How do you test and refine your outdoor ad concept before launching it?

1 Research your audience

The first step is to understand who you are trying to reach with your outdoor ad. What are their demographics, preferences, behaviors, and pain points? How do they interact with outdoor media? Where are they most likely to see your ad? What are their expectations and needs from your product or service? You can use various methods to research your audience, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, online tools, and secondary data. The more you know about your audience, the better you can tailor your ad to their interests and motivations.

2 Define your objectives

The next step is to define what you want to achieve with your outdoor ad. What is the main purpose of your campaign? Is it to raise awareness, generate leads, drive sales, or build loyalty? How will you measure your success? What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) that you will track and evaluate? You can use the SMART framework to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives for your outdoor ad. Having clear objectives will help you focus your message and design your ad accordingly.

3 Brainstorm your concept

The third step is to brainstorm different ideas for your outdoor ad concept. You can use various techniques to stimulate your creativity, such as mind mapping, word association, sketching, storyboarding, or brainstorming sessions with your team or stakeholders. You can also look for inspiration from other successful outdoor ads, both in your industry and outside of it. The key is to generate as many concepts as possible, without judging or filtering them at this stage. You can then select the most promising ones based on your objectives, audience, and budget.

4 Test your concept

The fourth step is to test your selected concept with a small sample of your target audience. You can use different methods to test your concept, such as mock-ups, prototypes, simulations, or online tools. The goal is to get feedback on how your concept performs in terms of attention, comprehension, recall, emotion, and action. You can also test different elements of your concept, such as the headline, image, color, layout, or location. Testing your concept will help you identify its strengths and weaknesses, and make adjustments accordingly.

5 Refine your concept

The final step is to refine your concept based on the results of your testing. You can use the feedback you received to improve your concept and make it more effective and appealing. You can also compare your concept with your objectives and KPIs, and make sure that they are aligned. You can also consult with your team or stakeholders, and get their input and approval. Refining your concept will help you polish your outdoor ad and prepare it for launch.