Have you ever seen digital content on a mini TV screen at a gas station? What about on a digital directory at a mall, or a digital billboard on the side of a bus? These are all examples of digital out-of-home (DOOH) media, and they’re taking over the advertising industry with new innovations seemingly every day.
So what sets DOOH apart, and what considerations do marketing teams need to have when moving into space?
Given the state of mass communications, the world knows about an event moments after it happens, which means public opinion and mood can shift dramatically from one minute to the next.
Take, for example, the recent Planters Super Bowl commercial, in which Mr. Peanut dies and is reborn as “Baby Nut.” Despite Planters’ massive spending on that ad placement, the entire campaign had to be paused due to negative public reactions in the wake of Kobe Bryant’s tragic death. A dead peanut series of static OOH billboards would net a major loss for a company like Planters, having to pay for all ad space to be physically replaced.
Due to the real-time nature of a DOOH campaign, ads can be adjusted quickly in response to events. From small edits to an overall campaign shift, DOOH allows marketers to turn on a dime in an ad environment that demands it.
While this is an extreme example, this same principle can be applied to other use cases, like allowing brands to react to changes in the weather to ensure ads are relevant and timely. For example, a home improvement store with a gardening DOOH campaign could instantly change it over to shovels with a late-season blizzard hit.
Digitally-enabled OOH media uses location-based data to understand the audiences that are within view of the ad. Anytime consumers download an app that asks for location data, for example, those who opt-in are agreeing to share their location information with data providers. Then, advertisers can use that data to understand the traffic patterns of those consumers and where they’re spending time.
This is also how viewership for OOH ads is measured, although there’s no guarantee that someone within a certain location actually viewed the ad in question. This location data can then be used to assess the effectiveness of the ad, especially if your end goal is to drive traffic to a certain location like a storefront.
Edge1 Outdoor Media Management Software has the capability to correlate this location data with online audiences using mobile IDs that can be converted into IP addresses. Retargeting consumers is also an option, as geofencing allows advertisers to target people within a specific radius and serve them additional ad content.
Along with increased agility and accuracy in messaging and targeting, DOOH purchasing is far more compatible with digital marketing operations than traditional OOH.
Because of its digital nature, any digital team can easily fold DOOH into their overall digital strategy, and this is where the real merging of the physical and digital happens.
Programmatic DOOH is the concept that enables media buyers to develop a set of criteria for the intended audience of a given ad, such as time of day or weather conditions, for example. When those criteria are met, the purchase transaction is executed automatically and the ad is displayed on the screen.
These purchasing decisions are powered and analyzed by new methods of measurement that are far more accurate than before. Traditionally, OOH was not part of the omnichannel conversation because of the inability to measure accurate results against foot traffic or sales lift.
Conclusion
DOOH is shifting the advertising landscape, and many feel that it’s changing for the better. In the coming months and years, we’ll continue to see brands really experiment to understand what they’re capable of in this new space. Consumers will also reap the rewards, interacting with their surroundings in ways that are designed to inform and entertain simultaneously. Time will tell where exactly the industry will take us, but one thing is for sure: DOOH isn’t going anywhere.
As outdoor advertising companies, buy outdoor media sites and acquire the sites on a regular basis, and when the time is to manage them, they face dizzying, the complexity, due and pays are making big trouble for them. Accounts payables and receivables workflow is an immense task, and it gets harder when your sites include a mix of digital and static sites.
Edge1 Outdoor Media Management Software, finance module automate and streamline the payables and receivables by giving you timely alerts of all the due payments. As the software is dedicatedly designed for the outdoor advertising industry with the hi-tech technology to have a significant impact on daily OOH business operations, you can add your custom alerts, get due landlord license fee alerts, and many more.
Most outdoor advertising media companies would admit they often depend on spreadsheets to know the site availability, track the campaign progress, and report on various metrics, processes, etc. Spreadsheets have a place and are sometimes valuable, but if you’re using them to manage your media site locations, leads, landlord license fees, campaign expenses, budgets, and metrics, you’re likely ready to pull out your hair.
It’s time to stop the madness and say, “We’re not going to take it anymore!”
The Problems with Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are static. Spreadsheets are complicated. Spreadsheets are manual. With thousands of cells, pages, and macros subject to human error, they offer little in the way of providing trustworthy data that can be used with confidence and you never know if you’re working from the same version as the other guy.
How much time do you or those on your team spend knowing the current availability of media locations, verifying the data is accurate and the right version, and trying to share it with others? How well do they enable your team to collaborate and share quick media plans? How effective are they in helping you manage your outdoor media locations, measure the impact of a campaign, and predict your revenue?
Sales + Spreadsheets = Hell
Outdoor media advertising sales are inherently complex because there are usually many campaigns running at the same time, each with its own budgets, number of locations, schedules, markets, and production (printing and installation). Using a spreadsheet to manage all of these moving parts not only adds countless hours but puts the organization at risk for using bad or old data and wasting a lot of time.
The truth is, spreadsheets were not designed for collaboration. Since your sales department likely consists of more people than just you, using a spreadsheet just isn’t practical in light of all of the automated sales tools available. Spreadsheets are limited in their functionality when it comes to OOH advertising media sales; they don’t allow multiple users to input or access data on demand and they don’t provide real-time visibility into what’s really happening. To make things worse, oftentimes, there are multiple spreadsheets being used by various people, leading to frustration and data inconsistency.
If your outdoor media plans are based on the actual available locations, you have to trust the data you have. A single error in a single cell of a massive spreadsheet renders that spreadsheet completely useless. Are you willing to risk your sales efforts on the accuracy of those spreadsheets over which you have so little control?
Stepping Out of Spreadsheet Hell
Sales departments must step out of their comfort zone of spreadsheets and embrace sales performance management solutions that automate processes and integrate with other business systems, like CRMs and sales automation platforms. You need modern technology to do things spreadsheets don’t allow, like comparing media plans. You need to have a standardized methodology for evaluating and media locations’ performance. You need a single source of truth from which your team can work.
Spreadsheets will never be able to give you these features, flexibility or visibility.
Knowing this, why do salespeople still sometimes cling to spreadsheets? Likely because they’ve always used them and don’t want to learn or invest in something different. I get it. Change is scary and there is often a learning curve. But spreadsheets will perpetually demand vigilance and consistently fall short of what you really need to run an effective and successful marketing organization.
