With the various types of advertising available to brands and businesses nowadays, product or service promotions still heavily rely on outdoor advertising. 

Also known as out-of-home (OOH) advertising, these ads take the form of billboards along highways, poster boards in public terminals, and even large LED displays in public spaces. Their ubiquitous forms grab the attention of their target audience from then until now. But what is the medium’s secret to success?

The reasons why outdoor advertising continues to be effective in the age of smartphones and the internet are the following:

1. It maximizes audience data

Knowing your target audience is a key part in developing your overall marketing strategy. This includes profiling your audiences in certain locations–cities, districts, and other public spaces. Through outdoor advertising, you can take advantage of this audience data and maximize your gains.

As a billboard in a particular location directly advertises to people in that area, you can further customize your visuals and messaging to better connect with your target audience. Depending on your ad’s format and your chosen area, you may be able to reach motorists and pedestrians alike. 

With 55% of consumers being ‘highly engaged’ by an ad’s message, targeted messaging is still highly effective.

2. It reaches your audience during active hours

In the hustle and bustle of daily living, about 70% of the average person’s waking hours are spent away from home. While smartphones make it easier to stay connected digitally, these waking hours are spent in the public—working, going to school, running errands, and the like. Given this, outdoor advertising is in a prime position to reach your audiences.

The secret to the success of reaching your audience during their active hours lies in two reasons: they are more likely to process and remember your messaging, and they can decide to act on it. One UK study has shown that over 25% of people visited a store after seeing an OOH ad.

Another UK-based study reported that 83% of people admit to remembering the OOH ads they saw within the last half hour of shopping. These numbers make it all the more essential to leverage outdoor advertising for better brand recall and sales.

3. It provides eye-catching and interactive messaging and visuals

Outdoor advertising is often categorized as a traditional form of advertising. However, the advancements in technology allow it to go above and beyond its predecessors. Besides having eye-catching visuals and compelling copy, modern billboards can help create a more widespread interactive campaign.

Adding a short link to your billboard copy or a unique QR code leading to a landing page helps bridge the gap between traditional and digital methods. Alternatively, creating a stunning ad with a hashtag for sharing photos allows audiences to create their own content and engage with your brand. 

With the rise of LED billboards, dynamic visuals like videos and animations can be leveraged to push recall and engagement.

The result of a more effective and engaging OOH ad is astounding: there is a 40% increase in digital search effectiveness when combined with outdoor advertising.

4. It takes advantage of travel

Experts estimate that the average person spends 194 minutes in a car every weekday and 57 minutes on Sundays. During this time, commuters and travelers are otherwise unoccupied. Because of this, it’s no surprise that there are tons of signs, billboards, and other outdoor advertisements vying for their attention.

Even ecommerce-driven brands benefit from the exposure of OOH advertisements as 41% of all smartphone shopping is done outside the home. So, even while waiting for a bus or being stuck in traffic, your audience can act on your messaging. 

Awareness of products or services, brand recall, and even learning essential information such as phone numbers, app names, or website addresses—these can all be introduced and reinforced by a well-placed advertisement in their daily travel routes or commuting hubs.

The best way to take advantage of this is to study your target audience’s travel and commuting habits and select locations where they’re most likely to see your advert.

5. It has a massive reach

There’s no denying how prevalent outdoor advertising is. In the U.S. alone, 75% of travelers have seen a digital billboard in the past month. Meanwhile, in the UK, 98% of consumers are exposed to some form of OOH advertising each week.

The advantage that this type of advertising has is that consumers will see it even when they don’t expect to in certain areas. From location-specific adverts to billboards along major throughways, you are guaranteed to reach more people than with any other type of ad. Even without the specific targeting that other ads have, 85% of consumers think OOH advertising is helpful.

Achieve Business Success with OOH Ads

While digital advertising and other forms of marketing are on the rise, it’s clear that outdoor advertising still has a place in any well-rounded marketing strategy. With its ability to turn heads, create impressions, and communicate information to a wide array of people, outdoor advertising is effective when done right.

To get the most out of your next advertising campaign, contact Quick Brown Fox—the topnotch specialists in outdoor advertising in the Philippines.