How to Stand Out This Black Friday: The Power of Out-of-Home Advertising

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are around the corner. Like every year, retailers have significantly upped their ad spend on digital ads with the goal of converting measurable sales on the busiest shopping day in the calendar.

With so many Black Friday ads online, it can be hard for your DTC brand to stand out from the noise. 

One way to do that is by complementing your digital efforts with out-of-home advertising (OOH).

OOH is the medium that reaches consumers the real world,  billboards, digital programmatic signage, transit ads, banners on public benches, and many more formats. What many marketers don’t realize is that it is targetable and measurable.

You can select inventory within your budget to maximize ROI with your target audience and then measure performance.  The net result is that you can increase brand awareness, target non-digital audiences, and make this Black Friday your most successful ever. 

Why Use OOH for Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

Last year, consumers spent $9.8 billion on Black Friday alone, up 7.5% from the year before. Digital ad fatigue can make it difficult for retailers to promote their offerings online, especially when consumers see the same ads too often and lose interest. 

OOH helps DTC brands stand out during peak shopping periods like Black Friday. It complements digital advertising channels like paid search, where we’ve seen upwards of 15% lift in organic search in cities where OOH campaigns are running, and on social media to add similar real-world advertising for better brand recall mirroring online marketing campaigns. 

Here are two scenarios where OOH can prove lucrative this Black Friday:

• A DTC brand wants to advertise its Black Friday deals to the most people possible. Previously, it only invested in paid search and display ads. Using demographic and shopping data, the brand creates an OOH campaign that targets similar profiles in strategic cities, bringing more ideal customers to its landing page throughout November. 
• A DTC brand wants to complement its digital advertising with OOH. It creates a social media campaign for the first two weeks of November that increases awareness about its Black Friday deals. The company then advertises on digital billboards in markets where its target audience lives during the second half of November, which leads to more sales. 

What is Out-of-Home Advertising 

OOH, also known as offline advertising or outdoor media, is a great addition to your Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) marketing mix. It complements digital marketing channels by reaching audiences outside their homes, with billboards and point-of-sale displays falling into this category. 

There are many myths surrounding OOH. You might think the internet is the only way to advertise, meaning out-of-home marketing is outdated. Or that OOH refers to those billboards on the highway that attorneys use. 

The truth is that OOH offers incredible reach, brand visibility and measurement tied back to sales.

Outdated Myths about Out-of-Home Advertising 

• OOH is also not dated. For example, digital out-of-home (DooH) turns traditional OOH on its head by letting you personalize, track, and retarget ads. Seventy-three percent of consumers view DOOH ads favorably, while 78% have taken action after seeing one of these assets.
• Another misconception is that OOH is too expensive, and only larger brands can afford it. That might be true if you want to only advertise in Times Square or on the Las Vegas Strip. In reality, a targeted OOH campaign aligned with your retail goals may be similar to an extensive PPC or social media campaign. 
• A final myth is that OOH can be tricky to measure. Thanks to Mobile IDs, pixeled landing pages, and brand recall studies, you can now measure OOH ad effectiveness similarly to how you evaluate digital channel ROAS. More on that later. 

How Out-of-Home Ads Makes You Stand Out This BFCM

Incorporating OOH into your marketing at this time of the year can provide the following benefits:

• Target Consumenrs in Real-World Locations - OOH offers a great amount of reach. It lets you engage consumers when they are out and about and away from their computer screens. For example, someone might see your billboard, taxi topper or other OOH format during their commute, at the grocery store, or when waiting for the bus. That person could view your ad several times over a short amount of time, helping you reinforce your brand messaging.
•  Audience Segmentation - With OOH, you can target different ads to different audiences based on their location and demographics. We executed a targeted OOH campaign for a leading wearable ring brand that delivered a 222% conversion lift focusing on regions where health-conscious buyers may spend time. For instance, a DTC organic food brand can display a Black Friday ad on a billboard or bench outside of shopping plazas to highlight their alternative when buyers are in purchase mode. OOH offers many audience segmentation opportunities, allowing you to customize your Black Friday campaigns.
• Increase Black Friday Sales - Last year, shopper traffic to physical stores on Black Friday increased. The great thing about OOH is that you can target these consumers on their commute to or as they visit physical stores through well-placed billboards, point-of-sale displays, or other assets. For example, someone might notice your ad while driving to the mall on Black Friday and take action on your landing page. 

Measuring OOH Campaings This Black Friday

There are various ways to measure OOH campaigns similar to how DTC brands are used to track Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) for all other digital channels.

The most effective methods for measuring offline advertising this Black Friday include:

• MAIDs: Mobile advertising IDs (MAIDs) track when consumers enter specific location boundaries, such as the area around an OOH billboard. We call this a View Shed, where we geofence the perimeter of each ad placement to help anonymously identify who was exposed to each ad. You can use this information to retarget consumers on their mobile devices and track them all the way until conversion. 
• Pixeled Landing Pages: By combining landing page cookie tracking with OOH, you can generate more intelligence about consumers' actions after viewing your OOH ads. 
• QR Codes: Interactive OOH displays allow consumers to access content by scanning a QR code with their smartphone. This feature not only improves engagement but also provides data insights about your target audience that you can use to optimize campaigns. 

Tracking key metrics that reveal insights into your OOH ads is what DTC marketers expect, and may think is not capable with OOH.  

How to Get Started Using OOH for Black Friday  

OOH can be one of the most creative Black Friday ideas for DTC brands, especially if competitors in your space are not taking advantage of the channel. By investing in outdoor media like digital billboards, you can engage consumers in the real world and increase awareness of your promotions. 

If you're unsure where to start with OOH, OneScreen can help. We use over 30 data sources to match shopping behavior to where your key customers spend time in real life. We have proven DTC campaigns that can be easily replicated and executed, providing measurement on which specific ad placements drove foot traffic or purchases. 

Talk with our team to compliment your BFCM digital marketing with ads that speak to your buyers where they live and work. As a result, you can enhance your digital marketing and generate more sales at this critical time of the year.