What goes into OOH advertising?

A group takes a photo of wildpostings for the brand Beats - Los Angeles, CA.

Out-of-home (OOH) is one of the oldest forms of advertising. While there are technologies to streamline the process, OOH advertising still needs a human touch to guide the campaign from planning to activation.

What goes into OOH advertising campaigns? Below is a roadmap you can follow when you consider your next OOH campaign.

1. Identifying the audience

   • No two brands are exactly alike. Identify who you are trying to reach and get specific. Outline demographics and observed behaviors of your customers. Out-of-home specialists use tools to identify audience frequencies in a given market.

2. Finding the inventory

   • Once you know your target market and your audience, you have to find the right inventory to reach them. Out-of-home agencies have access to all the OOH media, in the US and worldwide.

3. Determining the best inventory for your goals and budget

   • Depending on your budget and goals, you may want to use a variety of either of formats, or lean into a specific strategy such as a digital OOH around a special event/conference, leveraging 3D anamorphic for a Times Square placement, or even a package of hyper-local posters placed in local businesses.

4. Negotiating with media owners

   • Activating one billboard in one market isn’t complicated, but as you scale to work with multiple vendors and multiple markets, there's more to manage. Out-of-home specialists can help navigate this process to ensure you’re spending your investment on the most cost-efficient inventory.

5. Contracting the media

   • Out-of-home media can sell quickly. If there’s a time period or flight dates that you can’t budge on, be sure to secure the media and consider lead times needed for traditional/static placements.

6. Determining creative by market

   • There’s something special about creative that is contextual to the audience, different audiences respond differently to creatives. With digital OOH campaigns, you have the ability to test or rotate different creatives. Traditional requires a bit more commitment with creative direction due to the printing and installation of tangible materials.

7. Production

   • Depending on the type of campaign you’re running, this can be as simple as coordinating one creative with the media owner. Once you introduce variety in formats and/or markets, you'll need to consider each vendor's process, creative specs, etc.

8. Posting and POP

   • For traditional or static campaigns, you will almost always receive posting notifications/photos from the media owner. For digital OOH campaigns, you may receive photos of your ad or a simple report confirmation that your ads are playing.

9. Monitoring

   • When your OOH ad is up, it should be monitored to make sure it is visible and free of obstructions (trees or shrubbery are common obstructions in OOH).

10. Measurement and ROI

    • At the end of your campaign, you may want to use measurement tools to prove the effectiveness of your campaign. OOH experts have access to attribution tools that can help you determine what impacts your OOH campaign on growth. Campaign analysis will inform you on your next OOH campaign, what markets or inventory to consider for the future

If your team can use some extra bandwidth, we’re happy to help! Our clients us tell us we are knowledgable, collaborative, and flexible, and a reliable partner for OOH.

I'd love some help with my OOH campaign!