The companies that are most effective at marketing their products and services rarely rely on a single channel to do so.
Instead, they take full advantage of the many different methods and platforms that businesses have access to reach their target audiences.
Digital-out-of-home advertising (DOOH) is a prime example of this. It’s an under-utilized strategy that can help companies unlock more of their marketing potential.
But what is DOOH advertising? And why is it a better option than traditional outdoor signage? We’ll answer those questions and tell you everything else you need to know about DOOH marketing in the article below.
DOOH advertising
What is DOOH advertising?
DOOH advertising is a specific type of out-of-home (OOH) advertising. OOH advertising refers to any type of communication that takes place between a customer and a brand outside of the home setting. For example, when you see a billboard, that’s a type of OOH advertising.
DOOH is distinguishable from this by the fact that it uses digital mediums of communication to connect with an audience. These include digital billboards, digital signage and any other channel that shares messages digitally.
Why is DOOH advertising worth doing?
DOOH advertising is taking up a bigger and bigger chunk of the total OOH advertising market each year, with brands investing in it more because of its effectiveness.
One study from the UK found that companies saw an incremental return of 46p for every pound spent (that’s around $0.63 for every $1.38 spent) — an excellent ratio for an OOH advertising campaign.
Analog signs
What are analog signs?
Analog signs are a traditional method that brands use to reach consumers while they’re out of their homes.
Any type of outdoor advertisement that you don’t display digitally is analog — for example, posters, billboards and static public transportation ads are all different types of analog signs.
Pros of analog signs
While analog signs are losing market share to DOOH because they can’t provide the same impact as digital signs, there are still some benefits to using this type of marketing strategy.
Most importantly, you will typically pay less to advertise on an analog sign than you will on a digital one. So, if your company is working with a strict budget and doesn’t plan on creating a dynamic, digital advertisement, then an analog sign may be a good option.
Cons of analog signage
Nowadays, the cons of analog signage definitely outweigh the pros. Here are some reasons why companies are starting to move away from this marketing method in favor of other options:
- You can’t update analog signs remotely
- Analog signs are more difficult to install
- Harsh weather events damage analog signs more easily
- Companies can’t display as engaging content on static analog signs
- You can’t connect analog signs to other technologies
Why DOOH advertising beats analog signage every time
There are tons of reasons why DOOH advertising can be a superior advertising choice to analog signage in the vast majority of situations.
In this section, we’ll cover seven reasons why DOOH ads are often a better solution for companies that want to reach their target audience while they’re outside of the home.
Capture the public’s attention
DOOH advertisements are generally much better at capturing the attention of passers-by than analog signs. That’s because these are dynamic, high-resolution displays that are simply better at catching the eye and holding a person’s focus than static analog signs.
Even if you don’t take many additional steps to make your digital displays interactive and engaging, they will likely still do a better job at capturing your audience’s attention simply because they’re being displayed on a digital screen.
Open up new possibilities for your marketing campaigns
One of the best reasons to choose DOOH advertising over analog signage is that this channel offers many additional opportunities for your brand to make an impact. With a digital display, you can get extremely creative with the type of content that you share.
Companies can use animations, various types of text and high-resolution imagery to create DOOH marketing campaigns that are truer to the feeling they wish to impart upon their audience. The options for doing this are much more limited with analog campaigns.
Update your signage remotely
DOOH ads are also much easier to update than analog ones. With a digital display, you can manage the content that you share on it remotely from any internet-enabled device. The same isn’t true for an analog sign, which needs to be physically changed — in-person — when it’s time for an update.
This feature helps companies be more dynamic and adaptive with their advertisements. If you realize that a campaign isn’t working the way you want it to, then you can quickly change it to a better alternative if you’re using a DOOH advertising method. This ensures that your business can quickly make the changes that it needs to get as much out of its campaigns as possible.
Swap between multiple screens at set intervals
Another cool feature of DOOH advertising is that you can use it to swap between multiple screens at a set schedule.
This can be really effective because it lets you tell more of a story with your ads. It enables you to build a narrative into your marketing, which can help you hold your audience’s attention for longer periods of time.
But you can also just use this feature to share multiple ads for different products on a single screen. For example, if you run a clothing company, you could advertise multiple items without having to pay for space on an additional billboard.
Integrate with mobile devices, social media platforms and the internet
Companies can also integrate their DOOH ads with various technologies, which helps to make them more interactive and engaging.
For example, you could use your DOOH ad space to share trending news stories while advertising for your brand. This can be an excellent way to grab more of the public’s attention.
Similarly, you can tie your DOOH campaigns to your social media accounts. For example, you might choose to display social media posts of anyone who uses your company’s hashtag. This can be an excellent way to tie your online and in-person advertising campaigns together.
Reach people when they are most open to engagement
Life is very busy nowadays, with many people tending to ignore advertisements while they’re on their electronic devices working or socializing.
OOH advertising helps you to reach consumers during the brief parts of the day when they’re not occupied with other things, and are most open to your messaging.
Analog signage allows you to do this as well, but since it’s not as effective as DOOH ads, it limits the methods you can use to attract and hold your audience’s attention.
Offer interactive engagement
Interactivity is another huge benefit of digital out-of-home advertising that analog signage simply can’t match.
There are various strategies to explore here, each of which could be an effective way for your company to boost its engagement numbers.
For example, you might try using your DOOH ads to share games that your customers can play (in-between ads for your company, of course). You might also do things like share a map of the area that the public can use to find their way.
The key here is that by allowing the public to interact with your DOOH ads, you make it more likely that they engage with them and form a connection with your brand. This simply can’t happen with analog signage.
Display QR codes
DOOH ads are also perfect for sharing QR codes with your audience. These codes are a fantastic way to take an offline lead and get them into your digital marketing funnel. You can tie the QR code to an app download, an email list signup form or whatever your preferred method is of getting new prospects into your funnel.
UPshow makes it easier to create your company’s customized DOOH marketing strategy
DOOH advertising is a powerful way to help your company reach its marketing goals — but you need to choose the right digital signage software to get as much out of this method as possible.
That’s why you should seriously consider partnering with UPshow. Our digital signage software is full of templates, customization tools, dynamic content scheduling features and more. You can use it to quickly and easily optimize your DOOH displays to help your company get as much out of its marketing budget as possible.
Don’t believe us? Try UPshow for yourself to get a first-hand look at exactly how much you can benefit from using our platform.You can visit this link to schedule a free custom demo with us today.
