Dave Daucanski has 15 years experience in out of home advertising sales and sales management most recently at with Clear Channel Outdoor in Dallas and Florida and prior to that at All over Media and Lamar.  Insider talked with Daucanski about how out of home sales is changing.  You can reach Dave at davewpb@bellsouth.net.

What concerns you about out of home?

Next time you drive with passengers you will see at least 50% of the time they are viewing their mobile device.  They are not looking up at billboards.

The poster that you think you can wrap and charge the local restaurant owner $1500 a month for a campaign may work in small markets with less media competition.   Top 25 market clients want a proven ROI so coupling printed display with mobile will help complete the “path to purchase”.  Outfront has embraced this strategy as CEO,Jeremy Male, discussed some of their mobile success at the recent UBS conference.

Long term vinyl customers are decreasing their out of home budgets due to the technology disrupters within their industries. Two examples:

• Motel 6 was one of the largest OOH spenders now we see significant spend reduction because of changes in the travel industry.

• A very large retailer used to spend large dollars on annual bulletins. The CMO recently explained that when the amount exceeds five figures per month it gets difficult for her to sell that single bulletin as an effective way to get people into a store. She can quickly drop and test an ad on Facebook for $250 and the store monitors the success. People aren’t using the method “tell me where your heard about us” as often as in the past.

What’s the solution?

A well planned digital and mobile strategy that enables ROI discussions with clients is what will differentiate the winners from the losers.  It’s simple include a # and real time social media interactivity. We proved this at Clear Channel Outdoor in Dallas (best digital network in the country) and it worked extremely well with a few clients leading to longer campaigns which meant increased budgets and revenues.

Also, you need to take a hard look at sales people to see if they can adapt as the industry evolves.  Ask yourself “is my sales still in the sell a directional mindset.”  If your strategy is to just adjust rates on printed vinyl and focus on vinyl since that represents your largest revenue stream then the company will begin a slow spiral of decreasing revenues unless you are Lamar which has built an incredible market dominance outside the top 10 media markets.

The winning out of home companies will have the best education plan for the sales team and customers. The unsuccessful out of home companies will focus on competitor’s clients rather than new customers.

What does the future hold for independent outdoor companies?

2017 presents an opportunity for independent outdoor companies to come together to determine their best plan. If the independent out of home companies banded together with a shared portal of their displays and created a joint digital and mobile vision they could increase their market share and value of their inventory.

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