In this technological era, one might think digital, web-based, and in-home adverts are the only methods to market their service successfully. The fact is that entrepreneurs today have a bundle of choices when advertising their products.
Audiences are bombarded with thousands of adverts on their phones, laptops, TVs, etc. This creates ad fatigue, causing people to skip or neglect advertisements they see on a screen. However, one marketing technique has withstood the test of time. Out-of-home advertising is the traditional mode of marketing and has been around since before the digital age.
Outdoor advertising is a non-invasive method of marketing a company’s service or product and is the oldest form of advertisement. The idea behind this technique is to showcase a company’s service to the audience without any effort on their part, making the interaction seem like a coincidence to the consumer.
By enlisting with a graphic design agency, executing an effective advertising operation is within reach for every business and individual. In this article, we will highlight 11 different types of outdoor advertising techniques, helping you grow your brand to plan your next marketing campaign.
What Is Outdoor Advertising?
Outdoor advertising refers to any brand promotion techniques in which the consumer is exposed to information regarding a business outside their home and, most importantly, offline.
Think again if you think outdoor advertising is just large billboards decorating the freeway. Out-of-home advertising can be found everywhere and has the potential of reaching audiences in a rousing manner.
Here are a few advantages of outdoor advertising:
- This form of marketing is hard to miss as the advertisements are bold and eye-catching.
- Unlike adverts on the TV, radio, or social media, out-of-home advertising cannot be skipped, and the consumer is exposed to the entire message.
- The outdoor advertising space is rarely at the mercy of market saturation. Market saturation refers to the harshness consumers develop towards the perpetual advertising efforts of brands.
Listed below are 11 different types of outdoor advertising for you to choose from.
1. Billboards
When you think of outdoor advertising, billboards are on the top of the list. These are large posters that are visible in the most prominent locations such as freeways, interstates, and other areas with a high number of daily travelers. Most of the viewing happens when a consumer drives by the billboard and consumes the message.
While there are multiple forms of billboards, the most widely used format is static billboards found on the better half of roadsides. This form of advertising is subtle, but it brings in the results. Most consumers are exposed to an advertisement in some form or the other when they are on the move. A majority of these are guaranteed to be billboards.
With the help of a graphic design team, businesses can create captivating billboards giving audiences an insight into the brand and its offering. Companies can experiment with various graphic design trends by hiring billboard design professionals, ensuring a successful marketing campaign.
The billboard for the TV show Dracula by BBC is an ideal example of a billboard campaign. As the sun sets, the knives cast a shadow in the shape of Dracula’s head.
Image Source: boredpanda.com
2. Wild-posting/Posters
Wildposting is a way to display numerous posters consciously throughout urban areas with the maximum hustle and bustle. These posters are stuck at eye-level locations to increase the number of views without having to bulk up the expenditure.
Posters have been around for over a century. Nowadays, they’re used mainly by upcoming entertainment artists to educate the audience and spread information regarding concerts, new album releases, meet and greet sessions, etc.
This advertisement for Kenneth Cole is a real-world example of wildposting to promote the brand’s products. As visible, these posters highlight the variety of shoes on display in the retail shop.
Book a demo with the team at 55Knots and start creating an attractive poster capable of narrating your brand’s story at a glance.
3. Street Furniture
Street furniture advertisements are an excellent method for increasing brand awareness in areas with high foot traffic. You may find these innovative advertisements glued to kiosks, newsstands, streetlights, travel shelters, and plenty of other places.
Businesses can target a specific display in the market with this outdoor advertising method. In addition, the high frequency of ads is potent enough to reach a vast number of users. Remember, the primary targets of street furniture advertising are daily commuters and pedestrians.
Since you can find these displays in high-traffic areas, other vendors also compete to put up adverts for their brands. This can often ruin your display by drowning it in a sea of other adverts.
This park bench designed for Kit-Kat is an ingenious way to advertise street furniture.
The solution to this problem is to get in touch with a graphic design agency like 55Knots for all your artistic needs. A well-designed advertisement with eye-catching elements and a unique logo is guaranteed to captivate the audience and make your display stand out.
4. Wallscapes
Wallscapes are an exclusive form of outdoor advertising, offering brands the capacity to advertise in places where traditional marketing methods might not be applicable. Tall buildings, construction sites, and garages are some examples of potential wallscape sites.
This new-age method of outdoor advertising makes for an eye-catching display, and it can be installed or painted on the desired structures. These installations come in unique shapes and sizes, helping them differ from the average billboard.
And to top it off, wallscapes can be shared on social media platforms, making them highly efficient in reaching an in-home audience.
This wallscape by Chevrolet is an intelligent way to advertise their new product.
Image Source: pinterest.com
5. Transit Advertising
This method of outdoor advertising incorporates public transport like buses, taxis, subway cars, and trains as a means to spread the message. These displays are installed inside the public transport as well.
These advertisements are directed at customers using public transportation daily and towards consumers who are passing by. Due to the constant location change, these advertisements aid in providing brands with a higher clarity for their marketing campaigns and in using area-based targeting.
Since these displays are positioned conveniently, it is difficult for consumers to avoid them. And if the advertisement is a lucrative design, even more so. Transit advertising is also studied for a longer duration by the consumer, thereby increasing its overall impact.
This ad campaign by Adidas highlights their brand and illustrates how transit advertising can be implemented.
6. Point Of Sale Display
Point of sale display is a form of outdoor advertising solely directed towards increasing the sale at the point of purchase. These displays usually surround a cash register generally found in retail shops and restaurants.
While the straightforward way is to display the merchandise, other means include posters, receipts, signs, placards, low ticket items, etc. Apart from grocery stores and restaurants, point of sales advertising can be found in gas stations, hardware stores, and hobby stores, to name a few.
With the help of a professional graphic designer, brands can advertise their products by curating captivating posters for a point of sale display. A professional has the expertise to create the perfect image for your brand and hash out the finer details, like picking the correct color palette for your company.
This point of sales display for Cadbury has an innovative message that impacts the user positively. Moreover, it drives consumers to make an impulse purchase when checking out.
7. Sandwich Men
At some point, we’ve all come across pavement advertising as a stationary A-board on the sidewalk, or the conventional sandwich board hung over a person. These types of advertisements feature information for a specific event, product, or business. They are one of the oldest and most traditional forms of outdoor advertising.
While this advertising method is cheap and effortless to set up, you can only do these campaigns at the local level. By simply placing a well-designed board with your desired infographic over an employee, you can convey your message to passers-by and local communities.
The sandwich men technique is often used by roadside establishments such as cafes, street vendors, and outdoor restaurants. Furthermore, these are used indoors to highlight the daily specials and other offers in a restaurant.
A fine example of sandwich men advertising is this board with an illustration for a nearby restaurant.
Image Source: media.istockphoto.com
8. Aerial Advertisements
Aerial advertising is a modern marketing method and encompasses a wide array of techniques to promote a brand, service, product, etc., innovatively. Traditionally aerial advertising was done using an airplane with a smoke machine. Nowadays, aerial advertising can be achieved by writing messages on hot air balloons and blimps, dropping fliers, and flying banners.
This type of outdoor advertising garners the attention of a significant chunk of people in one go. For instance, flying a banner over a stadium or concert will leave everyone amazed and talking about the advertisement.
Aerial advertising also presents brands with the opportunity to work with graphic designers and express their creativity. By doing so, companies can leave a lasting impression on the audience and create a visual hook for their services.
This Pepsi banner perfectly showcases what aerial advertising has evolved into.
Image Source: https://www.carrotandstick.ae/
9. Construction Advertising
Construction advertising is a contemporary type of outdoor marketing involving an under-construction site in a public place. These sites are usually boarded with temporary fences, which brands can utilize to advertise their services.
This method shields the people from the on-goings at the construction site while increasing brand awareness. Graphic designers can guide brands to create the perfect installment to advertise around a construction site.
Construction advertisement can be done in three forms:
- Hoarding Graphics: Advertising on a boarded fence can offer an interesting opportunity to increase a brand’s value.
- Scaffold Wraps: Advertising the safety mesh of scaffolding by printing graphics is a striking marketing method.
- Building Wraps: For large projects with extensive structures, advertisements can be printed on building wraps to conceal the site and market the company.
10. Guerilla Advertising
Guerilla marketing is a form of location-based media advertising which involves showcasing a display to the correct set of people at an appropriate location. For instance, placing recruitment signs on a college campus or luxury items at an airport are examples of guerilla advertising.
Brands can create a customized display for people within a specific niche and advertise it in an appropriate location. This helps companies reach the right customers in a short amount of time.
This form of marketing allows brands to get creative and implement techniques such as organizing a pop-up shop, passing flyers, and holding flash mob events. An ideal way to start a guerilla advertising campaign is by locating the potential customers and building a strategy from there.
11. Digital Outdoor
By incorporating modern technology with traditional practices, a new form of billboards has emerged in the recent past. Digital billboards are a type of outdoor advertising that can display interactive adverts and videos from multiple brands on one screen.
These billboards can be customized in real-time, depending on the feedback from the consumer. Even better, this advertising method gives brands the power to curate captivating displays that will stay etched in the customers’ memory.
This form of advertising was used by famous brands like Reebok back in 2016 when they installed a speed camera on the sidewalk to promote the sales of their shoes. Pepsi is another brand that has implemented a digital billboard in a marketing campaign in the form of a fake window with flying saucers, tigers, robots, and a giant octopus.
McDonald’s has also incorporated digital advertisements in its marketing campaigns by creating an interactive billboard that drives traffic towards the fast-food chain throughout the day.
This level of engagement gives brands a new dimension of advertisements to experiment with, making digital billboards a prime candidate for outdoor advertising.
Image Source: www.effortlessoutdoormedia.com
VERDICT
Outdoor advertising is developing now more than ever, and as technology improves, the possibilities of out-of-home marketing continue to expand. Now that you’re aware of the different outdoor advertising methods and their impact on a brand’s image, you can determine which method is the best fit for your company.
Are you ready to start a marketing campaign for your business? Book a demo with us right now, and let’s get started on building an alluring advertisement for your brand.
