How SMBs Can Engage Holiday Shoppers with DOOH Advertising

Here’s how to maximize the value you get from digital OOH ads this season.

The aim here is to include specific attention-grabbing deals without bogging your ad down with too much detail. 

Big reductions are attractive to shoppers. Not just for the specific deal itself, but the store in general, as consumers often consider advertised deals as indicative of a range of discounts. Engage potential shoppers by: 

• Flagging major reductions in general (for example, ‘50% off’)
• Promoting savings on specific, in-demand products (e.g., jewellery, tech, sports equipment)

The example below is a particularly effective example of how this can work. The ad is simple, eye-catching and clearly highlights the potential for major savings – particularly for parents who might be making multiple toy purchases. 

The colour scheme and unmissable Target logo at the bottom makes it very clear where customers can find this deal, whilst the ‘ends tomorrow’ gives a sense of urgency and invokes fear of missing out (FOMO) without being pushy.

(Image Source: tastyad.com)

Proximity-based DOOH means using digital signage near your storefront to attract passing trade. Competition for customers is fierce over the holiday season and advertising via digital display advertising near your store is a great way to stand out. 

Proximity-based DOOH is even more effective when you add directions to your ads. McDonalds’ famous and instantly recognizable “follow the arches” campaign leveraged this to great effect in 2018.

(Source: https://www.dandad.org/)

According to recent research by Nielsen, among consumers noticing various forms of DOOH: 

• 52% noticed digital billboards that gave directions to a business. 57% of these visited the business immediately, with 93% making a purchase
• 51% noticed digital street level ads that contained directions to a business. Of these, 65% immediately visited the business, with 92% making a purchase

In a nutshell – a significant percentage of consumers that notice your ad will take immediate action because of it. If your business is nearby, even better. Given the large crowds of shoppers’ towns and cities attract over the holiday period, proximity-based media is a powerful tool for engaging with potential customers at scale.

When shopping, cost isn’t everything consumers think about. Convenience is another big draw – particularly over the busy holiday period when there’s never enough time to get everything done.  

This is where online businesses can really stand out. If, for example, you offer flexible or next-day delivery, this can be a huge draw for busy professionals and parents trying to juggle career and social commitments with holiday shopping. 

Targeting these audiences via digital signage on daily commutes or in city centers can be a highly effective way to drive traffic to your business in these instances. Below, Amazon Prime’s digital ad doesn’t mention a single product or discount. Instead, it majors on the convenience of next-day delivery for items.

(Source Image:geekwire.com)

Traditional OOH advertising has lacked the ability to target audiences effectively. This has been a significant drawback for SMBs, who typically run on tight budgets and need to know that every dollar they spend offers the strong possibility of a return. 

Programmatic DOOH (or ‘pDOOH’ for short) automates the media buying process, so that you only bid on (and pay for) ad inventory that meets specific conditions you predefine. For example, with pDOOH: 

• You could specify that your toy ads should only run during the morning on digital screens near elementary schools
• You could advertise warm clothes, or festive comfort food when temperatures dropped below a certain level 
• You could run ads for your online store during Friday commuting hours to emphasize the convenience of your online store’s next-day delivery

This helps you target a mass audience that’s right for your product and is likely to be ready to buy. By displaying DOOH ads to purchase-ready audiences, you greatly increase your visibility in the ad-crowded run up to the holiday season.  

Automated pDOOH platforms are also capture data on how your live ads are performing, offering at-a-glance metrics including impressions, number of playouts, eCPM and planned/spent budgets. This makes it significantly easier to track the performance of your campaigns than traditional, agency-centred buying methods – and gives you the ability to optimize your campaigns in real time.

To supercharge your DOOH campaigns for the holiday season (and beyond), you need the right programmatic buying platform – one that’s easy to use, is packed with powerful features and analytics, and can connect you directly to media owners. 

The Neuron is a platform that connects buyers directly with the ad inventory they need to target the right audiences, boost brand awareness and directly increase sales across the holiday period. Simply upload your creative in a couple of clicks and specify your criteria to start the bidding process – then use our range of real-time reports to optimize your campaign. 

Try The Neuron today to see how you could benefit.