Cofounder and CEO at Nickelytics.

Consumers spend more than 70% of their awake time away from home, but OOH advertising accounts for only 5% of the average marketing budget of American companies. In the past few years, businesses have embraced online mobile-based digital advertising because of the convenience and large audiences. However, OOH advertising is posed to be a more cost-effective option.

According to reports by Solomon Partners, newspaper advertising is far more cost-inefficient, with a CPM of up to $39. The world is beginning to realize how much of an intelligent option OOH advertising is, and businesses are taking action. In 2022, OOH advertising experienced a 25.7% growth and has been experiencing consistent breakneck growth since 2019, according to the OAAA.

As OOH ads take center stage in marketing, a few principles may fly out the window. No matter what goes amiss in the evolution of OOH advertising, marketers should be centered on these three pillars of OOH optimization to maximize ROI. This is more important than ever, especially in the technology industry, where connecting with customers and getting them online is essential.

Precise messaging is key.

Precise communication is a tricky thing, especially when it comes to advertising. You have so much to say about your product. How can you say everything in fewer than 10 words?

In truth, you only have to say the indispensable and let your audience figure out the rest of their journey with your product/service. Nevertheless, communicating the indispensable is a challenging task. You can use this checklist to ensure you’re precisely communicating your product or service.

• Define your audience. If you have a broad demographic of audiences, segment and elaborately define each segment. Then adapt your message for each audience.

• Use simple and informal language. Formal languages are often too diplomatic and disconcerting. Leave that to the congress.

• Focus on one unique selling point. It’s most helpful to focus on one that resonates with your audience and is aligned with the trend. For example, think about Apple and privacy.

• Remove speculation and add wit. To simply state it, avoid words that are open to more than one interpretation. And never forget to be funny.

Simple designs send a strong message.

OOH advertising is a visual game. Studies show that people are more likely to remember the visual component of your ad than the words. So, simple and conceptual designs can louden your precise message.

Minimalistic design is a progressive movement in advertising. You can explore it to send your message. Instead of text-heavy display ads, you can use simple and uncluttered designs to stop the audience on their track. According to research by the European Advertising Academy, fewer textual and pictorial content in your ad can increase the quality and engagement.

Location, location, location: That’s the holy grail.

Before now, figuring out traditional outdoor ad placement was more or less guesswork, especially for new businesses. With location intelligence now a thing in the advertising industry, you can collect real-time location-based performance data for your ads and quickly know what location to target more.

This matters because good designs and precise messages are only good once they are seen by the target audiences. With location data, businesses are experiencing significantly high ROI from their OOH ad spends. This is possible because the data geo-location captured is used to develop optimal site selection and media buying strategies.

In a nutshell, advertising is about perception.

Every business wants to be seen and heard. While some spend ridiculous amounts achieving that, others gain far more awareness and sales with less. OOH advertising is one of the ways to create brand awareness and connect with real outgoing humans.

If done right, OOH advertising could help you turn a commuting audience into real website visitors and, consequently, paying customers. The practical way to do this is to communicate your product or service precisely and through simple designs. And most importantly, ensure that you place them where your target audience will see them with ease.


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