Exploring The Technology & Functionality
Of Outdoor Digital Billboards

In South Africa, outdoor digital billboards are becoming an increasingly popular form of advertising. With the rise of digital technology, more and more businesses are turning to digital billboards as a way to reach their target audience in a cost-effective and engaging way.

If you’re a South African business owner looking to diversify your marketing strategy, then it may be worth considering outdoor digital billboard advertising. In this blog, we’ll explore the technology and functionality of outdoor digital billboards and why they are a beneficial piece of your marketing strategy puzzle.

What Is A Digital Billboard & How Is It Different From Traditional Billboards?

Digital billboards, also known as electronic billboards or LED billboards, are a modern and dynamic form of outdoor advertising. They are similar to traditional billboards in that they are large signs that display messages to a wide audience, but they offer a number of competitive advantages over traditional billboards ‒ which we’ll dive into shortly.

How Do Outdoor Digital Billboards Work?

Digital billboards consist of a large LED screen, a control system, and require a power source. The LED screen is made up of thousands of individual light-emitting diodes, better known as “LEDs”, that can display a wide range of colors and brightness levels.

The control system, which is typically a computer or specialised digital signage player, manages the content displayed on the screen, including text, images, videos, and animations. The power source, which is usually an electrical grid or solar panels, keeps the digital billboard running.

Why Are Outdoor Digital Billboards A Better Option Than Traditional Billboards?

As we mentioned before, outdoor digital billboards have many competitive advantages over traditional billboards. 

Dynamic Visuals: The advantages of digital billboards stem from their one unique selling point, being that the visuals on digital billboards are dynamic. This means that they display full-colour images and videos. This allows advertisers to create more engaging and dynamic messages that capture the viewers’ attention. Instead of there only being capacity for one static visual over a set period of time, advertisers now have the option to display multiple ads at different periods of the day, playing in a loop. As a result, there is much more room for experimentation.

Fantastic Capacity for A/B Testing: If you’re not familiar with A/B testing, this is a term that marketers use to explain a method whereby they try changing different aspects of a campaign to determine which “mix” produces the best results and return on investment.

Prior to digital billboards, marketers would have a very difficult time reporting whether their billboard strategy is actually working for them. Thanks to digital outdoor billboards, there is plenty of freedom to perform A/B testing by changing aspects such as colours, animations, wording, length, time played, and much more. 

Advanced Integration With Digital Marketing Strategy: Another great benefit of digital billboards is their fantastic ability to integrate seamlessly with a business’s digital marketing strategy. There are many ways to do this, but as an example, you could engage the billboard viewers with QR codes.

A digital billboard for a clothing store might display a QR code that viewers can scan with their smartphones to access a special offer or promotion. Or a digital billboard for a restaurant might display a social media handle and encourage viewers to follow the restaurant on social media for special deals and promotions.

Ready To Get Started?

If you’re ready to take the leap and discover how outdoor digital billboard advertising can enhance your marketing strategy in South Africa, our team at Face First Media would be happy to help you get started. We will help you create an effective ad campaign that will reach your target audience and help grow your business. Chat with our team today to get started.

New marketing and advertising trends are emerging in 2023. Since the rise of social media, many businesses have been throwing their budgets behind digital advertising.

Over the past few months and moving into the new year, marketers have discovered that the online space is becoming more and more saturated, leading them to resort back to traditional marketing methods and putting a modern twist on them. As such, one trend that is quickly gaining momentum is the use of digital billboards.

What Is A Digital Billboard?

Many of us are familiar with the term “billboard”, but what exactly is a digital billboard? As you can imagine, they are almost the same as your traditional billboard except for the fact that they operate digitally.

Where traditional billboards were limited to advertising only one product or service during a specified time period, a digital billboard can host numerous different adverts that run on a cycle. Furthermore, where we were once limited to a static image advertisement, you can now make moving, dynamic adverts that capture people’s attention in a remarkable way.

The Benefits Of Digital Billboards

Digital billboards offer a number of benefits over traditional billboards. For one, they can be easily updated with new content, making them a great option for businesses that want to change their advertisements frequently and run A/B split campaigns with the public response to various types of visuals.

Additionally, digital billboards can be programmed to display different advertisements at different times of day or in response to certain weather conditions, allowing businesses to target specific audiences who they have tracked to be active on specific routes at specific times.

Another advantage of digital billboards is their ability to display interactive content. This can include social media feeds, live video, or even augmented reality experiences. This interactive content can help businesses engage with their audiences in new and exciting ways.

One of the most significant benefits of digital billboards is their ability to track and measure the effectiveness of the advertisements. Advanced analytics tools can be used to track how many people are seeing the advertisements and how long they are looking at them. This data can then be used to optimise the advertisements and improve their performance.

An Integration Between Traditional And Digital Marketing Benefits

In 2023, it’s expected that digital billboards will become even more prevalent as advancements in technology continue to make them more affordable and accessible. Businesses of all sizes will be able to take advantage of digital billboards to reach and engage with their audiences.

For companies that specialise in digital billboard advertising, this trend represents a huge opportunity. By staying ahead of the curve and offering the latest and greatest digital billboard technology, these companies can set themselves apart from the competition and attract more business.

Finding The Right Digital Billboard Supplier In South Africa

If you’re interested in capitalising on the growing trend of digital billboards in marketing and advertising in 2023, it’s important to work with an experienced supplier who understands the ins and outs of the industry and has data to prove their success. Our team at Face First Media are specialists in digital billboard marketing and would love to help you with your advertising strategy. Contact us today to get started.

Billboards and OOH (Out Of Home) advertising are some of the oldest forms of marketing. Yet, with recent changes and technological advances in the industry, it remains one of the strongest mediums in advertising. More than this, it is a less intrusive form of advertising which consumers are starting to appreciate more and more. 

But how can you make the most out of this marketing medium and why should it matter? Our team at Face First Media has compiled a list of reasons to answer the question: Why use billboards to advertise? Let’s take a look!

Reason #1: Your Reach Is Extensive

If you consider the visual impact of a billboard as well as the constant traffic that passes it, you can understand why a billboard can be so effective at reaching a wide range and volume of audiences. Billboards are positioned strategically to get you as much exposure as possible to capitalise on this.

Reason #2: You Can Rely On Established Evaluations

Speaking of reach, billboards are frequently evaluated to assess how well they perform in terms of impressions made. It has become an industry standard to also leverage this performance against cost, so you know that you are getting the exposure in terms of circulation, demographics and, of course, impressions that you are looking for.

Reason #3: You Have Freedom In Creativity

Billboards are notoriously effective at using their surroundings and short, impactful messaging to get the point across. Whether you use mixed mediums, creative design, or out-of-the-box thinking to make your billboard even more effective, there is a vast range of freedom that you can enjoy with billboards.

Make The Right Choice For Your Billboard Needs

Face First Media is an industry-leading marketing expert and outdoor media owner in South Africa that has successfully navigated outdoor advertising for our clients for many years. We specialise in visibility and accessibility with an extensive and uniquely situated property inventory ‒ giving you the added edge. 

If you’re still wondering, “Why use billboards to advertise?” then feel free to reach out to us to discuss how we can help you. Get in touch with us via phone call on 033 413-2439 or via our convenient online portal.

Outdoor advertising has seen some very rewarding developments in recent years and our clients have reaped the rewards of both strategically placed sites and extensive exposure for their businesses. As an industry leader, we find it important to stay up to date with the latest advancements in the industry and to pay heed to the trends we see developing. 

Want to know what your digital billboard marketing should be focusing on? Our team at Face First Media has taken a look at some of the most important billboard advertising trends for 2023.

The Rise Of Digital Billboards

DOOH (Digital Out Of Home) advertising is seeing a big boom in popularity. Not only do these billboards afford more flexibility and accessibility but they are capitalising on the most attractive elements of digital marketing without needing to access a personal screen to do so (phones, tablets, PCs, etc.). 

LED and LCD screens are extremely eye-catching and are becoming more and more common. These billboards also allow brands to make use of movement and short videos to draw in intrigue and interest to make the message even more impactful.

The Power Of Storytelling

Another great trend we expect to see more of in billboard advertising in 2023 is the use of storytelling. Not only is it becoming synonymous with strong branding and marketing, but because of the changes in how people consume media and marketing, it is becoming a prerequisite for audience engagement and fast being adopted as an industry standard. 

Without heartfelt messaging and a captivating story, advertising will see a less desirable result. Billboards that entice engagement through storytelling leave a lasting impression and achieve a greater response.

Trust The Expert For Your Outdoor Advertising Needs

At Face First Media, we pride ourselves on offering our clients our expert insight, tactical abilities, and personalised service. More than this, we uphold a commitment to value and exceptional experience every single time you engage with us. If you would like to find out more about billboard advertising trends for 2023 or how we could help you, all you need to do is get in touch with us today.