of home (OOH) advertising is one of the oldest marketing techniques in existence — because it works. There are examples of circus posters and horse-drawn streetcar advertising that date back to the 1800s, where we can draw a straight line to the movie posters and bus ads we see today.
Since the days of circus posters, outdoor advertising has experienced an impressive run, constantly evolving to adapt to new markets, technologies and opportunities. Influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, outdoor advertisers adapted by both spreading awareness of safety efforts and playing into the "caution fatigue" we are all feeling as a society with humor and creativity.
But is there any way to increase the power of these marketing strategies? Here's what you need to know about leveraging outdoor advertising in your campaigns.
What You Need to Know About Out of Home
Outdoor advertising focuses on reaching consumers outside of their homes. This can encompass everything from billboards to bus shelters. Anytime you see an ad outside of your home, you are viewing an OOH ad.
Incorporating OOH advertising into your media plan means you can share your message everywhere. It can be:
Anything: Digital boards, bus wraps, kiosks and more
Anywhere: On highways and city streets, in airports and malls
Anytime: OOH advertising works for you, from morning until night, with dynamic displays that capture people's attention when they are out of their home
Out of home media is appealing for many reasons. For starters, we all spend time outside, traveling to work or the grocery store. It's a prime opportunity to reach new audiences with your brand. Additionally, with the growth of digital advertising, it can be hard to ensure your message is heard. While for some years OOH was seen as an older media strategy, it's a great solution to a crowded online market.
Especially when combined with a digital media strategy, OOH advertising is a powerful tool to reach your target audience.
Make It Personal and Know Your Audience
According to Entrepreneur, customers are less likely to make a purchase until they have been exposed to that brand's messaging seven times. There's some wiggle room to this figure, but companies have to connect with their target audience in a variety of ways to help them decide what to buy.
Due to the saturation in the online advertising market, it's becoming increasingly difficult to connect with audiences solely in an online environment. Your offline marketing campaigns, including outdoor advertising, can help build relationships with your intended audience — as long as your efforts are personalized to them.
Why is this so important? 80% of consumers are more likely to buy from companies that understand and cater to their interests with personalization. Sometimes, offline and out of home marketing campaigns can suffer. This happens when organizations make decisions based on assumptions rather than relying on hard data.
Personalized marketing is more important than ever, and the companies that are investing their resources in data analytics are poised to gain more ground when they use personalized, targeted messaging.
Personalized marketing helps you create a bond with your customers. It tells them you are listening to them, understand them and can serve their needs.
Multi-Channel Marketing: Making the Most of Your Outdoor Advertising
It's important to incorporate other strategies like television ads, direct mailers and print advertising to layer your advertising. Multi-channel marketing will boost brand awareness and implement impactful brand messaging without losing the main takeaways. Why is this? 72% of consumers actually prefer an integrated marketing approach.
Just how well can a multi-channel marketing strategy work for advertisers?
Billboards have an impressive ROI of 497% and are expected to have an annual growth rate of 10% through 2021.
Print ads — like those found in magazines — are more trusted than any other kind of advertising. 82% of consumers report that they trust print ads.
According to The 2020 State of Multi-Channel Marketing Report, marketers can achieve their best results (and the best returns on their investments) when their campaigns use a combination of four to six channels.
Multi-channel campaigns with a direct mail campaign reported an ROI that was 18 percentage points higher than those without in 2020, and 84% of respondents indicated that direct mail improved the performance of their multi-channel marketing campaigns.
Think about the impact of combining just these two media strategies. With the impressive ROI of an outdoor advertising campaign and the trustworthiness of a print campaign, you'll leverage the full power of both channels for a successful campaign.
In other words? If you haven't done so already, it's time to start thinking about employing multi-channel marketing strategies, or cross-channel marketing. Multi-channel marketing can include a variety of media strategies that go beyond OOH formats, including:
Online advertising and pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns
Website marketing and content marketing
Direct mail
Email marketing
Mail-order catalogs
Mobile marketing
Print advertising campaigns
Digital OOH Marketing Strategies
While general out of home marketing strategies focus on engaging with target audiences using simple, static outdoor advertisements, digital out of home advertising refers to a combination of offline OOH advertising partnered with digital elements. It employs digital screens to share content with people, including elevator screens, digital billboards and monitors.
With digital out of home advertising (DOOH), ads can display multiple animated images that remain on the screen for a short time or rotate. It's a more energetic, dynamic way for consumers to interact with your brand messaging.
According to Statista, spending across the globe on DOOH is expected to increase to $15.9 billion by 2020. Compared to $6.7 billion in 2019, this is an impressive increase. While there is an expected decline in some OOH advertising in 2021 and 2022, this rise in DOOH will likely soon rebound to reach this expected record-breaking figure.
Why the increase in popularity of DOOH marketing? There are a few reasons:
Brands remain informed about the playtime of their ads. Advertisers can share relevant messages without displaying something outdated or otherwise "expired."
You can employ location-based networking to track analytics using mobile devices to gain insight into the consumers you are targeting as well as their behavior and brand perceptions.
There is an increased opportunity for creative content generation and innovative messaging.
DOOH offers exceptional audience engagement to create awareness, deliver information and offer personalized audience interaction.
How can you leverage DOOH marketing to stand out and share your message? In one instance, the beauty brand Lancôme wanted to raise awareness of the gender divide in Portugal. They launched a campaign entitled #ShareASmile on International Women's Day. The DOOH displays captured smiles and donated one Euro for every smile captured using facial recognition software. Using this DOOH campaign, Lancôme was able to:
Raise awareness
Engage their audience
Donate money to fund scholarships for girls
When you're employing multi-channel campaigns, it's crucial to manage your time and media dollars wisely. At Mediafiche, you can take your outdoor campaign to the printed page — and vice versa. Search and select from over 5,000 magazine titles. Take advantage of our concierge buying service to access over 440,000 targeted, digital outdoor screens. Negotiate, review and then secure your placements. It's that simple!
Leverage the power of digital out of home advertising in your campaigns. Sign up today to schedule a free demo!