9 Types of Outdoor Advertising That Works For Your Brand

If you are wondering, as a new brand, how to market your product, advertising is still a great way to do so. No, I wasn’t talking about digital advertisements like Facebook ads or Instagram influencing. I’m talking about real-life advertising where people can notice it while walking back home after a tiring day. Yes, I’m talking about OOH — you didn’t get it, right? It’s out-of-home (OOH) or outdoor advertising.

In this article, we will be looking into:

• Understanding outdoor advertising: Here, we will explore what outdoor advertising means and how it can help in marketing your brand outdoors.
• Different types of outdoor advertising: Let’s look at the top 9 types of outdoor advertising you can try for your brand and business.
• Outdoor advertising tips: Some personal tips you can keep in mind to elevate your marketing efforts through OOH or outdoor ads.

As you may be aware, outdoor advertising is the best way to reach people at a personal moment when they are more receptive, like when they are traveling, waiting in line at a grocery store, or simply out for a walk. You never know what might catch in your subconscious when you notice an ad, often without even realizing it. In this article, I’ve mentioned the top 9 ways you can creatively promote and market your products, brand, or service, so read on to find out more.

What is Outdoor Advertising?

Advertising is a form of mass media, and outdoor advertising is a type of advertising that’s done outdoors. Normally, advertising reaches the people or the masses, but here, through outdoor methods, people are reaching towards the ads.

The world of outdoor advertising remains unexplored by most brands. It’s a marketing strategy by brands for their target audience, who are basically out and about in the world, exploring their daily activities. This type of advertising leverages physical spaces to promote the ads; these physical spaces can include malls, billboards, retail shops, transportation, and more. It can be considered a powerful tool because it increases brand awareness without even trying hard, as it’s part of the target audience’s environment where they live, work, and play.

If you notice the Las Vegas Sphere, it winks at you, which engages people in a way that creates user interaction in a big space and enhances brand recognition, reaching a wider audience. Placing ads in public spaces or subways elevates the standard of visibility and impact of brands to create a memorable experience for commuters.  Advertising stands as the best option for increasing digital marketing efforts, making them ideal for a brand’s success.

While we usually have different types of outdoor advertising, let’s look at the different forms of OOH.

Different Types of Outdoor Advertising

The possibilities of outdoor advertising are endless, but there are two key facts static and digital in which can be placed below categories:

Traditional or Classic Outdoor Media

This refers to the traditional outdoor type of advertising strategy, like normal billboards, bulletins, wallscapes, posters, transit ads, and more. They are static prints, often large in display, that showcase the brand’s products, services, and deals. It has a face-to-face experience and feels more classic and is often placed in high-traffic areas like big cities, streets. Placing ads on the exterior walls or ads can be placed on top of buildings, making it a great way to get people’s attention, as the huge size of static billboards attracts new people.

Digital Out-of-Home Media

Digital billboards that move, talk, and showcase animations and graphics are increasing in popularity, and brands often use digital screens as advertising space. It includes digital street furniture, digital place-based ads, and billboards that are non-static. These options are more costly but often catch people’s attention more. It ranges from simple videos to big animations but uses technology to display ads in public places. This outdoor advertising campaign saw a huge increase in the last decade, and media channels, as well as the advertising market, are depending more on it.

There are a variety of creative ways you can utilize traditional and digital outdoor advertising in this 21st century. So, check out the various types of outdoor advertising for your brand to stand out from your competitors in terms of advertising.

9 Types of Outdoor Advertising That Work

Let’s look at some different types of outdoor advertising that can work for your brand.

1. Street Furniture Advertising

Street furniture often serves as a type of interactive way for people walking down the streets. For example, bus shelters or benches help people relax and wait for their vehicles. Now, street furniture advertising is the kind of ads placed on such public amenities, either static or digital. This type of advertising is highly effective if displayed near pedestrian walkways for eye-level viewing or curbside to influence vehicular traffic. There are different types of street furniture ads; let’s explore them one by one.

Bus Shelter Advertising

Bus shelters are part of urban areas that attract a lot of people who follow bus routes in residential high-traffic areas or neighborhoods. Bus shelter panels often have high interaction and can attract people’s attention while they wait for their buses. You can place interactive ads, typically digital and mounted in glass with frames, or some static ads on bus shelter panels or near bus stops. This offers 24/7 visibility. People will definitely notice ads that are highly displayed with the right message, fonts, colors, or custom illustrations that grab attention.

Urban Street Furniture Ads

Urban street furniture is found in urban and populated areas that target shoppers on the street at eye level. You can find them located on streets, such as bus benches, news racks, newsstands, and phone kiosks, that target affluent shoppers in these places. You can utilize this urban furniture for minimal advertising. You can place small ads, which will be hard to ignore by pedestrians who utilize this furniture in their daily lives.

2. Digital Billboard Advertising

Billboards are a great way to display your brand in a big size and convey your message in a simple and direct way. You can make them any size you want, big or small. We already know about the traditional type of billboards that are static, huge, and convey a single message, but here we are looking into digital billboards. We can find digital billboards on the streets and in malls these days. There’s also a type of mobile billboard that’s always on the move. Here, you can be more creative with your ad; you can place a live motion advertisement or use animations, motion graphics, or CGI videos. But the catch is that it’s costly and can cost up to four times more than static billboards. But hey, people will notice a digital ad more than anything; you can increase your brand awareness.

3. Transit Advertising

Transit advertising is a form of advertising that’s always on the move. You can often find this form of memorable advertising on the sides of vehicles or vinyl wraps around the entire body of vehicles. Vehicle advertising is one of the most effective out-of-home advertising. Because of the mobility, more people will be able to see it for a longer duration, and it’s more effective compared to static billboards. You can see this advertising in any type of vehicle, whether it’s a taxi, a bus, or a company fleet. The bus advertising might reach a broader audience simply by being on the move. If you’re a business with multiple locations, ads on public transportation vehicles can increase your brand recognition across a wider geographic area. This ad is hard to ignore for people who are traveling consistently, making it easier to remember for a longer period of time.

4. Bridge Banner Outdoor Ad

Banners are like banners. Yes, I think you can easily find banner advertisements in any part of your city. Most of the time, banner advertisements promote events, places, or news to a vast audience. But other than the traditional banners, here, to make things more exciting, you can try out bridge banners.

Here, we are focusing on bridges. If you have any near your brand’s locality, billboards may not be an option, but you can place banners on the sides of bridges to get the attention of daily travelers. You would be surprised how many people actually notice such things on a bridge. It’s very low cost compared to other OOH options, and it also leaves a lasting impression on the minds of travelers who frequently pass near the bridge.

5. Experiential Advertising

Experiential advertising invites the audience to interact and participate or engage with the particular ads. It is a type of guerilla advertising where you can carry out creative ways to impart the message to your audience. For example, Netflix has a way to market its shows through guerrilla advertising. Experiential ads are basically of a non-traditional nature, and you can do whatever you want to get your audience’s heads turned. Through unique ways, you get to make a lasting impression on the minds of your consumers. It’s an extremely effective method, and one of the best things is that it stands out due to its innovative nature and heavily influences people to engage with your brand.

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6. Ambient Advertising

As the word suggests, ambient advertising is a form of advertising is particularly effective, where the ad is integrated into the environment in a way that looks like it has always been a part of it. For example, you can find a coffee brand advertisement near a coffee vending machine in your office or an ad for a gym by putting out a thoughtful message to take the stairs instead of the elevator. These ways are creative and can seem natural, so people won’t notice it’s a direct ad. This way, you can draw their attention to something they would otherwise ignore. It’s a form of advertising that is highly memorable. People can talk about it on social media, making a lasting impression of your brand and product if you have a creatively genius advertising team. As this type of advertising requires a high level of creativity and planning, not all products or messages can be suitable for this type of ad.

7. Mural Advertising

Mural advertising is a type of wallscape ad. These ads have a great variety of sizes, from large formats for visibility to smaller walls. Basically, they focus on empty walls for advertising brands, products, and services. It can be a great way to spread your brand’s name in the neighborhood if you have a store located there. Murals are often hand-painted and do not involve any other materials. Here, people can be creative enough to make a wall custom-painted to create mass-market awareness through their high reach and frequency. There’s also a slight chance that people go and interact with the murals to take pictures and look at the images. It can be long-lasting and cost-effective, allowing brands to get their message across to many people, and it’s a tactical way to market things.

8. Retail Advertising

I would recommend retail advertising to people who own a store, promote lifestyle, or sell products. You can easily get new customers or improve your connection with your target audience through retail advertising. When people enter a retail space, they often have a mentality to spend their money on things, so this is your chance to influence their minds to buy or check out your store through interior ads that attract them. But how to do so? You can advertise through window displays, packaging designs, mall advertising, in-store signage, point-of-sale displays, and more. This is also a type of mall advertising or way where you utilize environmental graphic design to inform, educate, and entertain people. You should know that every aspect of the retail experience is an opportunity to make your brand stand out. I think it’s the most cost-friendly and effective option compared to others.

9. Outdoor Advertising Signs

If you’re looking for low-cost, budget-friendly outdoor advertising, you can create an outdoor advertising signboard for your business or event. This way, you can attract an audience who are on foot and lure them into your shops or business space. So, make sure you use elegant designs with muted colors and typography to convey the right message through these signs. You can also go DIY with it by painting designs directly on your storefront window or creating evergreen signs in front of your stores.

OOH Advertising Campaign Tips

I would like to share some personal tips to help you improve your outdoor advertising tactics. Outdoor advertising has evolved, and exterior ads are becoming more popular. I know it requires a lot of creativity, investment, and long-term commitment, but the results are going to amaze you as it gives a good return on investment for people who do it right. Here are the tips I think can help you stand out with your outdoor advertising:

• Keep it simple: Outdoor ads should not be chaotic, and they should convey the message easily to the people. So, use clear, minimalistic, but strong visuals to attract people.
• Know your target audience: Study your brand very carefully and understand who you’re planning to attract. Choose locations where your audience is going to be visiting more.
• Creativity with no limit: You should understand that outdoor advertising opens doors to creative potential, so there should be no limit. You can do whatever you want with these types of ads, but it should be creative and your graphic designers should be creative.
• Ensure brand consistency: You should make sure you stick to your brand guidelines and follow the rules. Utilize your logo, color, and font while advertising your products.
• Use high-quality graphics: Making sure you consistently utilize high-quality graphics is a must. Graphic design plays an important role in marketing and advertising as a brand, so make sure you have great graphics at your disposal.

If you’re wondering how to improve your outdoor advertising, you can always contact Graphically. We have in-house professional designers that can help you customize your graphics or ads and help you reach your target audience easily. We also provide unlimited graphic designs for a flat monthly rate that is cost-effective. So, make sure to check out Graphically.

Conclusion

As a matter of fact, anything and everything can be considered outdoor advertising if you’re utilizing outdoor objects to the maximum. Outdoor media advertising is highly engaging when compared to digital advertising.  You should also know that the limit is your imagination and the power of the team behind you. You can promote a full out-of-home ads campaign that can be strategically located in places where your target audience frequently commutes. This can help improve your brand recognition and brand memory. So, make sure you have a great OOH plan for your brand that can help you get started on the path to making your brand the best in your locality or area. Make meaningful and memorable ads and utilize the spaces that can attract new customers or audiences. Happy advertising!

FAQs

1. How many types of outdoor advertising are there?