We’ve always been a digital marketing-first agency, so it may come as a surprise that I’m here to talk to you about the importance of an omni-channel approach to marketing campaigns.
What is Out of Home?
Out of Home (OOH) refers to any marketing channels that you see when you step outside, such as billboards, busbacks, streetposters, transit advertising, adshels and more.
Why is this important right now?
In recent years, the EU has required Meta to offer a paid subscription option for using the platform, so users do not see personalised ads. The UK has just announced a similar policy – where all users will have to purchase a monthly subscription to use the platform (and yes, Zuck is pissed). It’s likely that in the coming years we’ll start to see more countries following the same trend, which could mean a significant audience of people online won’t be exposed to your campaigns. Ensuring your brand has a strong omni-channel approach will help insulate it against this change and future-proof your marketing strategies.
Digital and OOH aren’t rivals – they’re a dream team.
The traditional rule is that a person needs at least 7 touch points before they convert, so creating a mix of touch points that they can see on their phone and while they’re out and about will give you a powerful mix.
Many companies rely heavily on digital channels because they benefit from clean, trackable data: someone clicked an ad, and they bought your product. In some industries, this direct-response model works brilliantly. But in others, it can come at the cost of broader brand awareness and long-term credibility. If your product is new to market, OOH creates a sense of permanence and credibility. When people see your billboards around town – they know your brand is legit. OOH does the heavy lifting in establishing presence, so your digital campaigns can soar.
How we know that your OOH campaign had an impact:
Most OOH lacks clear attribution (and no, slapping a QR code on a billboard won’t magically fix that).
However, there’s one overlooked channel that can reveal whether your OOH placements made a real impact: organic search. By using tools like Google Search Console, you can track how many people searched for your brand name directly.
When we launch an OOH campaign, we cross-reference the campaign start date with spikes in branded search volume. If all goes to plan, you’ll see a noticeable lift in people actively searching for your brand and landing on your site. While this is a correlation-based method, it’s a strong signal. If you run a billboard campaign in a specific region and see branded search traffic rise in that same area, chances are your billboards did their job.
Developing creatives for OOH
This is, once again, where digital and OOH are the dream team. Digital platforms give you rapid feedback on what creative performs well. Think of it as your creative boot-camp before you launch your OOH campaign. Test different key messages, imagery and graphic-styles, to determine what gets maximum attention. This is your game-plan for developing kick-ass OOH creative.
OOH campaigns require significant investment, so having data-backed creative can help give you the confidence to know that what you’re putting out there will work (and will make it easier to convince the CFO to give you that bigger budget).
Finally, what shows up on screen should echo what’s out in the real world. Cohesion is key. While your ads should have some variety, they need to feel like part of the same brand family. That visual consistency helps people connect the dots (even subconsciously), racking up touch points that nudge them closer to that next sale.
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