Roadside digital billboards are as old as US commercial TV was in 1971. Its mind boggling to imagine the growth ahead of us!! Sadly, little has changed with advertiser’s creative use of DOOH ad space.
The future belongs to marketers who deliver Moment Marketing (real-time) to mass-reach audiences. (Search: Moment Marketing for some great insights). Social media can be real-time; however, it can’t be mass reach. Digital OOH is one of the only mass-reach, real-time ad mediums available,\
80% of marketing efforts are spent on deciding “where” to advertise, only 20% on “what” to advertise. Companies would thrive by reversing those ratios. When implementing a campaign advertisers must shift their thinking from weeks/months to days/hours.
Some enlightened advertisers rely on major events to do “Moment Marketing”. Every day in the life of a consumer is a “moment” that can be capitalized on.
A digital billboard ad that is just a bulletin layout on an LED screen is wasted opportunity. Consumer’s response to an ad is very instantaneous. It’s influenced by time-of-day, day-of-week, economic factors, news events etc. We can make assumptions about the mindset of the target audience at any given moment and must deliver an ad that captures it.
Never post an ad with a date. It should only refer to: “starts this Thursday, starts in two days, starts today” etc. Then shift to “sale/event on now” and count down the days till the end of the sale/event. This real time immediacy unlocks the relevance and the true power of digital OOH. It drives huge value and increased consumer response.
Many OOH companies allow for “conditional creative”. For example, with a major sports game you have a “won” message and a “lost” message and post accordingly. This “capturing the moment” capability is extraordinary.With using a multiple unit program, the creative should be tailored to the area of the market the message will be seen. With 15 digital units across the market those 15 pieces of creative should have copy and/or a graphic visual relating to the exact trade area the board is located in.
Many OOH companies offer capability for clients to load their own creative real-time as their messaging needs change. Very powerful!!
RSS feeds allow for instantaneous content: real-time weather info, stock info, sports scores, radio stations posting “Now Playing” ads, etc.Most advertisers haven’t embraced the potential of digital OOH because it requires a lot of resources; (IE: multiple layouts, extreme tracking/trafficking detail, creative monitoring, etc.). Convince advertisers to boost their advertising return on investment by devoting the resources to get their full value from a digital OOH campaign.
When the ad community fully embraces the mass reach, real-time capabilities of DOOH, major advances will be made in selling products and services.
Next week: Delivering a Compelling Presentation
If I can leverage my experience to help you/your company sell more OOH faster, contact me KevinJGephart@gmail.com.
[wpforms id=”9787″]
Paid Advertisement
