Types of outdoor advertising

Digital marketing has led many people to rely on social media, websites, and other digital platforms to learn more about products and services. This has caused traditional channels like outdoor advertising to regress in the past few years.

But, outdoor advertising has been on a steady growth path, offering brands diverse options to reach the masses and convey their messages. It has become a strategic way for brands to increase visibility, build recognition, and boost other marketing efforts.

When considering outdoor advertising for your brand, it's essential to understand its different forms, benefits, and potential pitfalls. Read on as we discuss tried-and-tested tips from the experts on amplifying your outdoor ads.

Its success hinges on the visibility and foot traffic of specific locations where people who are always on the go can see it. Outdoor advertising has remained relevant despite technological advancements, especially for brands that want to reach as many people as possible at once. 

Data from The Business Research Company predicts a $40.42 billion industry value in the global OOH sector by 2026. Another research from Business Wire revealed that 96 percent of respondents who use outdoor advertising to promote their brands are highly satisfied with its ROI or return on investment. 

Before we dive into the hows of outdoor advertising, it is essential to understand its many forms and their benefits to businesses like yours.

Static billboards 

Billboards are enormous signs along public areas like roads and city centers that everyone can see while walking or driving. They are typically 240” x 120”, making them hard to miss and effectively creating brand awareness. Compared to online ads that disappear quickly, billboards stay up longer, giving more exposure to advertised brands. 

However, billboards can be expensive, making them less accessible to some businesses. The size of the billboard, its location, and the duration of the ad also affect its cost.

The average billboard in rural areas costs between $1,000 and $2,000 monthly to place an ad, while larger cities command up to a $14,000 monthly fee. Nonetheless, when strategically placed, billboard advertising can be a powerful tool to inspire action from consumers. 

Street furniture advertising

As the name suggests, street furniture advertising is when businesses promote products and services using outdoor amenities like benches, kiosks, bus stops, waste bins, and picnic tables. Choosing furniture in high-traffic areas like parks, plazas, and event spaces is best to reach people where they live, work, and play. Street furniture advertising allows businesses to be more creative by creating engaging, out-of-the-box, memorable ads.

You may opt for street furniture advertising if your target market stays in places where people gather. It’s also a great way to advertise your brand without being intrusive as they blend within the environment. This channel can be strategic for small businesses already close to the area of street furniture. It is also cost-effective as it can be as cheap or as expensive as you want. 

Among the most iconic street furniture advertising campaigns is KitKat’s clever bench ad, in which park benches resemble chocolates. A message is embossed at the bottom: "Have a break, have a KitKat.”

Transit advertising

Transit advertising involves leveraging public transportation, such as trains, subways, taxis, buses, and transit stations, to promote products or services. Ads can be placed on vehicle wraps (as in the vehicle is wrapped with an ad), posters at stations, or interior cards inside the car.

Aside from strengthening brand recognition by repeatedly exposing passengers to your ads, transit advertising has a powerful reach among urban residents. However, the success of transit ads highly depends on choosing the most strategic vehicle for your brand. For instance, bus wraps may result in higher recall than a wrapped train that runs fast. 

Copenhagen City Zoo turned heads with its bus wrap ad, which featured a boa constrictor seemingly crushing the city bus. And it worked! The zoo reported an increase in the number of visitors in 2010.

Digital billboards

Unlike static billboards, digital billboards enable multiple advertisers to share interactive ads in a single space. This has opened doors for different ads, whether a business wants to post quick updates or integrate videos and animations.

The high-quality images provided by digital billboards also make them more vibrant and appealing than traditional ones. In effect, people who see digital billboards are more likely to pay attention to your ad and have a higher recall rate.

Another noteworthy feature of digital billboards is their real-time flexibility. You can edit and update your ads pronto to ensure timely promotions. While digital billboards may cost more than static billboards, they save you the hassle of printing and installing ads.

Interactive digital displays and smart city ads

Interactive ads allow people to engage with it directly. You can add a game about your products where participants can win prizes and giveaways. You can also add QR codes that will bring them to your branded website. All these can be more memorable than static billboards. 

Brilliant city ads are advertisements placed in cities that rely on data analysis, predictive tech, and other digital solutions to simplify and improve residents' lives. 

Examples of smart cities include Dubai, Zurich, and Singapore, where the ads shown are real-time, making them highly relevant to customers. For instance, a digital billboard in a smart city might display coffee ads in the morning and restaurants for dinner in the evening. Interactive displays and brilliant city ads are superior because they keep your audience engaged and informed, and experiences are tailored according to real-time data. 

A good example of this is an ad for a blood donation foundation in Brazil, Fundacao Pro-Sangue Agencia. The foundation turned outdoor interactive ads into charging stations with charging cables resembling veins and a message that says, “If you need, we are here. Why not return the favor? We need blood.”

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in outdoor advertising

Augmented and virtual reality use advanced technology to create realistic images that can merge with your environment. For instance, it allows users to see AR or VR-produced characters in the same room. This has been leveraged by brands, enabling consumers to shop from anywhere. Potential buyers do not need to leave the comforts of their homes to try out products.

Italian gin brand Malfy Gin transported consumers to the Amalfi Coast in its “Immagina Malfy” campaign. People can access the AR experience by scanning the QR code on the brand's out-of-home advertisements.

Its global brand director Tony Ingram shares, “We’re inviting consumers into the world of Malfy, capturing the feeling through Malfy’s personality so that the place feels so real, you can almost taste it…There was a need to elevate and create a distinctive Malfy World that offers endless possibilities for lifestyle content we know our consumers crave.”

Your outdoor advertising strategy hinges on your data, location, creative ideation, constant monitoring of progress, and timely response according to feedback and results. Let’s go through these strategic steps below.

Step 1. Define your advertising goals

Advertising goals are set targets or milestones they must achieve to succeed. They are measurable and serve as the focus of branding and marketing strategies. 

When creating advertising goals, apply the SMART method to ensure they are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Consider your target audience and the industry landscape to ensure alignment between your goals and strategies. 

Some examples of outdoor advertising goals are: 

• Increase brand awareness by reaching 200,000 people in two months with a billboard in a busy area.
• Drive in-store traffic by 30% at the end of the first quarter by placing ads on bus shelters near the store locations. 
• Target a 15% sales increase for Product B by running a series of posters in strategic locations.

Step 2. Choose the right form of advertising and location

When it comes to outdoor advertising, location is everything. But how can you make the right call when choosing locations and the type of advertising?

A strategic location provides maximum visibility and engagement to a highly targeted audience. This means placing your outdoor advertising in locations with high foot traffic, like busy streets, highways, shopping centers, and parks. Ensure that trees, buildings, etc., do not obstruct your ads.

The chosen location should also align with your audience. If you are targeting kids, place your ads at their eye level, near schools and activity centers for children. It should be close to stores where people can buy your products.

Finally, while some common spots have high visibility, you should avoid competing with too many ads. You want to find a location with high traffic yet allows your outdoor ads to shine and grab attention. Evaluate the proper format or medium based on your objectives and audience. Budget and timeline are also huge factors, which is our next step.

Step 3. Set your budget and timeline

Like advertising goals, budgets and timelines are vital in crafting strategic outdoor advertising. They help brands plan how to maximize their resources to optimize results and reach people at the right time.

Before starting, research the different costs of each type of outdoor advertising. While a digital billboard has a hefty tag, it allows you to run multiple ads. Creativity goes a long way when the budget is tight, so ensure eye-catching and memorable designs to make your ad stand out.

Most importantly, a flexible budget can be achieved by adding a contingency fund. This allows brands to adjust when challenges and changes in plans arise. Be realistic in your expectations so you can achieve your goals.

Step 4. Design and create engaging visuals

You can pay for the most strategic location for outdoor advertising, but having creative and engaging visuals can make a huge difference. In addition to using high-quality visuals, add personality to your ads by incorporating humor or intriguing visuals.

For example, you can leverage play-on-words or funny images to make people remember your brand. Speaking the language of your audience also helps personalize your message.

Embrace storytelling that evokes emotions to humanize your brand and utilize different outdoor media formats like images, videos, AR, and VR to enhance storytelling. Remember that producing highly engaging and creative visuals for your outdoor ads depends on how well you know your target audience: their interests, expectations, and what makes them tick.

Step 5. Track and optimize your campaign

Tracking your outdoor advertising performance and feedback can give valuable insights into how your brand is doing. It also uncovers pitfalls and gaps your brand can fill or improve. By adjusting to challenges and feedback in real time, you can get ahead of your competition and amplify results.

Here are some tips and tricks you can implement to track and optimize your outdoor advertising campaign:

• Leverage geo-fencing: Setting up a geo-fence around outdoor ads like posters and digital billboards on bus stops allows you to track how many people go in and out of that area. You can then send them offers or messages on their phones, making your ads more engaging and driving traffic to your social media platforms and other outdoor media. 
• Analyze traffic patterns: You can look at traffic patterns in your ad placements to better understand your potential audience size. This allows you to adjust the placement of your ads accordingly to increase audience reach. 
• Monitor social media mentions: See what people say about your brand by monitoring their posts, comments, and other engagements on social media. You can use social media listening tools to track conversations across different platforms.

Creating the perfect recipe for an effective outdoor advertising campaign is challenging. But here are some strategies you shouldn’t miss that may increase your chances of success. 

Keep it simple

You may be tempted to become more elaborate in your designs as outdoor advertising can be competitive with other brands vying for people’s attention. But, keeping your design simple can be more effective in conveying your message and attracting the interest of your audience. 

When passersby can process your ad at a glance, they will likely retain what you say. Simplicity not only aids in immediate comprehension but also makes your ad stand out in the sea of billboards and other types of outdoor advertising. 

It also pushes you to be more creative, like Burger King’s Grill Lines out-of-home campaign. The minimalist design approach is noticeable, but what made it noteworthy was the copy. With punchy lines aimed at its rivals, the outdoor ads made people chuckle, giving them something to remember.

Use eye-catching visuals

Each person is exposed to thousands of ads online and offline, making it difficult to leave a mark on consumers' minds. And if you’re not strategic, your retail advertising outdoors can become invisible.

One way to stand out and get noticed is by incorporating eye-catching visuals in your outdoor advertising. For instance, you can add movements through animation or videos in your ad to make it more interesting. You can also exaggerate and use humor in your visuals to convey your message.

Take Panasonic’s billboards for its nose hair trimmer. It leveraged electric lines on the streets and funny caricatures, which amused passersby while highlighting the safety-cutting feature of the product.

Combine with digital marketing

Outdoor advertising has become dynamic over the years. So, why not integrate your digital marketing for maximum reach and impact?

For starters, you can create mobile-friendly outdoor ads. Use QR codes that people can scan, leading to your social media pages. Or, create AR billboards where users can point their phones for a more magical experience. Targeted ads can also be sent to mobile phones within the area of your outdoor advertising.

A synchronized approach between digital out-of-home ads and social media campaigns can create a seamless experience, generate buzz, and increase consumers' anticipation. It also improves the overall effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

Outdoor advertising can be a hefty investment, especially for startups and small businesses. Yet, it is often necessary to get your brand out there. Therefore, it's crucial to understand your target market's needs and the various outdoor advertising options available. Ultimately, you'll need a reliable team to ensure you get the most value for your investment.

Get expert guidance and long-term results when you work with a leading brand identity company like Ramotion.