Credit:https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/321420?
Billboards aren’t just background on road trips. Cracker Barrel, a popular Southern-style restaurant, has mastered the art of converting outdoor advertisements into indoor customers.
Cracker Barrel spends 49 percent of its total advertising budget on outdoor ads, per eMarketer. The brand carefully places its restaurants near exits and interstates to target road trippers. Billboards lead weary travelers not only to hot meals, but also to the stores and relaxation areas inside Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Integration of outdoor advertising and restaurant placement, along with the rest of Cracker Barrel’s marketing strategy, continues to work in the digital age. Analysts cited in the Fairfield Current expect the chain to achieve an annual growth rate of 10.4 percent. While many observers dismiss outdoor ads as hard-to-track wastes of budget, Cracker Barrel and other savvy brands are making a killing.
Why billboards still work.
With such a broad spectrum of consumable media for brands to use, outdoor advertising doesn’t immediately emerge as the top option. Digital ads and email campaigns offer much better targeting. TV commercials are more dynamic. What do outdoor ads have that makes them so special?
People spend so much time in front of screens now that real-life advertisements have more power than they used to. Online browsers are masters at ignoring pop-up ads and banners, but when they see a billboard, street sign or other eye-catching object, they take a moment to look. For brands, that moment makes the difference between irrelevance and interest.
According to Nielsen, outdoor advertising is the most effective nondigital medium for generating online activity. Cracker Barrel asks people to take the exit to grab dinner, so they do. Other brands use outdoor ads to encourage online searches, which lead to engagement, purchases and loyalty.
The pathway from outdoor ads to increased revenue is straightforward -- but success depends entirely on execution. Brands not only need to expand their presence outside, but also to create memorable experiences that make the most of their ad budgets. These tips reveal how:
1. Borrow from other brands and industries.
Outdoor advertising clearly works for other brands. If they do something right, take that idea and use it for a quick shortcut to successful advertising.
Instacart’s former expansion manager wrote in Adweek about his frustrations with the declining effectiveness of online ads. To remedy the problem, he took inspiration from billboards and subway posters. Even though he struggled to measure the effectiveness of his new collateral, the increase in subscribers (with no other campaigns running) spoke for itself.More
Billboards aren’t just background on road trips. Cracker Barrel, a popular Southern-style restaurant, has mastered the art of converting outdoor advertisements into indoor customers.
Cracker Barrel spends 49 percent of its total advertising budget on outdoor ads, per eMarketer. The brand carefully places its restaurants near exits and interstates to target road trippers. Billboards lead weary travelers not only to hot meals, but also to the stores and relaxation areas inside Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Integration of outdoor advertising and restaurant placement, along with the rest of Cracker Barrel’s marketing strategy, continues to work in the digital age. Analysts cited in the Fairfield Current expect the chain to achieve an annual growth rate of 10.4 percent. While many observers dismiss outdoor ads as hard-to-track wastes of budget, Cracker Barrel and other savvy brands are making a killing.
Why billboards still work.
With such a broad spectrum of consumable media for brands to use, outdoor advertising doesn’t immediately emerge as the top option. Digital ads and email campaigns offer much better targeting. TV commercials are more dynamic. What do outdoor ads have that makes them so special?
People spend so much time in front of screens now that real-life advertisements have more power than they used to. Online browsers are masters at ignoring pop-up ads and banners, but when they see a billboard, street sign or other eye-catching object, they take a moment to look. For brands, that moment makes the difference between irrelevance and interest.
According to Nielsen, outdoor advertising is the most effective nondigital medium for generating online activity. Cracker Barrel asks people to take the exit to grab dinner, so they do. Other brands use outdoor ads to encourage online searches, which lead to engagement, purchases and loyalty.
The pathway from outdoor ads to increased revenue is straightforward -- but success depends entirely on execution. Brands not only need to expand their presence outside, but also to create memorable experiences that make the most of their ad budgets. These tips reveal how:
1. Borrow from other brands and industries.
Outdoor advertising clearly works for other brands. If they do something right, take that idea and use it for a quick shortcut to successful advertising.
Instacart’s former expansion manager wrote in Adweek about his frustrations with the declining effectiveness of online ads. To remedy the problem, he took inspiration from billboards and subway posters. Even though he struggled to measure the effectiveness of his new collateral, the increase in subscribers (with no other campaigns running) spoke for itself.More
