Outdoor advertising is an essential part of any major marketing campaign. It’s also a lucrative industry, with £700 million spent on out-of-home (OOH) advertising in the UK in 2020. Your upcoming campaign could stand to benefit from the inclusion of OOH assets – but what exactly does it mean, and how could it help your business?
What Constitutes Outdoor Advertising?
Outdoor advertising is an umbrella term, comprising a multitude of physical marketing solutions that deliver promotional materials outside of the home. These solutions include billboards, bench adverts, poster trees, and bus station boards, amongst other in-transits solutions such as train and bus advertising.
Recent advances in technology have decreased the cost of manufacturing and installation for digital billboards, creating new kinds of interactive and animated advertising opportunities outside of social media and web applications. But why exactly should you invest in OOH advertising when online platforms are available?
Big Audiences
A major factor is the large audiences it can reach – and, in the cases of in-transit advertising, these are captive audiences to boot. Transport advertising solutions account for a quarter of total yearly OOH advertising spend. Choosing the right places for your campaign, whether that be on a train or a billboard by an A-road, can expose your brand to a large number of commuters.
Inexpensive
Taking out advertising of this kind doesn’t have as much of an impact on your marketing budget as it might initially appear. Of course, national bus-side campaigns will cost a pretty penny, but using targeted external solutions can be inexpensive when compared to the real-term benefits the additional exposure can bring to your business.
Highly Effective
Outdoor advertising is an extremely effective way to promote your brand, as the format – which tends to be either a poster or a billboard – demands simplicity. A creative marketing idea, done well and disseminated widely, will find the right demographic and communicate a simple message about your brand. By investing in high-quality outdoor signage from a reputable source, you can ensure the longevity of your advert, especially where boards are subject to wear and tear or adverse weather conditions.
Familiar and Trustworthy
Ultimately, the success of OOH marketing falls to the trustworthiness of the platform. Consumers are intimately familiar with encountering adverts on their commute or in the city center, and an implicit trust is generated in brands that regularly feature on physical advertising platforms. With more than one OOH marketing campaign, you can familiarise your name, brand, and mission with the public, increasing trust and eventual engagement as a result.
