If you’re one of the few business owners who are doubting the efficiency of outdoor marketing, here’s an eye-opener for you. The number of billboards across America has increased steadily from 2016-2019 and is expected to grow more. And that’s just for starters. Statistics will give you a jolting reminder of why outdoor advertising is effective today more than ever. Outdoor marketing, or out-of-home advertising, history, and forecast both show favorable results for entrepreneurs. If you’re still not using this powerful medium, you’re losing out big time. Read on to learn everything you need to know about it. 

 

What is Outdoor Marketing? 

Quite simply, outdoor marketing is the type of public marketing done outside of our homes and offices. It is one of the best opportunities for businesses to get a broader reach on a variety of audiences. We see them every day and everywhere (unless you live under a rock). 

Billboards are good examples of outdoor marketing, but it isn’t limited to it. You can see them as street furniture such as kiosks, telephone booths, or bus stops. Transit advertising is also under outdoor marketing, and you can commonly see them as wraps on buses, taxis, and trains. Guerilla marketing also falls under this category and is composed of many other forms of marketing. 

 

The Benefits of Outdoor Marketing 

Consumers spend a considerable amount of time on the streets, whether walking or in an automobile. Marketers shouldn’t belittle this high chance of exposure to potential customers out in the open. Here are a few of the benefits of outdoor marketing: 

 

Brand Recall

Outdoor marketing is good at creating brand recall as it gives out the same message constantly. When people see your ads on a regular basis, the point gets driven effortlessly. Even if you don’t have plans of buying Coca-Cola products, when you see them on specially-designed point-of-sale displays, you’ll be tempted to. 

 

Localized Targeting 

Outdoor marketing can help you target a specific audience in a distinct region. Take Cracker Barrel as an example. In 2017, the restaurant chain spent $84 million on advertising, 33% of it was used for outdoor advertising. They target road trippers by placing their restaurants near exits and interstates. The company puts the billboards in strategic locations to remind hungry travelers of an oasis ahead. 

 

Instantly Build Your Brand 

If you’re looking for a speedy introduction of your brand, outdoor marketing is the strategy to go for. It provides immediate brand awareness, especially when you place them in busy highways and cities. And when digital media is a no-go for you, outdoor advertising is crucial. 

Eaze, a marijuana delivery service, is off-limits to major social media channels, for obvious reasons. The government regulates and restricts the cannabis industry, thus the limitations on advertising. So, the next best thing for them is to go outdoors. And what an impact they have created for their brand. Almost 60% of their customer base know them from outdoor marketing. 

 

How to Work with Outdoor Marketing 

The simple step of placing your brand name on your office or storefront door is a form of outdoor marketing. Here are the ways you can use outdoor marketing to reach more prospects: 

 

Research Your Target Customers 

As with all of your marketing strategies, it’s essential to determine and understand who your target audience is. You’ll get a good grasp of where to place your ads, how to design them, and how often you should place them. 

Book High-Traffic Locations

While it may be tempting to book your outdoor adverts in several cheap locations, go for the expensive, but a high-traffic site. It’s easy to think that more areas mean wider reach, one location with a million views is always better than eight places with a hundred thousand each. Outdoor marketing is already cost-effective, it wouldn’t hurt if you go for that one premium site, but can be seen by more people. 

With billboards this big, who needs multiple locations? The Times Square in New York City billboard is a perfect example.

 

Less is More 

One caveat with outdoor marketing is that you only have a few seconds to catch someone’s attention. The workaround to this is by using fewer design elements in your design. Create billboards, banners, or bus wraps that use fewer images and texts. The primary purpose of a billboard is to pique interest and less to inform. 

 

Use Social Media as Backup 

You can push the potential of your outdoor marketing to the limits by creating a more significant impact. Use social media as a backup to your outdoor advertising. National Geographic’s #SaveTogether campaign featured the hashtag on the billboards to get more information from. Since you can only put a limited number of elements on a billboard, this is an excellent way to add a call-to-action component.

 

Be Ultra-Creative 

With more than a million billboards scattered across America, how do you compete? Billboards, banners, and many other outdoor marketing materials abound, and standing out has become a bigger challenge. This is where creativity comes in. To cut through the noise, you have to use the most creative ways to grab people’s attention. 

 

How Graphic Design Plays a Role in Outdoor Marketing 

For your outdoor marketing to be effective, it has to be impactful; otherwise, your efforts will go to waste. It’s an enormous task of generating interest, saying a lot with only a few words, being visually appealing, and many more. Everyone is not equipped to handle this task.

Great graphic design is what will make your outdoor advertising stand out. Professional graphic designers can help you achieve the best results. If you think it will cost a lot of money, think again.

Design Doctor offers unlimited graphic design services for a fixed monthly rate of $329 a month. You can submit all your design requests, and our dedicated team of professional graphic designers can do them for you. Outdoor marketing has never been this simple and affordable. 

 

Final Thoughts

The advancement in technology has made outdoor advertising a more impressive choice to market companies. It has its challenges, but when done by professionals, it can boost brand awareness and increase revenues as well. It has many advantages that definitely outweigh the little drawbacks it has.