3 Strategic Ways to Boost Sales with DOOH Advertising

Last Updated on March 27, 2023

What is DOOH advertising?

Tech companies like Facebook and Google are pioneers in the world of online advertising. Yet when they want to advertise their newest products or features, they turn to outdoor advertising. Why do these giants choose to invest in this type of advertising? It is simple: despite all the advantages of online advertising, for a message to get noticed, you have to go through outdoor advertising.

Outdoor advertising includes any visual display media found outside the home, such as billboards and signs, advertisements on street furniture (bus shelters, benches, etc.), advertisements in transit areas such as airports, train stations, or metro stations. These different formats represent thousands of locations and millions of screens around the world.

Outdoor advertising is a broad category that today represents approximately $29 billion in spending in key markets around the world. Some of the world’s largest advertisers, including McDonald’s, Apple, Amazon, HBO, and Coca-Cola. They widely and frequently use different outdoor advertising formats for their advertising campaigns. 

So what is DOOH? It stands for “Digital Out-of-Home” and is basically OOH advertising powered up with AdTech with features like geofencing, tracking, retargeting, personalizing, attribution and measurement.

For example, Apple’s “Photographed with iPhone” poster campaign invited customers to submit photos taken with their iPhones. The best photos were displayed on billboards to inspire passers-by. A billboard from Apple’s “Shot on iPhone” campaign showed a group of people doing a timed shot where they all jumped in the air. It is a good example of how Apple used attractive imagery shots on iPhones to create billboards people notice.

Why do media buyers love DOOH advertising? Online advertising can be frustrating for media buyers. Indeed, ad blockers are very common, and the few users who do not are so bombarded with ads that it is hard to stand out from them. If an ad is not at the top of a popular site, its chances of being seen are slim.

This is not a problem with DOOH advertising. Billboards, signs, digital screens, and other forms of outdoor advertising cannot be blocked, unless you have your eyes closed. There is no section that takes over or lacks visibility. In other words, it is the best way to display the colorful messages that the big brands are trying to deliver. Media buyers who have integrated DOOH advertising into their multi-channel campaigns have found that it gives a significant boost to other channels as well.

A study by Ocean NeuroScience found that “consumers are 48% more likely to click on an advertisement online after first being exposed to the same advertisement served by an outdoor display medium.” Likewise, Nielsen and the OAAA found that 46% of adults surveyed had searched online after seeing the object of that search in an outdoor advertisement. Similar results were also observed with major social networks.

How does DOOH advertising work?

Outdoor advertising being one of the first advertising methods, it seems surprising that it has endured over the years. Especially since its importance and popularity continue to grow even today. What is the driving force behind this form of advertising these days?

The answer: Outdoor advertising has gone digital. Renewal in this sector, made possible by the new capabilities and increased efficiency of digital signage, is behind almost all of the growth in this space. In addition to being much more practical, digital signage media offer more vivid colors and vibrancy. Replacing physical media is a long and often tedious process. On the other hand, digital signage can load different advertisements or even several images for the same advertisement. Simultaneously on the same system. These can then scroll at the frequency desired by the owner. 

Many companies can manage DOOH advertising with Android digital signage and can connect through their phones. Thanks to DOOH, brands showcase their products interactively. What appeals to, interests, and above all engages consumers. With this communication tool, companies can express their creativity.

As this medium is dynamic, it offers several possibilities for interacting with the target. Some examples are kiosks in shopping centers, touch screens in pharmacies, and shop windows. The customer thus becomes an actor and the brand stands out from its competitors by offering them a unique experience. Content broadcast on DOOH media may be user-generated. Indeed, brands can ask their target to transmit their own content (a selfie photo, a message to send to relatives, etc.).

There are many techniques to encourage consumers to use this medium. Like, for example, in Times Square, the Taco Bell brand asked passers-by to post photos of themselves eating the brand’s new tacos with a dedicated hashtag! Brands also use DOOH to engage consumers in a game, via touch screens installed in shopping centers, for example. Consumers are in control, get a message and remember the brand name more easily.

Digital signage makes it possible to rely on visual narration, to create a universe in its own right, and to enrich its discourse. Thanks to the diversity of networks and screens available and its programmatic possibilities, it becomes very easy to develop but also to deploy a relevant, flexible and affinity-based brand content strategy.

This opportunity to offer branded editorial content in digital signage also opens up a very interesting gateway between the web and social networks. However, companies must also be responsible and look at an MDM solution to ensure security and management are always achieved. This way you can be fully in control of your advertising. 

👉 Free Download: AirDroid Business MDM For Digital Signage Management
Experience monitoring signage screens in bulk, customizing interface, pushing app update automatically, and remotely controlling your digital signage anytime.

Benefits of DOOH advertising

For several years, DOOH advertising has enjoyed great success since this new type of communication brings many advantages:

1. Companies complete their media mix with DOOH, which allows them to reach an even larger clientele. It can be done in various places and in unprecedented ways.

2. Digital signage remains a medium that appeals to consumers. Indeed, 70% of the population is interested in this type of communication. According to various studies, a screen advertisement is still more effective than a print advertisement.  

3. DOOH saves businesses money. With digital signage, you deliver your ads in one click and thus limit the cost of printing paper.

4. In terms of content, DOOH allows for greater creativity.

Examples of DOOH advertising

To properly calibrate your communication on digital signage screens, you need to ask yourself the right questions upstream. This will guarantee you a better ROI by exploiting its strengths. How to position my brand or my product for my DOOH brand content strategy?

This is the key to a successful DOOH content marketing strategy. Provide content yes, but good content. One that is relevant, in the natural extension of your profession, expresses your know-how, your expertise. The one that your customers credit you for and that they naturally subscribe to.

Basic, however, is a capital parameter to calibrate the type of messages, the duration of the spot, the number of repetitions, the type of graphics, the articulation of the speech, and more. The longer the exposure time, the greater the memorization. Above all, try to orchestrate a discourse around more substantial content.

You can capitalize on the possibility of extending the experience on mobile. What messages are in line with the issues and expectations of the audience? Be sure to take into account the specificities of the audience and the context(s) in which your message is delivered.

Obviously, we will not push the same message to people who commute by the metro, who wait at the doctor or at the cashier of a department store. Capitalizing on the contextualization of broadcasting can be a tremendous asset for gaining impact.

Digital signage offers great flexibility in media planning, so you might as well take advantage of it. You should focus on becoming coherent and consistent. How to capture attention and captivate? Like silence on the radio, contrasts or certain types of animation capture attention and catch the eye. The rhythm and the cadence of the video must maintain the interest, not tire the eye. You have to find the right balance to ensure that your target follows you from the first to the last second.

Touch screens in shopping malls

Touchscreens have been on the market for a long time and have steadily improved both in terms of quality and features. Today you can be offered the whole range from a simple single screen to a comprehensive complete system that integrates an entire device landscape. It can still be controlled just as easily via a touchscreen. It allows customers to find out more about the individual shops and even their products before they even enter the shop.

Large office buildings or educational institutions also benefit from indoor touchscreens. Working time recording systems, building automation systems, room reservations, or interactive blackboards or presentation screens in large format are simple. They are easier to use with touch technology. You may have seen this already in shopping malls and certain takeout places such as McDonald’s that allow you to order food via touch screens! 

On the go advertising

As smartphones become more advanced and ubiquitous, the presence of out-of-home digital displays has increased. Indeed, the so-called “classic” uses of dynamic display are the transmission of targeted and personalized information. Or even the awareness of the audience with interactive, innovative, and unique content.

However, DOOH advertising relies on real-time data sources and allies itself with innovative technologies. Interactions with consumers have become more important. This is thanks to new mobile technologies such as facial recognition, NFC technology (Near Field Communication), as well as beacons and geo-identification. Such technologies can allow a marketer to personalize the consumer’s experience.

Digital signs and billboards

A characteristic of digital signage, however, is the networked structure of the output devices in the out-of-home area. These are centrally managed and controlled. The broadcast of the advertising message takes place over several distributed image areas. These are all connected to one another. The message can thus be adapted and changed precisely to the target group at any time. This not only happens several times a day but can change every hour in order to reach and pick up consumers where they are. 

A media player is also required so that the message can be displayed on the smart screens. These are equipped with digital signage software and enable the content to be reproduced on the output device. Here, too, there are different media players that vary depending on the purpose and area of ​​application. Android digital signage is a positive way to boost your businesses’ advertising in an exciting way. 

Conclusion

A study by Wall Street consulting firm PJ Solomon shows the potential of digital out-of-home displays. DOOH media have a much better effect on passers-by than the media types TV, radio, online, or print. This was measured on the advertising recall of the test subjects. This was between 47 and 82% for DOOH areas, while the TV was only able to record 22-62%.

In times when online advertising is increasingly struggling with banner blindness and ad blockers, these problems do not arise with DOOH. So it is not for nothing that a prominent future is predicted for the likable advertising medium. With the right security and management, they can indeed be a brilliant investment for any business. Especially in the coming decade when more and more companies turn to digital advertising.