Publisher’s Note:
Jonathan Graviss (“JG”) is a regular OOH Today contributor whose Thursday columns offer practical advice for OOH operators. Graviss’s observations are based on real-world, extensive industry experience. No fluff or phoniness here. Many sales teams rely on his insights. Start your Year with more substantial revenues with today’s feature. Man! I wish I had his when I managed my OOH Markets back in the day!
“Man! I wish I had his when I managed my OOH Markets back in the day! “
What I’m Thinking About Heading Into Spring IBO 2026
By Jonathan “JG” Graviss, Graviss Marketing
I have been in and around OOH for nearly 30 years. I have worked at 14 companies, including three of the big four. I have seen this industry from a lot of angles. And heading into New Orleans this April, I find myself less interested in what is new and more focused on what keeps showing up as the same unresolved problem across markets.
There are three problems I keep running into with independent operators. They are not new. But they are getting more expensive the longer they go unaddressed. These are the conversations I am most looking forward to having at IBO this year.
Prospects Can’t Find You. Or They Find You and Leave.
Independent operators have built real businesses with real market strength, and their digital presence does not reflect any of it. The website is thin, outdated, or impossible to navigate. The advertiser who researches you before responding to an email lands on a page that raises more questions than it answers.
Buyers research before they engage. When what they find does not reflect your actual strength, the sales team starts every call rebuilding credibility that should already exist. That is a solvable problem. Most operators just have not prioritized solving it.
When Marketing and Sales Run Parallel, Revenue Pays the Price
The operators who are scaling cleanly have marketing and sales pointed at the same objective. The ones who are grinding have two functions working hard in parallel that never quite reinforce each other.
When marketing content does not reflect the current sales narrative, and the sales team is not reinforcing what marketing is putting into the market, the advertiser experiences inconsistency. They may not name it. But it slows decisions, increases price sensitivity, and makes renewals harder than they should be. Alignment is not a coordination exercise. It is a revenue mechanism.
AEs Are Figuring It Out on Their Own. Every Time.
In independent OOH, one of the most common silent profit killers is the absence of a repeatable sales process. The senior rep carries everything in their head. New hires shadow them until they figure it out, or they leave. Discovery is inconsistent. Follow-up varies. Proposals depend on who built them and when.
That is not a talent problem. It is a systems and leadership problem. And it compounds quietly until a good rep leaves, a renewal falls through, or a growth phase exposes just how dependent the whole operation is on a handful of individuals.
What I Want to Leave New Orleans With
My goal for IBO this year is straightforward. I want to sit down with operators who recognize one or more of those three problems in their own business and are ready to do something about it before the next growth phase arrives. Not during it.
IBO creates the kind of space where honest conversations can actually happen. The sessions set the table. The real value comes from what operators choose to do with the two or three days they have together in the same room. I am not coming to New Orleans to sell anything. I am coming to have real conversations about what is actually working, what is not, and what the operators who are pulling ahead are doing differently.
If any of this resonates, I would like to find 20 minutes at the conference. Reach out before you get to New Orleans. The best meetings are the ones already scheduled when you walk in the door.
You can reach me directly at jgraviss@gravissmarketing.com or through GravissMarketing.com. I will see you in New Orleans.
Graviss Marketing helps independent OOH operators build the positioning, systems, and planning infrastructure that makes the next growth phase cleaner than the last. We look forward to connecting with operators at IBO in New Orleans this April. Learn more at GravissMarketing.com.
Let’s elevate OOH together and make sure your company’s marketing is as strong as your locations.
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