Radio & Digital Marketing: A Match Made in Heaven

Auditory entertainment has always been popular, and now it's taking off across multiple channels. Commuters listen to the radio in their car or in stores. People listen to their preferred podcasts, eBook services, or streaming platforms at home, at work, and on the go.

However, because these media spread across multiple different channels and even transmission mechanisms, it's vital to create a marketing strategy that encompasses that wide field with as much precision as possible.

Combining both radio and digital marketing offers many advantages over choosing just one alone, and Mid-West Family is here to help you get the value out of using the paired set. Let's take a closer look at the benefits of using radio and digital marketing in your advertising approaches:

Extended Reach

Conventional broadcast radio is ubiquitous. People of all ages, incomes, and interests listen to the radio every week, and companies have been creating radio ads for decades. But streaming audio services are quickly becoming just as common a channel to reach consumers, with hundreds of millions of Americans listening in. In 2022, 74.0% of US internet users, or 222.7 million people, listened to digital audio.

When you combine the two options, you extend your reach to cover audiences who exclusively listen to broadcast radio and audiences that tune out radio to listen to streaming audio.

Increased Frequency

Of course, there are plenty of audiences that listen to both—they hear the radio in their car or out in public, and they have a personal catalog of streaming music and podcast apps they use throughout the day. When your ads are on both conventional and digital channels, you can reach your audience more frequently and create multiple touchpoints. This increases their familiarity with your brand and keeps you or your products top of mind as they go throughout their daily routine.

Even more importantly, ads across multiple different contexts form more mental connections, so all your audio and visual ads across different platforms coalesce into a single brand identity.

Interactive Engagement

While marketing attribution models for conventional radio have significantly improved, they are nowhere near the level of granular analytics and detail you can get from digital channels. Every interaction creates dozens of data points, allowing you to zero in on your core audience or your most effective ads with more precision than ever. You can:

• Measure engagement across different ads or campaigns
• Take new views of data for more insight
• Refine your buyer personas based on engagement and behavior data
• Forecast your budget for upcoming weeks or campaigns

Multi-Channel Branding

Earlier, we briefly touched on how ads across multiple platforms contextualize your brand and lead to a more engaging connection with your audience. Multi-channel branding goes deep to help you create a relationship with your listeners that is far more likely to lead to sales and customer loyalty.

First, you increase the total number of touchpoints, making your brand more familiar and prominent. Second, they come across your brand in multiple different contexts and senses, including audio and visual. This makes it easier to recall or think of your brand in different situations. It also unifies the experience so you're more than 'that radio ad' or 'that commercial on Pandora.'

Targeted Messaging

Because marketing attribution models and data collection across digital channels is so comprehensive, you can dive in and create increasingly specific messages that get routed to a very specific audience.

For example, you may craft one ad for listeners who like comedy podcasts, another ad for listeners who listen to music for hours throughout the day, and other ads for other target markets. This helps you create more engaging messages that align with the listeners instead of overly generic ads or ads that miss the mark.

Cross-Promotion Opportunities

Just like you can use both conventional and digital audio to contextualize your brand and create a stronger impression, you can use audio marketing in multiple different promotional strategies. You can:

• Sponsor a broadcast radio segment that reaches your local community
• Have paid advertising on streaming music platforms
• Have an influential podcaster endorse your products and services
• Sponsor video accompaniments to audio programs so your logo is also part of the campaign

Creating multiple diverse types of promotions, rather than just operating across multiple channels, makes your brand more engaging and much more likely to convert a listener.

Retargeting

Retargeting is a strategic concept in advertising. Most of the time, the first ad isn't enough to convert a prospect into a loyal customer. However, the second or third one might be. You can sequence your ads and create specific retargeting content that reaches shoppers who have already heard your first ad.

This is remarkably effective in digital channels, as service providers can ensure retargeting ads reach the right audiences. Your campaign becomes a sequential pathway rather than a semi-random jumble of touchpoints.

Make Your Advertising Sign with Dual Radio & Digital Marketing Strategies from Mid-West Family

Using both conventional radio and digital audio together offers far more benefits than the sum of its parts. You can more strategically reach your shoppers with the content and contexts they prefer, all while gathering more insights into how your shoppers engage with your brand.

Turn to Mid-West Family for help navigating the process of growing your reach, engagement levels, and sales across radio and digital marketing. Reach out today to see where we can optimize your advertising and marketing strategy.