Meet Rebecca Leone - Senior Marketing Manager on our OOH team

What makes direct mail and OOH such strong partners in an omnichannel campaign?

With these channels brands are able to reach consumers both at home and on the go, and paired together they create multiple “real-world” touchpoints that reinforce a brand’s message beyond a screen or digital device. The result of pairing the two channels ultimately leads to a more memorable experience that keeps the brand’s message top of mind.

How do you know when a campaign will benefit from combining the two channels instead of using one on its own?

I think almost any campaign can benefit from pairing direct mail and OOH, as the channels complement each other. That said, we've seen especially strong results with locally focused campaigns (new store openings, grand openings, or events), where direct mail can drive awareness and more direct response messaging at home while OOH builds visibility and reinforces the message throughout the community.

What's the first conversation you have with a client when they express interest in OOH?

The first conversation is always about the client's goals. Understanding what they're trying to accomplish helps guide the rest of the strategy, from choosing the right inventory to the targeting approach and campaign timing. Once we know the objective, we can build a plan that best supports it. There are so many unique opportunities and niches within OOH that, regardless of what the campaign goal is, we can develop a strategy that is really special.

Can you share an example of how integrating direct mail and OOH helped strengthen a campaign's overall strategy or performance?

Sure! At SLM, we don't treat direct mail and OOH as separate channels—we use the insights from one to make the other work even harder. Instead of simply running both campaigns independently, we take what we're learning from direct mail performance and use it to inform our OOH strategy, creating a more connected omnichannel campaign that's measured holistically.

One great example was a drive-to-store campaign for a recent shared mail client. We analyzed market performance from their shared mail campaign to identify the strongest markets for OOH activation. By letting our direct mail results guide where we invested in OOH, we created a more strategic media plan that ultimately drove a 122% lift in store visits during the attribution window.

What's one trend you're watching that you think marketers should be paying attention to as they plan for the rest of the year?

Utilizing programmatic marketing channels, whether that's programmatic OOH or DM! Both channels offer incredible opportunities for personalization and highly targeted audience strategies. As brands look to connect with consumers throughout the entire marketing lifecycle, programmatic execution makes it easier to deliver the right message at the right time, creating a more relevant and effective customer journey.

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