Outdoor advertising, also known as out-of-home (OOH), is a beast of its own. It’s been a staple of highway and urban advertising for decades, much longer than social media or any forms of online advertising. Now, we’re not here to sound like dinosaurs—the truth is, outdoor advertising has evolved significantly and continues to change every year to meet the demands of new marketing campaigns.
But how do you know when it’s a good idea to integrate OOH into your marketing campaigns? The best way to do so is to understand how outdoor advertising works, and how it compares to other forms of advertising. Below, we’ve compiled some information about the benefits and disadvantages of the most popular marketing mediums and how they can be used in conjunction with outdoor advertising.
The most popular forms of advertising are outdoor advertising, television, radio and podcasts, print, and of course, online ads (including mobile and desktop). Already we can start to find a lot of differences between each medium, but the benefits of each medium aren’t always as obvious. In order to truly develop effective and interesting marketing campaigns, capitalizing on the benefits of each medium is key.
OOH
Outdoor advertising has been around for years because it works. Many tools that we use die after new technology rolls in that makes it obsolete. But billboards? They never go out of style.
See, when we’re driving, we have no choice but to look out the windshield and pay attention to our surroundings. Outdoor advertising capitalizes on that fact, and the stats behind outdoor advertising prove it works. OOH ads reach 96% of Americans, according to a study by Scarborough USA. With location strategies and geographic profiles, OOH can target any demographic you’re looking to showcase your brand to.
And it’s not just about demographics and targeting. Outdoor advertising is out in the world, where people make most of their purchasing decisions. So if you find the right location, you could be convincing your audience that you’re the right brand to spend money on. OOH ads almost become part of the landscape—they don’t interrupt your life (like TV ads or even social media ads). They’re a non-intrusive, seamless experience.
Now, of course billboards have their limits. You can’t click on a billboard, for example. Oftentimes, billboards are used to increase brand awareness, so instead of leading people directly to a shopping situation, you’re more likely to have them remember your brand when they are ready to make a purchase. If you want more actionable steps billboards instead use tactics like showing a URL or are used as directional signage.
So, in summary: billboards are effective at targeting specific demographics, at reaching a large swath of Americans, and increasing brand awareness.
TV (and Streaming)
We all know what TV ads are like. You’re watching a show you enjoy, and suddenly, the show is interrupted with advertisements. TV ads reach a broad audience as well. They count on engaging visual content (like billboards) but they can also use music or people speaking to strengthen their message. That’s one of the main draws of TV ads: the ads are like little movies that sell your brand.
In recent years, we have seen the rise of DVR technology and streaming services like Netflix that take away the TV ad experience. Most people who transition into this new technology never go back—that’s how intrusive TV ads can feel. This unfortunate fact, along with high CPM costs makes TV advertising a difficult beast to manage. It’s often a big investment that can have good consequences, but it has to be done right, and that of course takes time and money.
This is why adding OOH to a TV ad campaign can be an incredible value add. With outdoor advertising, you’re able to reinforce the branding strategy of your TV ads, making them much more powerful. OOH campaigns are more affordable as well, so you could even consider decreasing the amount of times you show your TV ad and adding outdoor to your campaign. The options are endless.
Radio & Podcasts
Radio ads can sound very old-timey, but the reality is that radio has more listeners than it did a decade ago. Then, when you add podcasts to the mix, it’s easy to see why radio ads can be effective. Some people speculate that the number of radio and podcast listeners has grown due to longer commutes, where people have more time to listen to longer audio content. These ads, especially podcast ads, can be tailored to their specific audience—a music podcast can have ads for headphones, for example—and therefore have a greater impact.
But the downsides of radio are clear: there is no visual component. Every other form of advertising is mostly visual, and that makes sense. We understand the world around us through our eyes, and that’s why it’s our best sense. Radio and podcast ads can’t leverage our best sense, and they take time. A radio ad takes time to explain, whereas a visual ad like a billboard can be understood within seconds. This difference is important.
When you put radio or podcast ads with out-of-home, now you’re getting closer to a great marketing strategy. Their pairing offers a balance of sight and sound, and while people can skip radio ads, they can’t skip billboards.
Newspapers and magazines are still viable methods of advertising, and they do offer a certain level of demographic targeting. For example, a person who reads Popular Mechanics might be more interested in home improvement products. Magazine ads can be high-quality, especially in expensive magazines like the New Yorker, while newspapers offer more hyperlocal ads that can be very relevant for people in a certain area.
However, while still viable, print media has seen a decline in readership which has made this medium less effective. Less people reading and buying magazines and newspapers means less eyes on your print ad. Furthermore, newspapers and magazines don’t live for a long time. Each time a new issue comes out, the ad is basically obsolete. These ads often don’t leave a lasting impression.
By combining OOH with print media, you can help personalize the experience for your audience. OOH is displayed all day and night, which can help counteract the ephemeral quality of print media. It’s a great way to reinforce the effect of print ads.
Online
It’s no secret that online ads are powerful. The internet is a huge part of our lives, and most Americans carry a smartphone, where ads are everywhere—in your browser, your social media apps, even in game apps!
Online ads work for one simple reason: when you see one, you can click on the ad or the CTA and be led directly to a shopping opportunity. You can be led to a product page, a cart, really anything you can imagine. This is the power of online ads, the actionable CTA. You can also acquire a lot of data about your audience based on who clicks on your ads and who engages with the content (for example, on Instagram you can “like” an ad without clicking on it). With this information, you can enhance your campaigns with location data in order to personalize the ads and make them more effective.
Pairing OOH and online ads makes perfect sense. When people are offline, outdoor advertising can extend the reach and frequency of the ads. OOH is a great way to lead people to online opportunities that can be leveraged by online ads. Think of QR codes, SMS messaging, websites—these are all ways that billboards can make an online campaign more effective.
OOH & Online — 3 Important Questions
1. Do people always see online ads?
As we discussed, everyone with a smartphone, laptop, and other devices are virtually always exposed to online ads. However, does this mean they see these ads? Some of the problems regarding online ads are that people download ad blockers to avoid seeing ads, and that the ads aren’t always personalized and can seem like they were made by bot farms. It’s a busy space, sometimes unregulated, and it’s not always clear where the ads are displayed.
This is sometimes referred to as “ad clutter.” When people realized how many different places they could put online ads, they started putting them everywhere to the point where online ads are now considered annoying and intrusive. This can even hurt the reputation of the brand advertising, especially when your ad is shown to content you wouldn’t approve of.
On the other hand, OOH naturally engages with customers and audiences, and they’re considered the least intrusive types of ads. Pairing OOH and online ads can help maintain your brand reputation.
2. How is data measured and collected?
In both online and OOH, measuring the impact of your ads is a very important part of any marketing strategy. Measuring the data will be different for each type of medium. Online ads, for instance, are pretty straightforward. Audiences leave a digital footprint that can be leveraged in future campaigns. The measuring policies and standards are constantly changing, with companies like Google and Facebook making and changing the rules.
Outdoor advertisement requires a bit more involvement, but the standards aren’t as malleable as they are with online ads. The data is actually pretty useful: location data based on traffic apps can tell a billboard advertiser exactly how much movement happened around the billboard.
3. How do you increase brand perception?
Part of the beauty of integrated marketing between outdoor and online ads is the increased bandwidth. By themselves, these advertising media can be effective, but together, their effectiveness increases by 300%. So not only are you diversifying and not putting all your eggs in one basket, you’re also making both ad campaigns more effective.
Take this into consideration: while most people spend a lot of time online, those ads start to lose their effectiveness as time goes on. Advertisers know this, so many times they’ll advise you to not advertise online for too long, especially using the same visuals. Oversaturation can hurt your brand perception, but with OOH it’s difficult to reach the point of oversaturation, since the interactions are so short and not as frequent.
Outdoor advertising is a useful tool to increase your brand awareness and reach your marketing goals. OOH increases the effectiveness of other advertising media, so if you’re interested in developing an integrated marketing campaign, reach out and talk to our account experts.