The Power of Outdoor Advertising

Outdoor advertising, including billboards, vehicle wraps, bus shelter ads and more, have been effective for decades. They are UP and ON 24 hours a day. You can’t miss them even if you want. No daylight? No problem, everywhere you go you can see the digital versions at night illuminating our city. In our digital world, you can virtually block any unwanted content like ads, but billboards can’t be avoided or turned off with a non-ad button, so you are seeing them even when you are not looking for them. While driving, walking or riding, you are generally aware of your surroundings. The Arbitration National In-Car Study found that 71% of drivers look at billboards. These viewers often make product purchases or service decision after work, and a message glanced as they drive home can be a wonderful marketing tool to gain awareness and potential clients.

Outdoor advertising is
powerful when done right.

An effective campaign depends on…

  • The strategy behind your goals
  • Having a clear idea on what your market demographics are
  • A well done, simple, but powerful design
  • The placement of your ad

Keep it simple, keep it safe.

Drivers are focused on the road, so your message MUST be simple and attractive. The seven words or less rule is proven effective. When the message is supported with an image or simple to digest graphic, a non-complicated URL or an easy to remember phone number, you’ll have an attention-grabbing, quick read for viewers.

If you build it, they will come...

People tend to travel the same roads every day, so they’re likely to see your stationary ad multiple times, or impressions. Your brand or product will become ingrained in their minds over time, even if they don’t need your offering at that time. You’re effectively building top of mind awareness.

According to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, every dollar spent on outdoor advertising generates a $5.97 ROI. Outdoor advertising can provide a very cost effective means of building brand awareness and driving customers to your business.

Your marketing dollars are limited and should be invested with strategy and planning. Understanding your market and working with an experienced agency used to negotiating the best outdoor “buy” and a graphics team to design effective ads are important to maximize your overall budget.

What are your goals with outdoor advertising? Let us know, we can guide you.

Source: https://oaaa.org/StayConnected/PressReleases/tabid/327/id/4923/Default.aspx

HERE'S SOMETHING YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN

Listen to Darcy K. Neighbors’ interview on iHeart radio’s CEOs You Should Know Las Vegas


She discusses CIM Marketing Partners’ journey over more than 25 years, helping clients grow their businesses with strategic marketing efforts. Darcy is most proud of the impact her company has had on job creation and growth in the values of clients’ businesses, as well as her community involvement with DJs for PJs, the nonprofit she founded in 2003.

CLICK TO LISTEN

Have You Cut the Cord? OTT (Over The Top) Advertising: CIMplified

What is OTT?

OTT stands for “Over The Top” and refers to streaming services that deliver content via the internet. These services are delivered “over the top” of another platform, hence the name.

Why is OTT a game changer?

Prior to high-speed internet, consumers would subscribe to and rely on either cable or satellite services to deliver programming. Today, users can sign up and subscribe to services like Netflix, Crackle, or Hulu (to name three) and access their offerings over the internet. The cable, satellite or other broadband providers only provide the internet connection and have no ability to control what is consumed. This separation has big implications for advertising.

OTT During COVID.

During the pandemic, streaming services saw a 50% increase every month (Bloomberg). In fact, 70% of people now have some type of streaming service in their homes (eMarketer). With statistics like that, OTT advertising is one of the fastest-growing mediums in advertising history. OTT streaming media services are device agnostic and range from TV apps to gaming consoles to mobile devices, and are available anywhere there is an internet connection. Many are now allowing users to download content and enjoy it in rural areas where internet service may not be available.

OTT and Audience Targeting.

The ability to deliver your targeted message to an audience that is closer to the buying decision is a benefit of OTT advertising.
Targetability of OTT includes:

  • Intender Bases
  • Age
  • Geography
  • ZIP code
  • Mile Marker Radius
  • Gender
  • Income*
  • Credit Score*

* generated from self-reported user data

As more and more people become “cord cutters,” or supplement their current subscription services with streaming services, OTT should be another tool in your marketing toolbox.

Still have questions about OTT?

CIM Marketing Partners will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Ready to get started with OTT?

CIM Marketing Partners is here to help. From budgeting recommendations to messaging to video creation to placement, we are your OTT one-stop partner.

Creative without strategy is called art. Creative with strategy is called advertising.

~Jef I. Richards

PPC Tips and Tricks for Your Business

PPC stands for pay-per-click, a form of advertising that allows you to target consumers and generate potential leads. While there are quite a few platforms that perform PPC, we will focus on the Google Ads platform today. There are four distinct ad channels on Google’s platform: Search, Display, Video and Shopping. We will be focusing on search marketing PPC in this email.

The PPC marketing model charges you every time your ad is clicked. It is an extremely powerful tool to drive traffic to your website while consumers are searching for keywords or browsing sites related to your business or service.

Here are a few tips for your PPC campaign

Monitor keyword pricing for the first-page position on Google so that you are bidding competitively.

Constantly review the search terms report to filter out negative keywords that you do not want your ad to rank for — you don’t want to pay for irrelevant clicks.

Refresh your ads with new content — headlines, descriptions, ad extensions, etc.

Utilize the audience targeting strategy to increase your ads' relevance.

CIM Marketing Partners is proud to be certified in Google Ads. We won’t sugarcoat it, PPC is a big lift and ongoing management is required. It isn’t a “set it and forget it” system. If you have thought about PPC, we would be happy to discuss any opportunities to run PPC campaigns for your business. We enjoy strategizing alongside businesses in order to develop the most effective PPC campaigns possible to get you the greatest return on your marketing investment.

Quote of the week:

Nobody counts the number of ads you run; they just remember the impression you make.

Bill Bernbach

Don't Rule Out DM!

 

By DM, I mean direct mail. Do you ever feel overwhelmed by your email inbox? Maybe you’re thinking, when don’t I feel that way? If we thought we were receiving more than enough emails before the pandemic, you’re not imagining that it’s increased significantly since then.

At CIM, we’ve been following another tactic, one that’s had its own trend for decades: Direct mail. Peaking in the 1990s, direct mail filled physical mailboxes, and people tired of “junk mail” at home and work. With online communications taking off, many predicted that direct mail would be on a downswing, and it did decline. It has since increased and declined based on the economy and postage rates.

But something else happened. As people grew tired of their overloaded email inboxes, many rediscovered enjoying receiving physical mail to go through – actually paying attention to what they receive in the mailbox.

Direct mail has remained a successful tactic for a number of our clients for multiple reasons:

For many companies, direct mail remains a marketing tactic that has a place in a diversified marketing approach. If you’d like assistance in evaluating options to reach and capture your market, that’s what the CIM team does every day.

I hope you enjoy the July Fourth weekend by celebrating our freedom and independence.

Quote of the week:

Freedom lies in being bold.

Robert Frost

 

Importance of SEO vs. PPC/SEM

Again last week, I had a conversation that reminded me that there’s ongoing confusion about two marketing tactics: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC)/Search Engine Marketing (SEM). That’s not surprising for several reasons:

At the very least, I recommend you be aware of the two tactics. Both are important tools in our marketing toolbox, and we use them for certain clients when they are the right fit given particular business goals. Here’s a one-page summary to review.

[Click the image to download PDF]

If you do implement either or both of these tactics, remember, they can be an effective addition for general brand building. Should you like to discuss your marketing tactics, please reach out.

Quote of the week:

Nobody reads ads. People read what interests them. Sometimes, it’s an ad.

Howard Gossage

Holiday Gifts and Cards? The Time to Act is Now!

You’re probably already feeling swooped up in the rush of planning for all that the last two months of the year will bring. Well, let’s add one or two more things to your Things to Do List, and take them off just as quickly. We’ll use the Who, What, When, Where and Why process.

Who: Think about who deserves to hear from you this time of year. It’s probably a combination of clients/customers and vendors, those with whom you’ve done business and with whom you share a mutual appreciation.

What: Will you send holiday cards? Will you send holiday gifts? Both? Perhaps you’ll break your list of recipients into multiple lists. For cards, you may send the same card to all. You might also consider sending a professionally produced digital or e-card via e-mail, allowing the recipient to click and watch/listen to your holiday greeting. For gifts, you may divide your recipients into several manageable categories—maybe it’s an A, B and C list, with the most personalized gifts going to the A’s, a less customized gift to the B’s and a simple, but nice gift to the C’s. Some companies only send cards that include a message that the company has made a donation to XYZ organization in the name of all its clients/vendors; that’s an option, too.

When: The logical timing is in November or December, but we’ve found that beating the rush by sending cards/gifts in mid-November has a distinct benefit. With that timing, your recipients won’t already be inundated with other cards/gifts, so yours will stand out and be appreciated. Plus, they’ll likely be there, as opposed to already being out for two weeks had your gift been delivered later in December.

Where: This one’s pretty obvious—deliver cards/gifts to the client or customer’s office. Do, though, consider more lead-time for out-of-town deliveries.

Why: To express your genuine concern and thanks for the relationships you have. To make sure they know you value working with them. To stay top of mind. And…to stand out and be relevant, as more and more companies do away with any sort of holiday greetings.

Now what? Talk with your marketing agency to help you brainstorm card/gift options, as well as help orchestrate the process. If you have this discussion in the next week or so, and start compiling your recipient list for cards/gifts, you’ll be able to pull off a nice client touch point that will yield goodwill and potential additional business in 2015 and beyond.

A Salute to Our Troops

 

My entire career has evolved around marketing and advertising, and I must say, I have produced, scripted and watched 100’s if not 1000’s of commercials; this is one of the very best I have ever seen! Before you watch it, let me explain why I think this is so well done.

Final thoughts…Thanks for your service grandfather and grandson, so that I can live in a country where freedom rings. Enjoy and share this link and touch someone else’s day, if only for a minute.