Outdoor advertising, including its digital DOOH format, offers incredible opportunities for business promotion. After all, everything is changing in the world, except that potential consumers will always spend time outside the home and will be able to see external advertising integrations of brands. One thing that is certain is that the duration of time on social networks is decreasing, ads are being scrolled more and more often because the market is oversaturated. Therefore, companies are looking for new formats to convey their message to the largest number of consumers. Despite its numerous advantages, including the rapid development of outdoor advertising around the world, DOOH advertising is often overlooked by marketers who are not aware of its potential.
Advertising activities are flourishing thanks to social platforms, search algorithms and new formats of traditional advertising channels. But is the effectiveness of DOOH advertising really as high as media buyers keep saying?
Definitely yes, because 46% of Americans indicate that they search for the desired brand in the Google search engine after seeing its outdoor advertising (according to the Getalfi platform). Analysts note that the market share of outdoor advertising is constantly growing by 4% every year, and digital formats have even greater indicators: +16% annually. Upbeat Research predicts that the DOOH market will reach $8.5 billion by 2023.
Why is DOOH advertising better for your business, and why should you use it? To get the predicted results, you need to comprehensively analyze the available opportunities of digital advertising and know everything about the advantages of this advertising channel for various industries.
DOOH advertising is everywhere! It can be anything from the elevator screen to the shopping mall panel, the airport billboard to the digital sign at the bus stop or train station. This marketing tool has become a part of the life of every person in the world.
There are many formats, and examples can be found in any city. The most popular of them:
digital billboards in city squares;
screens at airports and train stations;
Wi-Fi access points and information centers in malls, retail stores;
roadside dynamic displays;
screens in hospitals and emergency care facilities;
signs at transport stops;
dynamic screens at food courts;
digital billboards in educational institutions and large office spaces.
Everywhere, at every step of the potential consumer, brands present their product or service and get effective exposure.
The modern world is very dynamic. The number of viewers of traditional advertising media is decreasing, the online audience is becoming more and more demanding, but DOOH still guarantees maximum reach when people are on the street, going to work or going to the supermarket for shopping.
Indeed, after the pandemic, society began to spend more time outside than at home with gadgets, so outdoor advertising gets an additional advantage. For example, a 2021 report from the Out-of-Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) found:
75% of people consider the time spent on gadgets to be excessive, so they refuse advertising on digital devices;
Americans spend 70% of their time outside the home, a 50% increase over the past two decades.
This indicates the great potential of Out of Home advertising because the audience does not want to give up advertising, they just need other formats.
According to theneuron.com, consumers respond more actively to advertising in large cities:
55% of consumers living in cities with more than 1 million residents notice more digital advertising;
34% of residents of large cities say that DOOH has an impact on purchasing decisions.
In addition, consumers note the places where ads are displayed:
83% see advertising while driving on highways;
82% – on the roads in their city or town;
63% see DOOH while walking downtown or on "high streets";
51% most often come into contact with advertising at the airport
46% encounter brand communications while using public transport.
* material from the site https://theneuron.com
The above data shows how profitable DOOH advertising is from the perspective of media planning because it provides the opportunity to reach a mass audience with high frequency at a very low cost.
Large formats of digital advertising easily attract the attention of a large audience. At a time when every social media user is targeted by dozens of companies every second, people find online advertising inconvenient: they often ignore banner ads, close pop-ups, install ad blockers, and skip YouTube ads.
DOOH displays are hard to ignore. You cannot miss them or ignore them. They're great at building brand awareness, and through creative and inspiring formats they can really captivate an audience.
What is most important in today's world? Everyone's privacy and security.
Many organizations are concerned that online advertising, search engines and social networks are using advertising to monitor consumers and analyze profiles based on their actions on the Internet. This is how remarketing strategies work, they show ads only to those who have completed a targeted action. Consumers do not like to be followed, and this affects the level of trust.
DOOH audience data is collected differently: targeting is done using anonymized mobile device location data to understand where a specific demographic spends its time and how long it spends. Over time, a complete, but completely anonymous picture of the movement of the target audience emerges. This means that DOOH is suitable for advertising to specific audiences rather than specific individuals.
Ads need to be simple and clear, so standard advertising channels can only place a limited amount of information in one place. But it's not about DOOH!
DOOH allows multiple messages to be displayed in high quality on one device. Additionally, if an ad is not performing well, it can be quickly replaced remotely with a more relevant one. For example, a countdown to Black Friday can be followed by a list of products with the biggest discounts.
To make advertising more effective and generate maximum interest, you can add creativity and 3D effects to DOOH advertising. Non-standard activities will definitely appeal to potential consumers and guarantee a high level of brand awareness.
Creating a personalized ad in the world of outdoor advertising was almost impossible. Only the advent of artificial intelligence and behavior recognition algorithms have made this a reality.
The advantages of individual advertising are obvious: it affects the formation of loyalty, motivation of potential customers and improves brand perception. You have every opportunity to create a personal history of communication with your company.
Programmatic DOOH makes it easy to send desired ads to a media unit remotely, giving advertisers the ability to quickly change and update ads. You can easily adapt to the weather, time of day, traffic pattern, target audience, etc. For example, show ads for summer drinks only when the temperature is above 25℃. So, it's up to your imagination and creativity.
The integration simplifies and makes possible the purchase of outdoor advertising according to the Programmatic principle in the required format (video and display). These are broad opportunities for advertisers:
a convenient and simple way of purchasing through the programmatic platform;
work with several media channels in one technical window: planning, launch, campaign management, work with reporting;
additional possibilities in DOOH planning: selection of the period, the volume of impressions, a specific DOOH network / panel.
With just a few clicks, advertisers can purchase new ad space and update their ads without incurring additional costs or delays in change of ownership. Moreover, digital displays often offer various ad integrations, providing advertisers with the flexibility to choose the best company to boost their ad.
DOOH advertising requires a significant investment compared to social media advertising at the beginning. You don't have to worry about its efficiency because DOOH involves a high level of automation and is controlled by computer software known as DSP platforms, allowing you to quickly react to changes in demand.
Traditional marketing methods require manual labor, which cannot be cheap. And even online activities can require significant costs, such as SEO, which requires constant attention and adaptation to changes in search engine algorithms.
In contrast, DOOH advertising rates are much more flexible. Advertisers can pay for continuous advertising on digital signage, or share this space and advertising time with other companies. Partial impressions are a great way to reduce costs at the start of ad campaigns. As they become more successful, you can increase your investment and take up more space or make your showings more frequent.
Remarketing is an effective cookie-based online advertising practice where the ad follows consumers wherever they are. Consumers are tired of being persecuted and have responded by installing ad blockers en masse, especially on mobile devices (22% of Internet users in the UK, 29% in France and 32% in Germany — according to eMarketer).
According to PageFair Adblock 2021 data from ad tech company Blockthrough, the number of mobile devices using ad blocking doubled from 282 million to 586 million between 2015 and 2020.
* material from cnet.com
And again, a plus in the treasure trove of DOOH advantages: viewers cannot block these ads. Digital signage ensures that your advertising always reaches the right audience.
Advertising blindness is a serious problem for marketers. Consumers often scroll through advertising banners without paying attention, deliberately skipping the first few positions during a Google search. According to https://neilpatel.com, only 1 in 7 users remember the last ad they saw, and only 20% of them consider it relevant.
The most effective way to overcome banner blindness is to offer contextually relevant, engaging, and creative content. Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) is one of the best channels for this. When people are outside their homes, they are more attentive to their environment and actively seeking something new. Every brand has a chance to be remembered and become a favorite.
Static ads broadcast only one message or a small part of the story. With DOOH, you can create a very new reality for your audience. One ad shows a consumer's problem, and the next ad appears seconds later to solve the problem.
Videos perform better than texts. A simple video demonstration will show consumers how to use the product and how to make a purchase. This is a powerful method of motivating a purchase in the customer journey. And according to clearchannel.co.uk, dynamic creatives had a 38% greater impact on long-term memory than static ads.
Companies can engage with consumers through digital signage at any stage of the purchase decision process. Roadside billboards can capture the attention of people who are only in the consideration phase, while screens placed at points of purchase such as malls and grocery stores can influence those who are ready to buy. Contextual environments and multiple visits have been shown to increase brand awareness and the likelihood of making a purchase (according to info.vistarmedia.com).
Digital advertising can be easily managed with a simple tool — the pDOOH software platform. In fact, pDOOH is the automation of the purchase and delivery of advertising on digital billboards and screens. Advertisers set specific conditions: how, when, where and to whom to show a specific advertisement. And when these conditions are met, advertising space is purchased and the ad is published before it is displayed.
Such automation allows you to manage campaigns without manual external intervention, saving you time and resources.
DOOH digital signs are placed where people have to spend more time (waiting for a ride) or resting. For example, at airports, metro stations, sports stadiums and shopping centers. It is this possibility of communication with the audience at the moment of waiting that distinguishes digital outdoor advertising from other formats. DOOH affects not only brand awareness, but also revenue from advertising campaigns.
DOOH advertising fulfills perfectly the task of communicating with consumers immediately before making a purchase decision. This allows marketers to engage with customers at the moment that matters most.
DOOH's ability to measure and determine ROI is much higher than traditional methods. For this, they use mobile data, analytical information of software applications, as well as strategic partnership with mobile operators and data resources. It is important to remember that DOOH shows one-to-many efficiency, not one-to-one.
Each advertiser can see the impact of a programmatic DOOH campaign on a specific DMA, or understand how impressions on different screens affect bottom- or top-funnel KPIs.
DOOH advertising can be engaging and interactive. For example, customers can interact with ads through their smartphones using NFC and QR scanning. In terms of marketing, this could be a contest for consumers, discounts to reduce the amount of the check, and even free content.
By the way, DOOH advertising is also effective for increasing the number of followers on social networks because the advertisement can ask visitors to follow business accounts and share UGC content.
This is not surprising, DOOH is the second fastest growing advertising tool after mobile formats (according to PWC Global Entertainment Media Outlook 2016-2020). If a brand adds these activities to its marketing strategy, it gets a creative and new way of communicating with the audience at a time when it is more open to communication.
Big formats — big opportunities. If you are planning to create something really grand, then digital screens are just for you! DOOH has effective formats that are sure to capture the attention of consumers:
huge screens that cannot be ignored,
displays that are easily integrated into content
a relevant environment for interacting with advertising.
All formats offer effective ways to reach consumers in the real world.
"Digital signage provides new opportunities for analytics, providing advertisers with information about the number of viewers and the duration of their engagement with the ad. In some cases, it is even possible to track when customers enter the store.
Additionally, sensors on screens can be used for marketing research, allowing brands to collect data not only in static positions but also on the move. With real-time information from sensors and cameras, surveys can be conducted, for example, to gather insights about the effectiveness of colors, texts, and images.
Beside:
sensors on screens can be used for marketing research;
the functionality allows you to record data not only in static positions, but also on the move;
sensors and cameras provide information in real time;
you can conduct surveys, for example about colors, texts, and images.
Thanks to the marketing analytics of media networks, advertisers can obtain more detailed information about their target audience. This not only includes those who engage with the ad, but also those who pass by.
Digital outdoor advertising, especially when bought programmatically and properly planned, leads to successful marketing campaigns. Of course, to maximize the effect, you need to work with a programmatic DOOH platform that connects advertisers with the right marketing assets.
Outside the digital realm, the real world is in full swing. There, people are accompanied by digital screens in shopping centers, public transport or even just while walking. The non-intrusive nature of DOOH advertising increases the chances of capturing the audience's attention.
How to start working with DOOH advertising?
Getting started with outdoor advertising is not difficult at all, it is important to think through each step so that the result is expected and predictable because any planned results can be scaled.
Now that all the advantages of DOOH are known and analyzed, how to make advertising effective for your business, company, or brand?
Follow the tips:
Please keep in mind, the world of ad integrations doesn't end with online advertising. If your campaigns aren't producing the results you want, and your ROI is falling as a result, it might be time to think outside the box. And DOOH is one of the best ways.
When we recommend creating creatives for audiences, we don't mean being busy 24/7 when creating mockups. However, at BannerBoo, we know that creating a cool HD layout and animating it is easy and simple in just a few clicks.
What do you need to do to create a DOOH ad?
In addition to static layouts and GIF banners, you can create a video in the service. The algorithm is no different, only you need to save the file in MP4 format.
Regardless of what goals you want to achieve with your marketing campaigns, DOOH is considered an effective and powerful tool. The industry is constantly evolving, thereby providing better opportunities for innovation.
Out-of-home digital advertising provides up-to-date information about your business to potential consumers. Beside:
engages a wide audience in the dialogue;
attracts attention and looks unobtrusive;
offers flexible and personalized advertising;
has financial results and high ROI;
DOOH advertising cannot be blocked.
DOOH is digital format of mass information displayed in public places using digital screens and displays.
DOOH is maximally focused on the target group of potential consumers. But it can change depending on many factors: weather, temperature, time of day, etc. And the coolest thing: advertising can appear exactly when the target consumer is most likely to be nearby.
Like other forms of advertising, DOOH is most effective when placed in a strategically important location. It all depends on the advertiser, the ad to promote and the audience to reach.
Yes, because it uses a digital display format and management of advertising activities.
This is any digital object around that broadcasts advertising: a screen in an elevator, an information panel in a shopping center, a scoreboard in an airport, a digital billboard at the turn home, digital signs at a bus stop or a train station.
To provide advertisers with the most effective format of advertising communication with the most relevant advertising audience.
They can broadcast the most non-standard and creative formats of advertisements and bring economic efficiency for business development. In addition, digital billboards can be placed in the most crowded places and show advertisements to a wide audience.
Most marketers note that their reach is too wider than it could be when using digital activities. Furthermore, the cost of starting an advertising campaign is much higher.
The ability to communicate with the target audience in real life, outside of smartphones and gadgets.
Imagine the process of buying outdoor advertising: a media buyer provides screens and a schedule of their campaigns at a current cost. Programmatic DOOH advertising allows the advertiser to choose their campaign details, targeting options, scheduling, placement and much more with just a few clicks.
DOOH is a one-to-many channel, meaning that one advertising message interacts with several potential consumers at the same time. Marketers can add special promo codes or discounts to track the performance of each digital display.
