Digital out-of-home advertising (DOOH) isn’t new — in fact, in 2020, the global DOOH ad market was worth approximately $41.06 billion. And this number is only expected to rise as marketers elevate their DOOH approach, particularly in response to consumers’ increased expectation of digital and innovative experiences from brands.

But for those who are either new to this form of marketing or looking to elevate their current investment, it’s critical to identify the right partner to execute your DOOH campaign: one whose capabilities can provide the greatest return and ensure your message is being placed in front of the right audience in the most successful and meaningful way.

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When launching a DOOH campaign, consider three important factors:

1. Personalization and creative targeting across various demographics

Consumer demand for personalized content is increasing — a fact that also applies to ads in our physical environment. Customers are more likely to buy a product based on a personalized targeted advertisement. In fact, an Epsilon study found that four out of five consumers are more likely to make purchases when a brand gives them a personalized experience.

When exploring DOOH opportunities, brands should consider targeted advertisements, such as trigger advertising. This marketing technique “triggers” a message to be automatically sent to potential or actual customers in the course of the customer journey. Meaning, ads can be deployed based on geographical location and community, gender, household income and even age. This type of customization is unique to DOOH and when utilized correctly, can directly impact ROI with product sales, particularly if brands offer promotions for redemption within the creative.

2. Dynamic creative elements that capture the attention of consumers

Consumers’ attention spans are getting increasingly smaller, requiring brands to constantly innovate and explore new approaches to creative that is dynamic and impactful in order to truly engage and captivate audiences. While static images can still perform well, interactive and dynamic creative often result in increased consumer engagement and, ultimately, consumer action. These creative assets can take the form of moving graphics, 3D technology, high-quality video assets, and even CTA embedded content.

Additionally, brands can capture audience’s attention by honing into what the consumer cares about – such as sustainability, charitable causes and even animals. This is enough to not only capture the audience’s attention for the segment that they are interested in, but can even hold their attention for content that follows it.

When considering creative approaches, a great starting point is to explore ad types that have historically performed well on the digital platform — which can act as a guidepost for creative direction.

3. Optimization with real-time insights (and ability to pivot)

The importance of real-time insights cannot be stressed enough. Real-time data is the reality of DOOH, and a critical consideration for brands launching a DOOH campaign.

These data points can provide highly valuable feedback for brands, helping them understand how consumers respond to and interact with the advertisement, such as the amount of time spent looking at your ad and even consumer shopping habits. This can have significant ROI in retail centers. For example, brands can leverage DOOH space to promote sales or QR codes for redemption; redemption rates could then be tracked to understand direct business impact.

Brands should look for a partner that offers access to an analytics dashboard, demonstrating real-time results of their campaign. If a dashboard isn’t available, marketers should proactively ask about how their campaign is performing and seek insights on a consistent basis instead of waiting until the end of the campaign.

With that data, marketers can assess campaign performance and choose to pivot if a campaign isn’t on track to reach its goal. An ideal DOOH partner should offer brands the ability to update the creative used in the campaign (or have alternate options at the start of the campaign), or even change the location of the ad to better match the targeted demographic.

As we look to the future, innovative, evolving technologies continue to emerge, creating new opportunities for the DOOH market. So it’s critical that brands look to make an investment in DOOH advertising that maximizes ROI through dynamic content, personalized targeting, and transparent data for campaign optimization.

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