Out-of-home advertising has expanded beyond static posters to digital displays and location-aware experiences. Bluetooth beacons are one way to connect a physical location with an opted-in mobile app. The spending figure in the original article reflects its publication period and should not be used as a current market total.
The OOH industry has been changing rapidly and is, now, no longer restricted by time or location. Hence, whether that’s billboards at Times Square or dynamic signages that display different ads, anything is possible.
OOH advertising does come with its limitations. Advertisers often struggle with ensuring the ads reach customers in contextual and personalized ways. This is where technologies like location-based beacons come in. Beacon technology is beneficial to OOH spaces as it allows them to deliver messages directly to the target audiences through smartphones.
Apart from this, beacons also play a massive role in OOH advertising because it helps gather valuable data. Due to their unique abilities, OOH advertising can be utilized in multiple forms across all mediums.
Here are a few ways location-based beacons add value to outdoor advertising:
Limited time offers
With this new technology, brands can promote limited time offers, such as special edition promotions, festival discounts, and limited sales, for high conversion rates. Advertising for such limited time offers can help create a sense of urgency and encourage customers to take action using beacon-based solutions.
Seasonal offerings
Some products and services are only offered in specific seasons and differ according to time and location. For instance, summer wear, sunglasses, and air conditioners would mainly be in demand during the summers. Hence, geo-targeted campaigns that are created to promote seasonal products are an excellent way to improve seasonal sales.
Popular apps
Many large brands have mobile apps that aim to create physical and online experiences, simultaneously, for their target audiences. These brands can benefit from beacons for their OOH campaigns.
Beacons provide a geo-targeted, personalized, and unique customer experience. It also accumulates and provides granular insights and data that is incredibly useful for brands that want to identify marketing trends.
High involvement purchases
Some products and services are complicated and, to make a sale, prior research is required. Such products and services are known as high involvement purchases because of the effort needed from the consumer’s end.
These products often include products that are costly, such as computers, gaming consoles, fitness equipment, and financial products. When brands are promoting these products, they build comprehensive campaigns that communicate the value proposition. It’s important for brands to promote such products at a time and place where customers have the time to engage with this advertising content.
Physical locations and stores
Beacon-based OOH advertising can be effectively utilized for brands that are heavily dependent on their physical presence. Such brands often include shopping malls, retail stores, stadiums, restaurants, banks, and movie halls.
High dwell time experiences
There are some locations where audiences have a lot of time available, such as those traveling on trains and buses, people waiting in line at stores and hospitals, and those in transit at airports.
These occasions provide brands with an excellent opportunity to attract their audiences’ interests since they won’t be easily distracted. Sending content on their smartphones at such touchpoints can lead to high levels of brand engagement.
Conclusion
Beacon technology can complement a physical advertising site when customers have a clear reason to interact. Brands should analyse campaign data carefully, but also minimise collection, respect consent and distinguish a beacon-triggered interaction from a verified sale.
Conditions for a useful beacon campaign
A beacon does not send a marketing message to every nearby phone by itself. The user generally needs a compatible app, relevant permissions and Bluetooth enabled. Campaign planning should therefore cover consent, message frequency, physical range, data retention and a fallback for people who do not use the app.
