Planning out-of-home can be daunting. To start, it's a fragmented marketplace with inventory spread across hundreds of vendors, there are endless types of media, and reaching your ideal audience in the real world can be challenging. Here’s a tangible, play by play guide on how to plan and measure successful out-of-home campaigns in a turnkey fashion.

1. Defining Outcomes Before You Start Planning

Clearly Determine Your Campaign Goals 
Define your campaign goals and set key performance indicators. For example, is your goal to in-crease your store traffic, online traffic, brand awareness, sales lift? 

Establish Your Target Audience
Profile, demographics, purchase behavior and location are common criteria for defining a target audience.

Have a Clear Strategy & Approach
Set communication goals, determine the areas of coverage and identify markets based on objectives.

Understand Your Customer's Journey
How you will intercept your target audiences, what tracking will be used at each touch point and how to optimize conversion throughout the funnel.

2. Planning for Success

Time, Time, Time
Out-of-home media has a fixed amount of inventory, so lead-time is critical for securing valuable inventory. Typical lead time for securing out-of home media is 12-16 weeks. However, digital OOH campaigns can typically be live in less than 24 hours. 

The Right Formats For the Right Audience
Choose from over 1,600 different media formats, ranging from subway stations and billboards to coffee shops and stadiums. Decide how and where you’d like to communicate with your audience. 

Set A Realistic Budget
Aim to reach at least 20% of the target audience if you plan to run attribution. Keep in mind seasonality, placement demand or market supply will affect rates.

Request a Proposal
A formal request for media availability and strategic recommendations. You will need to include de-tailed info about the campaign along with your company and contact information. The more detailed your request is, the faster and more accurate results you will get in the proposal. To submit an RFP today, please go to www.billups.com/rfp

Consult Industry Experts
It is time to decide what inventory makes most sense for your goal, budget, and target. Request and analyze proposals from different OOH suppliers, it can be very beneficial for your campaign. Expert recommendations based on experience and technology are very valuable in this step.

3. Launching Your Campaign Successfully

Negotiate for the Right Media
Negotiate media based on total buy amount, season or availability, then formally reserve media with a Media Authorization Form.

Creative Details Are Key
If you’re outsourcing production, the standard proof provided is a low-resolution PDF. This proof should be used to check creative content. Clients can also request a color-match proof or an on-site press check.  

Print, Ship and Install
Once artwork is approved, shipping materials take between 1 to 5 days depending on location. Expedited shipping is an option if materials need to be sent overnight or 2-day air. Finally, suppliers will install contracted media on the 1st day of the campaign.

Confirm Tracking Beforehand
Confirm proper tracking is installed along each touchpoint a long the customer journey. Measuring digital conversion requires installing a pixel on your website. Or measuring digital attribution requires time-stamps from media owners. 

4. How to Attribute Your Success

Posting Verification (POP)
Within 7 days of launching your campaign, you will receive images from the installer verifying your creative has posted.

Know What's Happening in Each Market
A market audit can be requested throughout the campaign to confirm each placement has the correct creative without any obstruction of view, graffiti or issues with lighting.

Bang For Your Buck
Given the physical nature of outdoor advertising, if another advertiser doesn’t purchase your placement at the completion of your campaign, your advertisement will remain posted until another advertiser reserves the space.

Additional Reporting
Take advantage of advanced reporting for out-of-home media, including, but not limited to, attribution, brands studies, market sentiment and creative fatigue.

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