Here is why outdoor media owners should be thinking more holistically about their content: 

Fast forward 10 years and content is regarded as an essential part of any marketing and communication strategy. As Forbes points out, content makes your customers trust you more; it attracts new viewers and it complements inbound marketing.

However, in the realm of Out-of-Home (OOH) media, it still seems to get less focus. And this is perhaps understandable — OOH is a medium that needs to catch the viewer's attention quickly, retaining and imprinting a brand message in a matter of seconds before the consumer changes location.

In the case of Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH), you also have a planned flighting schedule to consider, compiled according to the slots and frequency your advertisers have selected. This leaves little room for much 'strategy' in your content.

Yet, as outdoor media owners, I believe that we should be thinking about our content strategy. Yes, displaying our clients' commercials is our primary reason for existence and that won't change, but there are other ways we can create stickiness so that people keep looking at our digital billboards, viewing them as a source of not only advertising but also useful information.

The reality is that any marketing channel should effectively integrate both. A good company e-newsletter will have a mix of product or service information intended to encourage sales, as well as content that engages the reader.

As outdoor media owners, our content strategy should answer the following questions:
  • How do we find new reasons for consumers to look at our digital billboards?
  • How do we create a content-led approach with our billboards' inherent space limitations?
  • How do we integrate information that is relevant and useful to our community, in a way that is also quick and affordable to roll out?
  • How can our billboards provide service and add more value to our communities?
  • Can other content complement the campaigns of our advertisers, creating the kind of stickiness that will benefit our clients?
  • How do we empower and uplift our communities, through leveraging the resources at our disposal?

These very questions help to develop a holistic content strategy that can be rolled out across digital billboards, which aim to integrate community-centric content with clients' commercials. This creates a good balance of informative and advertising content.

One of the ways that we can deliver on this objective is through the launch of an events platform that allows schools, charities, churches, music groups and other community organisations to promote events in their neighbourhoods — free of charge.

By accessing Tractor's Events Page, for example, users complete a simple form that allows them to upload the details of their function. These informative text updates flight across its network of digital screens in the area where the event is being held, in between clients' campaigns.

The platform thus acts as a modern take on the old community noticeboard, which you used to see in shopping centres or town halls.

Tractor has also spent time thinking about non-profit organisations that it can support, which will benefit from having access to a high-reach, high-frequency medium. To this end, it has partnered with Missing Children South Africa, an organisation that assists the authorities whenever a child goes missing.

When a child disappears, speed is of the essence as the more time that elapses, the lower the likelihood of them being returned safely to their home. The beauty of DOOH is that it enables fast-to-market communication, allowing for the rapid communication of missing child alerts to key areas.

Another organisation to consider is the WOOF Project, a pop-up animal adoption initiative powered by registered non-profit Oscars Arc. 

Let's be honest: Would you want to read a magazine with its pages filled solely with adverts? No.

But a magazine that is chockablock with high-quality editorial features, informative advertorials and visually-arresting ads is something that you could read cover to cover — which also means that you're far more receptive to the brand messages contained within those pages.

Why should OOH be any different?

For more information, visit www.tractoroutdoor.com. You can also follow Tractor Outdoor on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.