Self-Serve Advertising: Making Out-of-Home (OOH) Media Accessible to Local Businesses

2022 is a new dawn for the Out-of-Home (OOH) industry. Travel restrictions are lifted globally, people are going back out and the OOH medium is relevant again to marketers. According to the prediction in Research and Market’s report, the global Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) market is expected to reach $54.83 billion by 2030, projecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.6% from 2021 to 2030. With that being said, hyperlocal advertising in OOH is still what marketers are looking for. 

The ability to reach the right target audiences where they are is the ultimate goal for advertisers. The technology available in OOH today allows advertisers to use this advertising medium at its fullest potential. Hyperlocality allows advertisers to reach a niche audience at a specific location such as a certain group of residents of a certain town or grocery shoppers at a local hypermarket. Businesses are now exploring the advantages of hyperlocal ads to tailor their content based on the location and audience they are targeting.

Hyperlocal Out-of-Home Advertising

One can observe that ads displayed on iconic billboards in major cities are relatively different from the ones running on some hyperlocal sites. The advertisements seen on screens in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia, would be very different from what is on display on a screen in the same city but by a road that leads to a small neighborhood. The advertisements tend to be curated especially for local audiences. 

Hyperlocal billboards and screens are benefitting from going digital and enabling programmatic advertising. But, they can be underutilized at times and filler advertisements are used regularly to fill up unbooked spots. Having a filled screen is better than a blank one whether or not those spots are bringing in revenue. This is a major challenge faced by hyperlocal media owners. 

The best way for hyperlocal media owners to turn around their underutilized assets is by making Digital Out of Home for small businesses accessible to local businesses with a smaller advertising budget. Businesses and advertisers that will benefit from the local audiences. It won’t make sense for Hermes to have a 1-month long campaign on a billboard in a small town, where the nearest Hermes store is 70 kilometers away. However, a new Zus Coffee branch in Danau Kota can utilize hyperlocal screens, not too far from the cafe, to drive traffic to its location.

Having ads from businesses located in the vicinity of a given site would have a greater impact on viewers and advertisers. Small businesses can reach their target audiences and the consumers of a specific area seeing an advertisement that is relevant to them are more likely to act upon the call-to-action they see. 

The Role of Self-Serve Advertising in Hyperlocal Advertising

With the advancement of advertising technology, screens and billboards can now find their own buyers. Like a profile on a dating site, a screen can have its specifics published online today. With self-serve advertising technology, billboards can now find their matches without the help of a physical sales representative.

Here at LMX, we are creating self-serve portals for media owners from the OOH industry to help them lock down deals on their websites through their very own e-commerce-like portal. Like how people buy a cupboard organizer on Amazon, small businesses and advertisers can buy advertising space on an online portal attached to media owners’ websites. The portal will allow advertisers to plan, book and launch customized advertising campaigns in minutes.

Log in page on a self-serve portal

Planning an advertising campaign on a self-serve portal

This self-serve platform will be white-labeled following the branding and requirements of the said media owner. 

Media owners are given full control over what information is presented on the portal this includes inventory specifications, audience segmentation, price and packages, and more. Media owners can now take back control of their inventory and increase their revenue.

Find out more about self-serve advertising here and book a demo to see it for yourself.