Advertising today means stepping away from the screens. Really? ... stepping away from screens? If you would have told me this when the digital revolution first broke out, I wouldn't have believed you. Screens, specifically phones and computers, have been the central focus of advertising campaigns for quite a few years and have ultimately shifted advertising to the new data-driven world that we're in now.
For awhile now, we haven't had to think much about what's happening off display, but that's a mistake. We might spend a lot of time connected, but we also spend a lot of time on-the-move without screens or at home with voice-enabled devices.
For the first time, we're having to go backwards and think of life without screens. But is it really backwards if it's brand new? Things have definitely changed when it comes to off-screen advertising.
Welcome to the year of audio
What we are saying is that audio advertising should be your best friend, and if it isn't, you'll want to change that. Thanks to programmatic audio, advertisers are able to intelligently engage with consumers at times when nothing else reaches them and in this new age, it's the most authentic way to reach them.
For most of us, speaking is the easiest way to communicate and listening is the most obvious way to receive information. Now do you see why audio advertising is pivotal?
Let's take a minute to talk about some of the customer journey gaps that audio advertising can fill. We often refer to these times generically as "on-the-go", but here are a few more specific examples:
Audio is in your earbuds when you're exercising at home or the gym; audio fills your car during your daily commute; audio entertains you when you're getting ready for school/work in the morning; audio plays through your headphones on the train; audio keeps you company when you clean the house; audio fills the kitchen when you're cooking. The list goes on and on because audio is so accessible.
What's next?
Now that advertising is more targeted, people are growing accustomed to hearing/seeing ads that are personalized to their interests, wants, or needs. Audio advertising is no exception thanks to audience segments based on psychographics and life stages. Here's where there might be a couple of hoops to jump through: with greater personalization and more privacy laws, it might be hard to find a good balance.
As a marketer, it's important to find ways to leverage your clients' first party data as well as resources like iHeartMedia's SmartAudio that target the right listeners for you. This is the best way to find balance between producing highly targeted ads and respecting the privacy of consumers. So not only are your ads suddenly more accessible and reaching people at times that are untouchable by other media, but you're not wasting their time because the ads were created specifically for them rather than the masses.
Audio advertising has always played a big role in advertising and its significance continues to grow. Audio brings a lot of value to marketers and helps fill their customer journey gaps. If you aren't already leveraging audio advertising, connect with us to learn more about turning up your brand's volume.
