New to Out-of-Home Advertising? 6 Things to Avoid

Whether you're a small business or a large corporation, marketing is the way you draw in new customers. As opposed to television or digital media, out-of-home (OOH) advertising is a way to connect with clients during every part of the day. However, if your marketing team hasn't worked with OOH models in the past, there's a risky potential for wasting money! Here are six pitfalls to be aware of when planning your OOH strategy.

#1. Advertising in the Wrong Place

While some believe that any press is good press, there are still wrong ways to advertise. Putting up a billboard in an area with little traffic or placing business ads in residential locations are surefire ways to waste your ad dollars. Before hiring an out of home advertising professional, make sure you have a good idea about where you want to place your marketing materials. A quality firm will be able to help find the best spots to hit your target demographic.

#2. Expensive Test Campaigns

A good OOH strategy needs to be tested before you send it out nationwide. One big mistake many companies make is focusing their testing in a high-cost area. Market research in New York City may be a great resource, but the cost of getting that data may be out of reach for your company. Instead, look to smaller cities or boroughs that have a lower price tag but will garner similar results. You can then implement a strategy that you're sure is effective in a location that will get much more attention!

#3. Monitoring Metrics That Don't Matter

Spending all of that marketing money stings when your ad campaign doesn't pull its weight. Many teams look at the wrong metrics when assessing the success of their latest trial run, leading to adjustments and decisions that can hurt the company in a number of ways. Increases in the following areas suggest a successful campaign:

• Mobile app downloads
• Website traffic
• Clickthrough rates on digital advertising
• Sales using causal impact analysis

It's important to track and isolate your OOH advertising campaign to better understand its impact on the company. Simply looking at increases in sales and ignoring the other advantages of OOH marketing will leave you with an incomplete picture of your success.

#4. Scaling Up, Not Out

Your team's hard work testing a great new ad campaign shows it's a big hit, and everyone is ready to expand. At this point, many businesses scale their advertising out to increase their marketing in areas already tested. While this might get you a modicum of movement, it's often a better idea to look for areas with a similar demographic. For example, a successful campaign in California's Silicon Valley may play well in the tech cultures of Seattle and Portland, too.

#5. Misunderstanding the Target Audience

Sure, you may know what demographic your products and services are geared towards, but that doesn't mean you really understand them. Creating a successful out-of-home advertising campaign requires your company to cater to your loyal customers and find new ones with similar interests. Ways you can get to know who's interacting with your business include:

• Perform large-scale surveys
• Review requests
• Gather consumer interaction feedback
• Examine the competition
• Use social media

One of the easiest ways to get keyed into your target demographic is having an active social media presence. Having dedicated channels for interaction allows you to have direct connections with your customers, which simultaneously helps to build trust in your brand.

#6. Trying to DIY

There are a lot of CEOs and marketing team leaders who feel they can do anything on their own. While it's true that a company can save some cash upfront by attempting to take on certain tasks, this leaves the business at a significant disadvantage. Not only are you getting sub-par advertising, but the staff isn't focusing on the jobs they are good at. Letting an out-of-home advertising professional handle the intricacies of the campaign allows your team to work on projects that will actually help the company in the long run.

Optimize Out-of-Home Advertising

Trying to get an OOH ad campaign off the ground is a challenge. You and your team can make a lot of poor choices that may lead to a depressing impact on the bottom line. Avoid some of the more common mistakes fledgling advertisers make by seeking professional services to help create a campaign designed specifically to meet your goals. Thanks to the power of OOH campaigns, they're sure to be a boon to your marketing team for years to come!