Outdoor advertising or out-of-home advertising covers a wide range of marketing solutions ranging from billboards to farmers markets. In this post, we will dive more specifically into the outdoor event sector as this is our specialty. However, many of these practices mirror other outdoor advertising practices. Outdoor Marketing 101 for 2024 is exactly what you need before starting this year’s outdoor event season. If these concepts seem familiar, it is a perfect opportunity to solidify your marketing practices. If you are new to events, marketing, or retail this post is a great place to start!
Creative Cohesion for your Outdoor Event
Cohesive marketing is a fundamental function of a marketing plan. However, this is a point many business owners miss and never get right. Cohesive marketing refers to the concept of strategic planning that aligns all aspects of your business like business cards, social media, and events. This can include your design and color theme aligning across all marketing areas. Additionally, a highly cohesive strategy has each marketing tool working together to achieve a higher level message. For example, a cohesive outdoor event will use a tent, flags, ground signage, and giveaways. Not only should the design theme remain constant, each piece should play a separate role. The tent should clearly show your logo, color scheme, and maybe a tagline or keyword. The flag should not repeat the same information, but build off of the tent. The flag should include the same color and brand theme, however the message should elevate the marketing experience.
Example of Cohesive Marketing
The flag could list the services you offer, an incentive, a promotion, or an attention grabbing element. Your tent already has a large logo and tagline, so do not repeat the same info! A great example of a cohesive outdoor marketing campaign would include:
- Pre-show marketing via email, mailers, or social media that includes your logo, tagline, color scheme, and show highlights.
- An a-frame board at the entrance to the event or high traffic areas that includes the most attractive incentives and directlions to your booth.
- A flag that offers the most enticing incentive in large, easy to read text. Like “Free Food” or “Free Beanies”.
- A tent that invites attendees with the company logo, color scheme, and tagline as a defined gathering space.
Having each marketing element build off the other creates interest, anticipation, and excitement about your brand. For a more in depth look at this topic, check out how to create a cohesive marketing and sales strategy.
Set Measurable Goals
What good is marketing if you do not have a goal or a way to measure it? It is possible to effectively market and get clients without measurable goals, however it will be impossible to calculate ROI or which marketing efforts are most effective. First start by determining the metrics for measuring goals. Some examples are:
- increase in calls to your business
- increase in foot traffic
- increase in new clients
- increase in total sales
- increase in traffic to your website
- increase in online sales
You can use one metric, or a few depending on your goals. Once you determine your metric its critical to gather accurate data and review it. For outdoor events, keep track of total number of contacts at the show, any sales, and how many giveaways or business cards you hand out. Look at sales data after the show and compare it to periods without outdoor exhibiting. Are you seeing an increase in your metric? These figures can’t tell you the entire story but numbers do not lie. If your metric is not increasing, you can identify the issue and make changes to improve your outdoor advertising performance!
Use the Right Tools
As with any job or task, using the correct tools increases efficiency and is sometimes necessary to accomplish a task. When marketing outdoors it is essential to not only have the right tools, but quality tools that will last. When trying to figure out which tool is right for you, the first step is to know all of the available options. To make it easy, here is a link to all of our outdoor marketing products. If you know all the options, it is much easier to figure out the correct tool for the job. If you are just starting out with outdoor marketing, we recommend a tent, a flag, and an outdoor sign. These tools will work in every outdoor situation and are the foundation of an effective outdoor marketing campaign. To make things easy, we will highlight three great products. Check out the Showstopper Steel Tent, Value Outdoor Sale Sign, and Signicade A Frame. These great products qualify for our no hassle program and are built to last!
What do you think about Outdoor Marketing 101 for 2024? Please let us know if the comments below!
