Out of Home Media: Thinking Beyond Online Advertising
Out-of-home (OOH) media and advertising is exactly what it sounds like; it’s visual-driven advertising that consumers are exposed to when they are outside of their homes. You know, when they are living their lives--going to work, commuting, participating in community activities, meeting friends, seeing family, traveling.
Given the heavy emphasis on online media and reaching the consumer while they are inside of their homes, it’s crucial to remember the value that OOH can bring to a comprehensive advertising strategy.
OOH and digital OOH are still growing markets and are an incredibly reliable and effective tool. People are spending up to 50% more time out of their home than they were two decades ago and those who view an ad in public often have a much higher intent to purchase.
In fact, for every dollar spent on OOH advertising, it returns $5.97. There are many other tangible benefits with OOH advertising.
Meeting Different Needs
OOH advertising brings something different to the table as it provides a way to go above and beyond the standard online messaging that we see. It is a way to create a more unified message that reaches potential customers across multiple touch points during their day.
In doing this, you can reach them at different states of mind, when it may be more likely to grab their attention. You can also uniquely position your message in locations where you know the right demographic segments will see it.
Proven Conversion Rates
OOH offers a proven conversion rate. Consumer research company Arbitron has indicated that over two-thirds of travelers make their purchasing decisions at some location outside of their home on average. Over 50% report frequently making these decisions out-of-home.
Greater Visibility and Brand Awareness
One of the biggest benefits of OOH advertising is that consumers cannot simply skip or block the advertisement, meaning that you can be sure that your message is being delivered effectively. This gives you the opportunity to reach a captive audience.
Broad Exposure
With OOH advertising, you get complete market coverage. While tailored messages that target key demographics are crucial to modern advertising, many potential new customers can be reached through OOH. Many of these individuals would not have been exposed to a similar digital message.
The Value in Redundancy
OOH opportunities work best when they are combined with other digital marketing strategies, especially online advertising. Generally speaking, the average customer must see something at least ten times before even considering a purchase.
Contemporary marketing is an incredibly exciting industry that continues to reinvent itself. OOH advertising is one of the oldest and most reliable marketing methods. While digital methods that reach consumers in their homes cannot be neglected in any comprehensive marketing plan, recognizing the value in OOH advertising is important too, especially as it transforms and evolves with uses of data. It simply offers advantages that other types of messaging cannot.
When used in conjunction with these other types of messaging, your marketing strategy becomes much more comprehensive and effective than it would be otherwise because we are reaching the customer across many more touch-points during their day – a key step in achieving maximum efficacy.