Geopath and the OAAA put on an outstanding virtual seminar for Independent Out of Home operators yesterday.  Here’s a summary of Gordon Borrell’s talk on trends in local business advertising and what it means for out of home.

We run the largest survey of local advertisers in the country…We see some interesting macro trends.  Last year we saw the makings of  a perfect marketing storm….This was before covid 19…this pertains to a lot of your ad buyers.  See Borrell’s perfect marketing storm video on youtube.  The pre-existing conditions for the storm.

• Social media had become most used platform by 89% of businesses.
• 3 of 5 were unsure they were spending the right amount.
• More marketing tasks were being handled internally.
• Most businesses were novices. This is your customer based…they are doing a lot more marketing themselves…they need your help.  To the extend your sales reps can have a broader sense of marketing they will have an edge.  What if a key advertiser has a question about Tik-tok and whether it’s viable.  Will they call your rep.  It’s got to.  That’s where its headed.
• Costs had mushroomed to over $100,000/year for the average small business

The typical small business spends $166,000 annually on digital marketing.  Most of this monney is being spent in house and they are not sure they are spending this right.

• $27,100 social media management
• $29,200 website.
• $28,300 email mngt
• $18,700 reputation management
• $22,100 SEO
• $15,000 listings
• $26,100 video production.

In covid 55% of businesses freezed up and stopped marketing.  But in a crisis people are still buying stuff even when consumer confidence has declined.  There’s a lot of stuff that is bought in any type of downturn.  The businesses that understand that will thrive.

There’s some very encouraging news.  Business skepticism about the future has returned to normal.  37% of business owners think things will get better.  That’s where things were in Feb before covid.

Consumers want to support local businesses.  Put the word local into your signage and out of home ads.

Outdoor is among the strongest of all the traditional media…We think out of home is going to be down 15% in 2020 but some markets will only be down 4-5%.

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