September 2010 Newsletter

Feature Story

Dig into the Numbers

Article by: Kim Ramser, DOmedia Business Development & Industry Relations Guru

We all see the quarterly outdoor advertising revenue numbers being released, and lately they haven’t been so great. However, the last two quarters have been trending upward, and the outlook for the end of the year is getting better. The second quarter of the year saw some interesting categories spending more than they did last year during the second quarter.

Of course, we have the usual suspects coming up in the top ten, but only four of them showed a loss—Automotive (-3.5%), Insurance and Real Estate (-16.5%), Communications (-12.3%), and Public Transportation, Hotels and Resorts (-2.1%). This means six categories actually had increases, and some were pretty significant—Retail (3.6%), Financial (14.5%), and Media & Advertising (19.2%).

These categories seem irrelevant unless you really dig down to see which sub-categories are driving the main sectors. For instance, the driving force in the Media & Advertising category is Motion Pictures. In addition, restaurants stayed about even. However, if you take a deeper look, national restaurant chains actually increased (3.5%), while the local restaurant sector (-.5%) didn’t do quite as well.

According to Kantar, these sub-categories spent significantly more this year than last year in Q2

So, what does this mean to you as a seller? If you look deeper at the categories, you can figure out which sub-categories are driving the growth. For instance, in the Financial sector, credit card advertising is pushing the increase in outdoor spending. According to B-to-B Online, the financial industry has been on the rise. In the last 18 months, they have increased their spending significantly, but most of it has been on the credit card sector (See above chart—80.3% increase in OOH alone).

Use this information to target clients in the sub-sectors. Take some evidence of OOH spending to a local university to make your case. Showing that other universities are increasing their OOH spending can be a strong influencer. Put together sales materials and case studies to present to the local businesses in the sectors that are increasing their OOH ad spending. Be proactive--help out the agencies by preparing presentations with relevant information they can take to their clients. Also, target agencies that specialize in certain categories, like Motion Pictures. Look at the categories two quarters ahead to determine which types of businesses typically advertise during that time of year. Send these ideas to the agencies before they ask.

Early preparation will ensure that you will have a better opportunity. One of the biggest complaints from agencies is waiting for information. After you prepare your materials, send them to DOmedia so they can access them easily and quickly like all of the rest of your information. When buyers search for OOH products for clients in certain categories, they not only use DOfind to search by venue or demographic criteria, they also use our Resources section to pull case studies and category information. So, not only do you have to make sure your profiles are completed, but make sure your case studies and great creative executions are on our site. When that buyer has a list of ten companies and your company is one of them who has provided a media kit, rates, case studies and locations, you’ll also be one of the companies presented to the client. Make it easy for the agency, and you have a better chance of getting into the buy. So, dig into the categories to anticipate which ones agencies will be looking for, but also to determine which local clients to approach and when. And use DOmedia to give the agencies everything they need at their fingertips to quickly take to their client.

If you need help with your profiles or would like to put some of your case studies into our Resources section, give us a call. We’re happy to help!

DOmedia Client Services  |  theteam@domedia.com  |  866.939.3663

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Company Spotlight

Digital Collateral

A turnkey mobile platform that adds clickability to your print and OOH marketing

The last decade has seen a massive shift in advertising dollars. There is no shortage of articles proclaiming the “rise of online” and the “death of print”. So much so that itʼs easy to forget that online advertising still represents just 10% of the total advertising spend here in the US*. And as the teeming masses of entrepreneurs and digital agencies have focused their efforts on innovation in the online space, it provides valuable insight into what the marketing landscape as a whole is going to look like in the very near future.

One of the most appealing aspects of online marketing is the ability to know precisely the initiatives to which your customers react, and when. It also provides the ability to run multiple, simultaneous campaigns and measure ROI based on multiple factors, including exposure, interest, action and conversion. In this respect, offline marketers have been working at a disadvantage to their online cousins.

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There’s no preregistration required for the user, and the system stores their items for them, should they choose to access it later. And while Digital Collateral always protects the personal information of the user, you get access to rich analytics such as number of times scanned, number of times shared, and number of times downloaded. Plus, there’s measurement over time, so you can evaluate response rates over the lifetime of a campaign and know exactly when a billboard or print ad is getting “stale”.

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Online marketing is popular for a reason, and Digital Collateral lets you benefit from the innovation and creativity in that arena to better deliver your clients success across the rest of their marketing efforts. It’s just that easy.

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