Why Adding Out-of-Home Ads to Your Black Friday Campaign Can Drive Foot Traffic and Sales

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday so close, DTC companies are ramping up their digital marketing game to grab the attention of as many shoppers as possible. Unfortunately, that's more difficult now than it used to be. As big brands flood digital channels with ads, it's tricky for DTC brands to cut through the noise and digital ad fatigue customers are experiencing. 

Investing in out-of-home (OOH) advertising is one way for DTC brands to stand out from the crowd. Also known as offline marketing, this medium complements the digital ad channels you already use, whether that includes paid search, social media, or something else. By combining online and offline ads in an omnichannel execution, you can target consumers in real-world situations, drive Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) foot traffic to your physical store, and turbocharge sales during the year's busiest shopping period. 

Learn more about how using OOH to advertise BFCM and extended holiday deals and campaigns could be the missing piece to your advertising puzzle.

Out-of-Home Advertising, Explained

OOH refers to all media that appears in physical outdoor spaces, including billboards, point-of-sale displays, and banners on public transportation. It's extremely popular, with experts predicting the OOH and digital out-of-home (DOOH) market will reach nearly $53 billion in 2025. It’s an impressive compound annual growth rate of 6.4%.

How does OOH work?

Say your DTC brand is having a massive Black Friday sale this year, and you want everyone to know about it. You could focus all your efforts on digital advertising methods, such as paid search and display ads. However, bigger companies probably dominate this space, making it hard for you to capture leads and convert them into customers.

By adding OOH to your marketing mix to target people online and offline; it delivers an omnichannel approach that will set you apart from other brands. 

Here’s an example:

You advertise your Black Friday deals on the side of buses that travel through high-traffic locations such as downtown areas. This could increase awareness about your brand, especially if you've created an impactful ad that resonates with your target audience. At the same time, you promote your Black Friday sale on social media ads and other digital assets. 

Doing the above will help you target both digital and non-digital audiences, expanding your reach. Plus, you can engage with the same consumers in different settings, allowing you to reinforce your marketing messages and drive more people to take action. 

Why You Need OOH This Black Friday

OOH brings multiple benefits to your DTC brand this Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and beyond, including:

• Increased sales
  Out-of-home creates a different consumer experience than digital ads. Instead of learning about your Black Friday deals on a laptop or smartphone screen, consumers can discover your offerings on a large billboard or point-of-sale display that might prompt them to purchase a product. Using eye-catching visuals in your offline ads could increase sales further, especially if you include bright colors and powerful images. This format is measurable by geofencing each ad location, so your brand will know how much revenue is driven by OOH complimenting digital advertising.
  
  
• More Foot Traffic
  Placing OOH ads near your physical store in the run-up to Black Friday may increase footfall. Someone might have passed by your location several times without going in. However, seeing an impactful ad nearby could make it more likely that they'll visit you this time. You might want to include a physical address on your OOH ads to increase traffic to your store, especially if you've just opened a location. 
  
  
• More Ad Recall
  With so many Black Friday ads online, consumers might have difficulty with brand recall. With OOH, you can keep your brand at the forefront of shoppers' minds. Research shows that this medium produces the highest levels of recall among consumers, compared to other media channels like TV and audio ads. 
  
  
• Differentiate Yourself from Competitors
  Despite all the benefits above, OOH accounts for just over 2% of total ad spend in the U.S. So, investing in this medium this Black Friday helps you stand out from your competitors and tap into new markets. The great thing about OOH is that it's constantly evolving. Recent innovations include virtual reality and augmented reality ads that change how consumers engage with brands. Capitalize on OOH now before your rivals do! 

Measuring OOH Advertising 

As a marketer for a DTC brand, you're used to measuring digital ad effectiveness in great detail. In fact, you might use the return on ad spend (ROAS) model to determine how much revenue your online campaigns generate. Some marketers believe it's harder to measure OOH than digital media. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. 

Here are some different ways to track OOH campaigns and calculate their value:

• Learn the actions shoppers take after noticing your billboard or other OOH ad. For example, mobile IDs, footfall data, and cookie tracking reveal how many people view your website or visit your physical store after seeing offline media.
• Discover what types of people viewed your ads for Cyber Monday and Black Friday so you can customize future campaigns. Like with digital ads, you can view customer demographics like age and gender. 
• Find out which OOH locations perform the best and lead to the most conversions. Over time, you'll learn which areas are best to advertise your products and which are unlikely to generate a return.
• Use A/B testing to determine the effectiveness of different OOH ad variations.
    

Advertising Black Friday with OOH: What You Should Do Next

Black Friday is the most competitive time of the year for targeting consumers, so you might notice higher digital ad costs for some channels. You could shift some of your ad spend to OOH and engage shoppers in real-world locations. Combining this offline method with online marketing could prove lucrative and help you generate more e-commerce sales while increasing footfall at your physical store. 

OneScreen can help you create the ultimate offline targeting strategy this Black Friday. We'll plan and execute a campaign that builds awareness, exposes you to new markets, and targets customers where they live, work, and play. Contact us to learn more about advertising Black Friday sales and offers with OOH.