How to modernise your static out-of-home business

The following article was written by Remi Roques, GM of Broadsign APAC.

The out-of-home (OOH) billboard as we know it has existed for hundreds of years. To some, it might seem like nothing has changed in all that time, but in reality, everything has changed. 

Since the 2000s, innovations in technology have allowed OOH media owners to transform traditional static billboards into dynamic digital displays, with content feeds that can be updated in real-time. Technology that has been adapted from online advertising to suit the needs of OOH media, like programmatic, is enabling digital billboard owners to run their operations with greater efficiency, and better management of their inventory. 

With so much on offer, advertisers are thinking about out-of-home advertising in new and exciting ways. Audiences are interacting with it in a totally different approach to the standards of the past. This might seem like a huge task to publishers, but in fact, there are many small and easy updates that we can make to bring OOH advertising into the modern era. 

Here are just some simple and straightforward steps towards modernizing your Out-Of-Home business:

Upgrading your sales and deployment processes should be your priority. Many media owners these days are still running their operations using long and complicated spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel. It can be extremely difficult when you manage multiple contracts, designs, print jobs, posting work orders and maintenance schedules. The chances are high to make mistakes which can cost your business. A dedicated platform for OOH will streamline the entire process and have the single greatest impact on modernizing your publisher operations. 

Another easy step is to offer proof of posting reports and keep up with the expectations of advertisers. Nowadays, many advertisers are accustomed to buying digital advertising, where “proof of play” reporting is standard; static OOH publishers have generally no automatic, auditable process in place to offer buyers proof that their purchases are being displayed as they should be. One way OOH businesses can replicate proof of play reporting, and offer the same experience and customer service, is to put a “proof of posting” solution in place. Not only does this help modernize your business, but it also lets you stand out across the OOH industry as a transparent and reliable media partner.

Finally, an important step towards modernizing your business is to look at upgrading your static assets. Billboards, street furniture, indoor displays that are ageing, rundown, or poorly maintained are not appealing to either audiences or media buyers. To make sure that all of your OOH locations are looking great, it’s essential to put a little investment towards upgrading your static assets and add huge amounts of value to your business. Things to consider include lighting, materials, and your own branding; wherever possible, you need to reserve a place on your billboard to ensure that anyone interested in renting your space will know whom the asset belongs to. 

This is also a prime opportunity to consider the move to digital. OOH media owners who have upgraded their static assets to digital screens are finding that digital OOH (DOOH) comes with huge benefits to their business, including reducing operational costs and maximising efficiency. 

Technology that has been adapted from online advertising to suit the needs of OOH media, like programmatic, is enabling digital billboard owners to run their operations with greater efficiency, and better management of their inventory. 

DOOH is brighter and more eye-catching to the viewer, plus it comes with the ability to deliver targeted campaigns to advertisers.

To learn how you can modernize your static OOH business with Broadsign, visit our website today, or have a read of this eBook.