Are you looking to build awareness, spark engagement or even drive sales for your brand? If so, an integrated advertising approach that pairs radio and digital can work well in helping you achieve your goal.
Radio alone has a massive reach, with 93% of U.S. adults listening in on a weekly basis, and it delivers a high return on investment ($12 return for every $1 spent on ads). It also impacts memory encoding and recall due to the theatre of the mind. When paired with digital marketing, another powerful medium, radio can significantly boost your advertising results.
There are four ways to pair radio and digital:
1. Radio and Search
Radio drives search and helps customers find your brand when researching products and services online. In fact, radio ads generated an average 29% lift in Google search activity. Radio and search also help with moving people along the customer journey. Radio, which reaches broader audiences, can help garner interest among listeners. Search engine optimization (SEO) harnesses that interest and reaches those who are actively searching for a product or service. Together, the channels allow marketers to influence customer behavior at different touchpoints, thus driving clear results.
When pairing radio and search, it’s important to include target keywords in your radio ad. In turn, listeners will remember these key words and phrases to easily search for your brand while online.
2. Radio and Display Advertising
With display advertising, ads are shown on social media or websites through banners or other ad formats made of text, images, flash, video and audio. Combining the two channels is powerful – 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, so most people process images faster. This is a great way to play on the theater of the mind, helping potential customers remember your brand.
You can also use both channels to increase the frequency of your message. When a listener is exposed to your message a certain number of times, your brand stays top of mind throughout the buying process. Optimum frequency helps the customer remember the brand, take action and refer the product to others.
3. Radio and Social Media
Radio reaches a large number of people, and ads can drive listeners to social media to extend the conversation for more personalized, one-on-one interactions. Social media can help you increase brand engagement and win new customers, as 71% of consumers who have had a positive social media service experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others.
To reach radio audiences on social media, include your social media handles in ads, retarget listeners with social media ads, or leverage the station’s social media presence. Radio personalities have a large influence with listeners and can extend their influence to social media through endorsements.
4. Radio and Digital Promotions
Digital promotions, like online quizzes, sweepstakes and contests, give advertisers the opportunity to interact and engage with listeners online, on social media and on-air. They help generate warm leads, drive foot traffic and increase website traffic and, when paired with radio, can boost results and yield a higher return on investment (ROI).
A good example of this would be the Cutest Couple Photo Contest, which garnered interest and engagement while collecting qualified leads for Zimmer’s stations.
Read 6 Tips for Effectively Using Digital Promotions to learn more
Pairing radio and digital is a surefire way to boost advertising and engage customers where they can be found, online or on-air. Knowing how to leverage radio with search, display advertising, social media and digital promotions not only helps build brand equity, but can also impact the bottom line. Choosing an integrated marketing approach that includes radio and digital can help you receive these benefits and much more.
