If there is a part of the advertising market that has been put through the wringer for the last year, it’s digital out of home (DOOH) advertisers. When people were forced into lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, DOOH advertising companies were left scratching their heads because they had to figure out how to reach consumers. 

In 2021, the future for DOOH advertisers is bright, but with the massive shift in consumer behavior, traveling habits, and congregation points, what is the best way for digital out of home advertisers to get the most out of their advertising efforts? The answer lies in location intelligence.

Here are some ways that using location intelligence can help the digital out of home advertising market meet today’s challenges:

In the past, digital out of home advertising used to be “downtown is heavily populated, let’s put a billboard or a bus-stop advertisement there!” 

In 2021, things aren’t so simple anymore. Consumers are constantly being bombarded with ads on social media, or on their favorite websites; how can you compete with that? Not only this but what was once a booming metropolis is now a ghost town with tumbleweed advertisements blowing in the wind. Where did your target audience go?

Using location intelligence can tell you not only where your audience is, but also what they want to see. This helps digital out of home advertisers compete with those social advertisements and also solves the congregation problem. More importantly than any of the above is that data can help you plan so that you never have to worry about wasting ad dollars on placing an ad in the wrong location (more on that in the next section).

The thing about using location intelligence for digital out of home advertising is that it allows you to have a plan before you even scope out a location for a potential advertisement. With the changes in the way that consumers commute — if they commute at all — and general foot-traffic behaviors, DOOH advertisers need all of the preliminary information that they can get before committing time and money to a location. 

For example, let’s say that you are a digital out-of-home advertiser working for a popular cell-phone brand in New York City. Its target audience is people between the ages of twenty-five to thirty-three who work on Wall Street. In the past, digital ads were quite effective and generated a lot of online and in-store traffic. Now, with most of those consumers working from home, you don’t know where to place your ad for the most visibility. That’s where location intelligence comes in. 

You’ve been scoping out locations in Chelsea, Brooklyn, and 5th Avenue but you can only pick one. Using location intelligence, you realize that the majority of people who fit into your audience category live in Chelsea and that’s where they are spending the majority of their time. You decide to place your digital billboard t on The High Line for maximum exposure. Before too long, in-store traffic is given a boost and you didn’t have to waste precious ad spend on a guesswork digital billboard. 

You have the plan for the ad location, but your message is meant to change depending on the time of day and the season. In order to maximize conversions and get the most out of your location, you need to make sure that your digital billboard is customized to the audience viewing it.

With location intelligence, you can get a closer look at consumer foot traffic for your area. You get answers to questions like:

• What is my audience currently interested in?
• Who is walking by my ad the most and at what time?
• What do they want to see?

Now that you have the data in your back pocket, you know that your audience really seems to love the Dunkin Donuts on Christopher Street and often walks over to Washington Square Park in the afternoons around lunchtime. This tells you that it’s very likely that your target market is interested in the outdoors and likes convenient and quick buying experiences. 

You also learn that your audience walks by your ad the most in the evenings. You customize your digital billboard ad to reflect the viewer’s interest in the outdoors. You also make it a point to advertise the many buying options that you offer and your seamless delivery option. It’s no surprise that the ad that you placed on the High Line is so effective; you’re giving your audience personalized ads that read like they were written just for them.

The digital out of home advertising market had it tough for the last year. With a data-driven advertising strategy driven by location intelligence, 2021 can be the best year yet. The world is changing and all of us have to change with it if we want to get ahead. 

For more information on how location intelligence can help you maximize your digital out of home advertising plan, contact us to speak with one of our experts today.