Brands have more ways to reach people than ever before. Paid social, search ads, display advertising, email, streaming and influencer marketing can put a business in front of millions.

For marketers, the question is how combining the two can make a campaign stronger.

What Is the Difference Between Online and Out-of-Home Advertising?

The simplest difference is where the advertising experience happens. Online advertising reaches consumers through digital devices, while out-of-home advertising reaches them in physical, public spaces.

Both can generate awareness. But the way that awareness is created is very different.

Online Attention Is Crowded

Think about the last time you opened Instagram, searched something on Google or read an article online.

Digital advertising gives marketers incredible targeting capabilities, but it also exists in an environment where consumers are constantly moving, scrolling past sponsored posts and skipping content. That creates a difficult attention problem.

OOH Advertising Builds Familiarity Through Repetition

One of billboard advertising’s biggest advantages is how naturally frequency can occur. People tend to follow routines. They take similar routes to work, drive the same highways, visit familiar shopping centers and travel through the same neighborhoods.

A strategically placed billboard can become part of that routine:

This type of repeated exposure can help build brand awareness without requiring the consumer to click, watch or otherwise interact with the ad.

Online Advertising and Billboard Advertising Work Better Together

Brands don’t need to choose between digital advertising and OOH. In many cases, they serve different parts of the same customer journey. Someone might see your billboard during their morning commute but have no reason to act immediately. Later, they search for your company. The next day, they encounter one of your paid social ads and recognize the brand.

That relationship can work in the opposite direction, too. Someone who has already encountered a business online may see its billboard and recognize it immediately.