Combining your digital and radio advertisements can increase your odds of success if you're looking for a way to improve all your advertising efforts. Advertising with radio alone, for example, lifts sales by about 17%, while digital marketing increases your sales by about 14%. Integrating those efforts, on the other hand, can increase the return on your investment to around 23%. Are you struggling to integrate your digital and radio advertisements? Consider these tips.
1. Place Digital Ads on Station Websites
Radio listeners come to radio station websites for a variety of reasons. Most often, it's to access the online or streaming version of the station--but that's not the only thing radio listeners want to accomplish online. They also visit the station for concert information or to register for one of the contests going on at any given time. Seeing your ad on the website can help further emphasize your partnership with the radio station. They hear the ad on the air and then see the ad on the website, which helps cement that partnership in the minds of potential customers.
If you've launched a marketing campaign that includes familiar radio voices, you might want to integrate those personalities into your ad. Invite one of those hosts to participate in your advertising campaign. You could do photo ads that include the host using your products or feature that familiar personality as part of your ad. Incorporate some of these best practices for banner ads and other digital ads on radio websites:
- Keep it short and simple. Remember, most people aren't taking the time to read display ads, especially not when they're visiting the website for another purpose.
- Use the right images. Images that resonate with your target audience are one of the keys to successful display ads.
- Incorporate a compelling call to action to bring customers to your website or compel them to take the action you need.
2. Remain Consistent
The language should remain the same between your radio spots and your digital marketing assets. You don't want customers to hear one message about your brand on the radio, then see something completely different when they connect with your brand through your digital marketing ads. Keep in mind:
The messaging on each platform should complement the other. It doesn't have to be identical, but you should share the same general message with your customers no matter how they connect with your brand.
Keep your branding consistent. You want customers to recognize your brand when they see it--and that means having the same branding in all of your advertisements. A solid brand guide can help you better manage that messaging to your customers.
When you're working between auditory and digital media, consider the elements that make up your brand carefully. Evaluate your tone: are your advertisements typically lighthearted, or are they more serious? Is your personality the same in your digital and radio ads? You may also want to consider the messaging you're creating: are your topics the same via digital ads that they are on the radio? Consumers want to know what to expect from your brand--and consistency is key to providing customers with a clear understanding of your business.
3. Incorporate Influencers
Many listeners have trusted relationships with their favorite on-air talent. They rely on that talent to provide them with key information and connection every day--including their opinions of other brands. When consumers hear their favorite influencers endorse or advertise a product or service, it can resonate with them entirely differently. You may already be using influencers as part of your radio advertisements. Try incorporating their pictures or quotes directly from those influencers as part of your digital ads.
4. Optimize Your Website
You want to make sure that your website is SEO optimized. After a potential customer hears your spot on the radio, they might search for you, either by name or by using the keywords they remember from your ad. Include popular terms and slogans from your radio ads on your website. If you’re new to optimizing your website it may still be hard for a searcher to find your website by using keywords. If this is the case you will want to make sure to use SEM (paid search) to ensure that your website is found. Even the most high frequency radio campaign could see lesser results if a listener searches for you online and either can’t find your website or worse, finds your competition instead.
5. When Using Targeted Digital Ads, Utilize All Available Tactics to Effectively Reach Your Target Market
An integrated digital ad campaign performs best when you use all the appropriate tactics to reach your goals. Some digital agencies focus on just one or two tactics to deliver their ads. Don’t get caught up in the hype of the latest buzz word. Find a digital agency that uses a blend of ALL tactics and customizes their approach based upon what is right for your business. These tactics may include:
- Retargeting of guests who have visited your site in the past
- Contextual keywords
- Search retargeting, including directing past visitors to your site back there when they do a future search
- Demographic advertising
- Geo-fencing
- Addressable geo-fencing
Integrating your marketing efforts increases your ROI and expands your reach. By utilizing these tactics and working with an experienced radio partner, you can often see substantial returns on your marketing investment.
