In a growing digital world, it should come as no surprise that a majority of companies have made strong pushes toward online forms of advertising. While it makes sense to go where the people are, the large influx of businesses marketing their services online has significantly increased competition. That’s why some groups have started focusing more on some of the older advertising methods.
One such example of this is outdoor marketing. Billboards, banners, and wall displays are becoming popular choices again, but it’s not just because of the smaller competition pool. Records show that consumers are much more likely to remember outdoor ads than most other forms. If you’re already running a small outdoor marketing campaign but want to improve it, we have some tips for you on how to optimize it.
Find a Strategic Location
Strategic positioning is a vital part of any marketing campaign, but it’s even more crucial when advertising outdoors. The reason for this comes down to the fact that you’re not guaranteed value for the spots that you pay for outside. Thanks to the payment formats of online ads, you only pay if someone sees or clicks on your ad. There’s no way to do this with billboards, so you have to make a recurring payment for that space regardless of whether or not potential customers are seeing it.
That’s why you shouldn’t rent a space just because it’s cheap. You need to pay a little more for spaces that have a lot of traffic pass by them. Of course, that doesn’t mean the most populated areas will work for you. You need to figure out which areas your target customers frequent and advertise there. Putting ads up in spots they don’t go to will lead to you wasting your marketing budget.
Keep It Simple
Once you’ve nailed down the positioning, it’s time to optimize your content on the ads. Since billboards and other forms of outdoor advertising are so large, many companies try to utilize all that space by filling it up with a lot of information. However, this is not an effective use of that space.
Your potential customers will likely only see these ads for about 10 seconds or so. They won’t have the time to read everything you put on there. Plus, they shouldn’t spend that much time reading them anyway. Your message needs to be short and sweet. It should get them interested in wanting to learn more about you.
Optimize the Size
Since you won’t be filling your ad space with as much content as possible, you’ll want to ensure it doesn’t look too barren. You can do this by increasing the size of your print. While this is great for filling space, it will also help with readability. Depending on the position of the billboard or other advertising space, it might be pretty far from the road.
If people can’t read the text, it won’t do your business any good. You need to check out the location you want to use before making a mockup of your ad to ensure you get the sizing correct.
Get It To Pop
Once you have your message down, you need to make it pop. Even though outdoor advertising isn’t as competitive as its online counterpart, there are still plenty of other signs that yours will be up against. This is where the usage of vibrant graphics and colors comes into play. Combining visuals with the right message will get more people to notice your ad.
Make It Engaging
Most of our suggestions on optimizing your outdoor marketing campaign have been things you likely tried out before, or at least thought about. Now, we’re going to get into ones that you might not have thought about before.
The first thing we’re going to recommend here is to make your ads more engaging. Some people mistake this tip and create an ad that engages the senses. What we’re referring to is one that engages your audience in a way that extends beyond the ad itself. You need to include a link to one of your socials for people to follow up on. You can also utilize QR code technology to make this even easier.
Not only will this get consumers to make a move towards potentially making a purchase, but it will also let you know that they saw your ad. Using links or QR codes specifically crafted for your outdoor ads is a great way to track visibility through a form of marketing that companies can’t easily track.
Don’t Forget To Do On-Site Branding
When creating an outdoor marketing campaign, most companies focus on extending their reach beyond their physical store. That means they totally forget to advertise on their own property. If someone goes by your store and can’t tell who you are, you’re missing out on tons of potential customers.
That’s why you need to put your branding up all around your store. Signs and wall art both work well, but you should try putting up other branded materials. Outdoor umbrellas work well if your store or restaurant has outdoor seating, but you can utilize canopy tents if you hold a lot of events outside for your customers. Regardless of what you use, you need to find yourself a company that specializes in canopy printing services, so you can put your name and logo in more places for people to see.
Utilize Digital Out-of-Home Ads
Even though the point of this topic was to focus on using outdoor marketing options instead of the highly competitive digital ones, digital marketing has also made its way to the real world. If this is an option in your area, you must try to take advantage of it. Digital out-of-home (DOOH) ads are some of the most eye-catching ads that currently exist. You can utilize flashing lights and moving graphics to grab people’s attention in ways a static image never could.
On top of that, DOOH ads have the ability to program specific times for when you want your ad to display. Like online ads, you can increase your bid during certain hours of the day to increase the frequency in which yours shows up during that period. This tactic can improve the effectiveness of your entire campaign.
For example, if you sell cars and want to advertise a model that gets excellent gas mileage, you’ll want to ensure you’re targeting people who drive to work daily. Increasing your DOOH ad frequency when commuters are on the road in the morning and late afternoon will maximize the number of relevant impressions you receive, which will help you get the most out of your marketing budget.
