Month: February 2022

Today, most modern consumers connect with brands across multiple channels before making purchasing decisions. This is great news for companies with omnichannel marketing strategies designed to follow individuals as they move through their daily routines.

But too many marketers have focused their omnichannel strategies entirely on the online world. What about physical advertising? Out-of-home (OOH) advertising still has a lot of power — especially when it’s made digital.

DOOH Advertising, Explained

What is digital out-of-home, or DOOH, advertising? It’s a way to reach people through traditional out-of-home advertising vehicles, like billboards, gas station menu boards, or office building lobby screens in an augmented way. Traditionally, OOH advertising has been fairly static. DOOH changes that, amplifying its possibilities and turning it into a powerful way to extend your branding and connect with consumers.

For instance, take an on-the-go person traveling through a typical workday. At the train station, they interact with a standalone digital billboard that features real-time messaging related to the upcoming weather forecast. When they head out for lunch with a client, their table includes a touchscreen ordering device that sends them unique content based on their choices. On the way back to the train station, they spy another digital outdoor advertising sign reminding them about a limited sale happening at a nearby store.

From the consumer’s perspective, these interactions seem natural because they’re woven into the day’s digital routine. They’re relevant and not intrusive. And given that 98% of Americans pass by at least one DOOH venue every month, according to research from Vistar and MFour, weaving DOOH advertising into marketing strategies is a strategic move.

Advantages of DOOH Advertising

Every marketing technique has its advantages. DOOH advertising is no exception. One of the most appealing is that you can finally measure ROI, which used to be nearly impossible with OOH marketing. The digital interface capabilities of DOOH campaigns allow you to collect a wealth of data, ensuring that the dollars you funnel to OOH work harder and go further. Ultimately, when done well, your DOOH advertising will move with a target user through their consumer journey, giving you more chances to get in front of — and convert — your prospects.

Another upshot to DOOH is its retargeting capabilities. You’re able to collect the device IDs of those who were likely exposed to your DOOH content. Later, you can leverage those IDs to send users relevant mobile ads. This combination of tactics is so powerful, Posterscope found that you can improve your reach by up to 303% by folding DOOH into a web or mobile campaign.

Doing DOOH Well

Since the advent of DOOH over the past two decades, a few brands have captivated audience interest and shown how exciting (and lucrative) DOOH advertising can be.

One of these brands was Coors Light, which created a DOOH campaign that was time-focused, appearing when people were most likely to leave work. Throughout Manhattan, a series of DOOH billboards appeared during happy hour. The billboards teased: “Your commute can wait,” and included visuals of Coors beer. The campaign successfully improved Coors sales in nearby neighborhoods.

Launching a DOOH Omnichannel Marketing Strategy

If you’re ready to incorporate DOOH into your media mix, here are some tips to keep in mind.

1. Know your goals going into any DOOH campaign.

Before investing in DOOH, outline what you hope to achieve and how you expect it to support your other digital advertising initiatives. Will DOOH fill customer journey awareness, traffic, or conversion gaps? Be intentional and specific. That way, you’ll have a better sense of whether your DOOH is working.

2. Identify your ideal targeting methods.

With DOOH, you have access to various data-driven targeting tactics, including behavioral, demographic, proximity, and more. You can use the data alone or overlap it with third-party data to get more specific. However, it’s key to identify the types of data and data partnerships you need before deploying any campaign.

3. Get creative.

Consumers are bombarded with information all day. Think big and bold with your DOOH to capture and maintain attention. Don’t be afraid to be unique with your DOOH creative. The more your digital ads stand out, the higher the likelihood you’ll get a boost from them in the form of organic social media mentions and buzz in the press.

4. Replace and change creative formats.

Ad saturation can lead to consumer fatigue, so you’ll want to update your DOOH advertising to keep it fresh and avoid disinterest. Consider opportunities like different messaging based on major events, limited-time sales, or even the weather, like McDonald’s U.K.-based cold beverage DOOH campaign from 2019. The fast-food giant used real-time temperatures to encourage thirsty passersby to stop in.

5. Implement advertising measurement tools.

Today, we have the technology to measure ad performance in DOOH campaigns — both in upper- and lower-funnel KPIs. Feel free to tie the impact of your DOOH exposure to anything from brand lift to foot traffic. Just make sure you clearly define your metrics and have the advertising measurement tools you need to gauge your success.

To learn more about incorporating DOOH advertising into your marketing mix, get in touch today!

Over the past few years, people have used a variety of streaming platforms to access their favorite content. As the connected TV landscape becomes more diverse, the industry’s major players — Apple, Amazon, and YouTube — are guarding the CTV data they accumulate. While these companies have a few reasons for doing so, the practice makes it difficult for advertisers to see what’s really resonating with the public.

As consumers trend more toward OTT viewing, viewership data becomes increasingly important to advertisers. However, this data is split across devices, platforms, and services, creating a fragmented environment. Advertisers rely on these major players sharing the data to ensure their campaigns aren’t being over-viewed by the same viewers across different platforms.

This data helps advertisers understand reach and targeting and ultimately measure ad performance. Once they have enough data, they can adjust their budgets in real-time based on what’s working. If big companies like Roku and YouTube don’t share data, advertisers will struggle to track consumer touchpoints and risk wasting valuable ad spend.

While there isn’t an end-all, be-all solution to avoiding these challenges, there are ways for marketers to see what resonates with audiences and plan ahead.

 

Challenges and Opportunities in CTV Advertising

When data isn’t shared, two problems come up.

First, advertisers have to work with less visibility and transparency. Without the attribution data, it’s hard to see which CTV ads led to an eventual sale. That lack of visibility makes it hard for advertisers to track channel performance. Second, as companies decide not to share their data, they have more power over advertisers and give them little choice but to rely on their platforms.

Despite these challenges, though, CTV is still a huge opportunity for advertisers to connect with consumers, especially when compared to the premium fees of linear TV. On average, CTV campaigns lower costs for advertisers. Additionally, as more streaming platforms enter the market, these companies face higher competition to secure advertising dollars, creating a buyer’s market as buyers spend more on the platform offering the most competitive rate.

Further, CTV advertising offers great reach. In fact, eMarketer predicts that by the end of 2022, there will be over 204 million CTV users in the United States. Not only that, but the targeting capabilities it offers enable advertisers to choose from thousands of demographic and behavior-based attributes to ensure better, more relevant messaging. Plus, when advertisers do have access to viewership data, they can measure CTV ads, yielding greater insights that empower them to make data-driven decisions — rather than rely on hunches and gut feelings.

 

Best Practices for Advertisers to Navigate the CTV Landscape

While the CTV landscape is certainly fragmented and big players do silo information, there are ways advertisers can optimize what is available and maximize outcomes. Here are a few helpful tactics for advertisers looking to measure ad performance and make the best possible decisions for their CTV campaigns:

1. Identify your audience.

As with any marketing initiative, it’s essential to start by understanding your consumer profile. Who are they? What are their demographics, buying behavior, media behavior, etc.? With this profile in mind, you can then confirm whether CTV is the right investment for your brand.

2. Target your consumer specifically.

Once you determine that your audience correlates with the CTV viewer, take advantage of the data-driven targeting available. CTV offers control over where ads are being played. This means you can tailor your buys to target specific groups of customers with certain ads. For example, young female consumers might resonate with various messages differently from older male consumers, so target these groups with different ads across the respective platforms they’re using.

3. Take advantage of the omnichannel consumer.

One of the biggest benefits of CTV is how closely it intertwines with other digital advertising channels and tactics. Enable retargeting tactics so consumers continue to see your ads as they browse. Consumers are most likely browsing on their phone or tablet while watching content so you can encourage them to visit your site in the ad. Also, consider providing an offer with a unique referral code based on the content they’re watching. Combining CTV buys with the other digital advertising tactics creates a seamless omnichannel customer journey.

4. Consider investing in an attribution partner.

Many advertisers are familiar with using attribution partners for their digital advertising initiatives, and CTV is no different. There are solutions on the market, like TVSquared, that enable you to track campaigns across the entire TV ecosystem. Similarly, companies like Cuebiq empower brands to track foot traffic across all platforms. While this does not solve the challenges related to data guarding, they are a helpful tool for now.

5. Embrace new opportunities.

CTV provides a great opportunity for advertisers to tap into a fresh market. Plus, with Google removing third-party cookies this year, advertisers will have to look to new solutions and tactics to reach consumers. CTV is an inherently cookieless environment, so putting aside 5–10% of your budget to test and try these channels prepares you for a smoother transition at the end of 2022.

 

 

Navigating the CTV landscape can feel overwhelming for advertisers, but it doesn’t have to. To learn more about how Digilant can support your CTV advertising efforts, get in touch today!