5 Steps to Create an Effective Outdoor Advertising Campaign

You may even have more than one objective, which can only be attained through a well thought-out and successful advertising campaign. However, it’s all well and good knowing your campaign needs to be successful, but creating said campaign takes considerable planning. Here, we’re going to look at the five key steps to developing the best advertising strategy possible.

Objectives

We touched on it in the introduction to the piece, but the objectives of your campaign are the most important part. They can have a huge bearing on how much your strategy will cost, where the best locations are for your billboard(s) and how long you need to display your campaign for.

You will need to discuss your objectives with your advertising strategist. Using the information you’ve provided them with, they can advise you on what techniques are likely to work best for you - digital or analogue billboards, large or small billboards, long term or short term displays - they all count and they all offer different benefits.

Audience

Who are you advertising to? Different groups of people may respond differently to certain types of campaigns. You’ve got to have the right tone of voice, the right message and you’ve got to use the right imagery (where necessary) to attract the audience you’d like. Researching your audience’s tendencies thoroughly can help you design the perfect campaign. Jokes, a serious message, an aspirational image - they can all work in different ways.

Design

You need to catch the eye of your audience, and you need to keep their attention once you’ve got it. A creative design will ensure that people notice your advert, and if your message is clear, they’ll keep your brand in mind. Short, to the point and memorable are key features of any slogan or tagline - your audience might not have time or the interest to read a paragraph of text when they’re walking, driving or travelling past on the bus.
Consider adding the URL of a landing page for your audience to follow up on your ad - this will provide you with a useful metric for tracking its impact.

Technology

While this may not be the first thing that comes to mind when considering crucial factors of an advertising campaign, technology plays such a large role in our everyday lives now that it’d be remiss to not at least consider it. Technology such as GeoLocate from Clear Channel allows you to reach audiences on their smartphones after they’ve passed by your advertisement - by appearing on one of 100,000s of featured apps, your business can pop up on their favourite app after they’ve passed your advert.

Location

Depending on your objectives, different locations will be more or less advisable and conducive to success than others. For example, if you’re wanting to direct people to your premises in a city centre, it’s wise to have your advertisement close by. If you’re promoting an offer at your shop or website, positioning your billboard where it’ll catch the eye of potential customers is ideal - this might be in a busy city centre or on a major route where it’ll be seen by drivers and passengers alike.

Combining creativity with a clear marketing strategy is an excellent way of delivering a successful advertising campaign. Taking the time to strategise and organise your advertisements can work wonders, and the five steps we’ve mentioned here can play a crucial role.

Clear Channel Direct are a leading provider of out-of-home advertising for clients of all sizes around the UK. If you’d like to know more about what we do, please feel free to contact us and we’ll be more than happy to help.