Why programmatic digital out of home (DOOH) should be part of every marketer’s omnichannel mix
by Kira LeBlanc, CMO, Hivestack
The impending threat of global recession increases, and high inflation has found marketers under increased pressure to maximize their return on investment and reach audiences as effectively as possible. At the same time, audience journeys are becoming increasingly complex. Non-linear purchasing journeys blend offline and online, and with the loss of third-party data imminent, are due to become even murkier.
Testing situations like these are nothing new to advertisers. The previous few years especially have forced the industry to think more creatively and push more boundaries in order to make their campaigns flourish. Omnichannel marketing has been one method that a growing number of marketers have embraced in recent years.
Omnichannel marketing’s audience-centric model allows for the delivery of consistent messaging at multiple touch points. Nearly three-quarters of audiences use multiple channels during their shopping journey, with both offline and online sources influencing their decision making. Marketers looking to complete the omnichannel loop should embrace the proven capabilities of programmatic digital out of home (DOOH).
Finding audiences across channels
Creating a successful omnichannel campaign means understanding a customer base, where they are, how to target and retarget them. Digital channels enable marketers to gain deep insights into their audiences, but with tightening privacy rules such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, and the depreciation of the cookie, tracing journeys across channels is increasingly difficult.
The ability of programmatic DOOH to target and retarget audiences via privacy compliant, anonymized mobile IDs makes it a valuable part of the omnichannel marketer’s toolkit. Parameters for targeting can be set around audience concentration, geofenced areas, offline behavior, environment conditions or proximity to a point of interest. It is no wonder that Google recently announced that it would be bringing digital out of home to its DV360 marketplace.
Where programmatic DOOH has an edge over some of its online counterparts, is that audience actions offline are a more precise signal of interest and intent. Online, audiences navigate a myriad of websites that are not always directly correlated to a core, actionable, interest. Comparatively, audiences at physical gyms, for instance, are more clearly signaling their interest in health and fitness. Leveraging programmatic technology, marketers can easily target DOOH screens near or in gyms, ensuring they reach their intended audience.
Fitting into a wider omnichannel strategy, programmatic DOOH’s ability to find and target specific audiences helps brands to deliver messaging consistently across multiple touch points and channels through the consumer journey. For example, a targeted group of consumers may walk past a Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brand’s messaging for a product on a large digital billboard. Later, they may then see similar messaging around the same product on a smaller screen in the elevator at their office, or on their mobile phone or online. When they are then heading to the retail store they see it again in proximity to the point of sale and make a purchase.
Delivering the right messaging at the right time
Online retail’s always-on nature is a draw for audiences. Advertisers are similarly able to use digital channels to reach audiences at any time. However, even in busy offline out of home (OOH) environments such as transport hubs or major shopping streets, audience density can fluctuate.
Programmatic DOOH’s unique ability to target and measure audience density, while harnessing machine learning capabilities, means budgets can be optimized in-flight to ensure maximum impact. Environmental triggers can also be utilized to ensure messaging is personalized, highly targeted and contextually relevant. Specific activations can be triggered in response to weather, temperature, time of day, or even particular events, such as a popular team scoring a goal.
A restaurant chain, for example, could target mobile app users with messaging relating to a lunchtime deal a few hours before the traditional lunch hour. Geolocation data could then be used to target screens near brick-and-mortar locations, and messaging relating to the specific meal deal triggered to coincide with lunch time. Taking this further, if the temperature is below a certain level, messaging to warming foods such as soups could be run, while warmer temperatures could see the activation of creative relating to ice coffees or salads. Contextual messaging gives marketers the edge in a world where attention spans are low, wallets are held tight and background noise is at an all time high.
Bringing granular measurement to DOOH
Success in any omnichannel campaign has to be measurable. Without deep insights, marketers cannot examine which parts of the audience purchase journey are grabbing attention, changing behaviors and, ultimately, driving sales.
Programmatic DOOH’s unique data capabilities allows marketers to measure the impact of activations in-flight and post-campaign delivery on metrics such as awareness, consideration, intent, and in store visitation, as well as conversion. One method includes an analysis of an exposed audience group, defined by anonymized mobile IDs that were in proximity of a specific geolocation or DOOH screen(s), thereby allowing marketers to understand the effectiveness of the DOOH ad and/or the subsequent path to purchase. When viewed within the omnichannel mix, this can allow for better attribution throughout the sales funnel, ensuring that all aspects of a campaign are harmonized.
In order for an omnichannel campaign to have maximum impact, especially as budgets tighten due to the economic situation, marketers need to ensure that audiences are engaged in real life, as well as from their other digital devices. Programmatic DOOH can be the link that brings together online and offline purchasing, helping marketers to create a seamless omnichannel experience.
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