It’s fair to say that advertising has changed drastically over the years. From traditional advertising such as TV, radio, and billboards to digital platforms such as Facebook & Google, the way businesses can reach their target market on a more personal level is constantly changing.

While digital marketing has its advantages when reaching people at scale, one of its biggest disadvantages is that ads can be skipped or blocked due to ad blindness & fatigue.

With this in mind, advertisers need to be aware of these hurdles and explore more cost-effective channels in order to launch effective campaigns.

And the next evolution of that is certainly going to be in DOOH advertising.

But what exactly is it and how can it grow your retail business?

That’s exactly what we’re going to discuss in this guide.

What is Digital Out-Of-Home Advertising?

Essentially, digital out-of-home advertising or DOOH advertising is the use of digital display screens such as digital billboards, digital signage displays, elevator screens etc., to deliver media and content to people in various settings such as retail stores.

If you really think about it, DOOH advertising goes back to the roots of advertising aka out-of-home (OOH) advertising.

An Advertising Medium That Cannot Be Blocked

As previously mentioned, paid digital marketing platforms such as Facebook & Google can suffer from being blocked both with technology and from the audience's mind if their ads become too intrusive & repetitive.

With DOOH advertising you always know where your ads are playing without running the risk of your brand becoming saturated or annoying & irrelevant.

This type of advertising offers unrivalled viewability as all ads will be 100% viewable unless something is physically blocking the screen.

Full Steam Ahead With Digital

Did you know that according to a recent report, global spending on digital out-of-home advertising is expected to grow 10.1% annually?

The main driver of this growth has been the digitisation of out-of-home advertising.

Cities around the world are expanding and adding to their existing public transport systems, including adding screens, thus contributing to the growth of DOOH.

This growth is also being seen in retail stores as more and more shopping centres are popping up in cities and other areas which is also ensuring the growth of the DOOH network.

Digital Video Content is King

In a world where we are consuming content at a phenomenal rate, video continues to reign supreme.

However, in many cases, audio won’t be a feature in your retail digital ads. The key here is to be able to communicate your message through video regardless if audio is present or not.

Through this video digital signage content, you can create custom content that is not only relevant to your business, but to your customers.

Keep in mind that people in public will always respond differently to advertising versus how they respond at home.

The audience you are advertising to needs to be a strong priority when designing creatives, as well as the context and viewing environment to ensure you can maximise engagement.

Define Your Marketing Strategy

Regardless if it’s traditional, digital marketing or DOOH advertising, you need to be able to define your marketing strategy.

There are a number of steps involved with this as we have featured below.

Your Main Goal

Typically, most DOOH advertising campaigns will have one objective per ad campaign which will ensure you remain focused and in turn makes it easier to keep track of ROI and KPIs.

At the moment, DOOH is mainly an impression-based medium that can and should be used to supplement other concurrent digital marketing activities that currently might be active.

For instance, you can use it to grow your social media following or drive traffic to your website, and promote an in-store or online offer.

Essentially, defining the main goal is the most important factor in any campaign and will also ensure your reporting is focused & organised.

Your Audience

Once the campaign's main goal has been defined, you can then go about delivering your ads. But first, your target audience will need to be defined to ensure that this message is being delivered to the right people.

When determining who your audience is, it’s important to understand their pain points, what problems they are trying to solve, and how your product or service will solve them.

It’s also imperative to understand where your target market is physically located, as advertising in the right location is directly correlated with better DOOH results.

Your content will then reflect this chosen target audience and ensure the right people are engaging and responding to it.

Your Content

Now that you’ve done all the necessary research, it’s time to start creating your digital signage content.

Whether it be branded videos or static imagery, there’s no end to what you’re able to create to showcase your brand or promotion.

For example, videos are flexible and powerful they’re by far and away the best way to convey your message. It is also effective when you’re wanting to create interactive digital signage content.

Images, on the other hand, might not be as interactive as videos, but can still be effective in getting your message across to your target audience.

Regardless of whether you choose videos or images or both, we recommend sticking to the following with any content you might use:

• Keep text to a minimum; let the visual tell the story

• Have a clear call-to-action so your audience knows what action it is you want them to take

• Lots of colours and branding go a long way

Launching Your DOOH Advertising

Now that you have defined your strategy, and the type of content you will use, it’s time to launch your DOOH advertising campaign.

However, before you launch, it’s important to understand and consider the following.

Choosing Where You Want to Advertise

There are a number of options to choose from as to where you can advertise your campaign. These options include city, display screen location & type.

Setting Your Budget and Ad Schedule

Your budget will always be a consideration but you will also need to consider setting the daily and maximum budgets you wish to spend, as well as which dates you’d like your ads to appear on.

One advantage here is that you can pick a date range and then decide whether you want your ads to be shown every day during this period or on specific days. You can take this a step further and pick specific times to ensure you are maximising viewing visibility with your target audience.

This is where analytics and data really come into their own and provide you with the necessary information to ensure a successful campaign

Adding Content

Using content-creating platforms such as Canva, you can create visually appealing digital signage content for your campaigns and upload them into your media player for scheduling & publication.

It’s Time to Launch Your DOOH Campaigns

You’re now ready to launch your DOOH advertising campaign and reap the rewards of what this effective platform has to offer.

Combining it with other mainstream marketing channels such as social media, SEO, content marketing, and Google Ads, you can start to create a true full-stack marketing funnel that reaches your target audience at every level.

We trust this guide to DOOH advertising has not only taught you something about this marketing channel but also how it can be effective in driving desired outcomes for your business.