Founder at True Native Media. Sold 60k+ podcast host-read endorsement ads for brands and agencies. Host of The Podcast Advertising Playbook.
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Dr. Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, is quoted as saying, "Start with the end in mind." When planning your next podcast advertising campaign, it's important to follow this advice. Having a plan in place will increase the chances of success and give advertisers a barometer to measure that success.
Deciding On Your Campaign Type
Before setting goals for your campaign, consider the type of campaign you want to run. Typically, campaigns are either direct response or branding campaigns. Each of these campaigns has very different intended results.
In this article, I'm going to focus on direct response campaigns. But first, it helps to understand the differences between the two:
Branding Campaigns
Branding campaigns are designed to create greater awareness about a company and may highlight a specific product, product release or promotion. After all, buyers will only purchase a product if they know it exists.
Brand campaigns are about a company's long-term vision and positioning, selling prospective customers on the brand's benefits and building a perception of worth in the company and the products and services it provides.
Apple ads are an example of brand advertising. Their ads are positioned to announce a product release and contribute to value perception. A price point or discount offer does not accompany their ads; they are run to create awareness, position the product and brand the company.
Direct Response Campaigns
Direct response advertising helps consumers buy, aiming for immediate sales conversions. Direct response campaigns are powerful because marketers can easily see the impact the campaign is having on sales. The anticipation of sales conversions makes the decision to invest further simple.
An offer of some kind always accompanies direct response advertising. When you hear a Casper Mattress ad, for example, it is accompanied by an offer and a prompt to use a code, typically to get a discount or special offer. While the ad will, by the nature of being an ad, create a level of awareness, the purpose of the ad is to encourage potential customers to make a purchase.
Measuring Your Direct Response Ad's Success
Before starting a direct response ad campaign for a podcast, it's valuable to have metrics that allow for proper tracking. The first metrics to consider are the visitor-to-lead ratio and the lead-to-sale ratio. Based on the campaign, how many potential customers visited your site and then converted into paying customers?
In podcast advertising, we often use unique URLs, landing pages and promo codes to see how a campaign performs. When using these methods to track results, set a goal for landing page conversions. How many conversions have been received through the landing page specifically? Pixel tracking can be an excellent companion to the more manual tracking processes. There are companies and tools in the market that can provide conversion metrics that are helpful when considering the success of a campaign.
Cost per acquisition (CPA) is also a critical metric that shows marketers how much they have spent to acquire a new customer or get a customer to take a specific action. Ideally, advertisers will have CPA goals set from their prior experience with advertising campaigns. Marketers need to know how to spend to acquire new customers and be successful.
Your CPA usually takes into account your customer's lifetime value (CLV). Knowing this will provide information about how much each customer is worth to the organization. If customers have a high lifetime value, your CPA goal may be higher, and conversely, if the CLV is low, a lower amount should be invested to acquire a customer.
For example, if the CLV of your customer is $1,000 but it costs $1,500 to bring in that customer, the campaign will not be successful. However, if your CLV is $1,000 and you can acquire a new customer for $250, you may profit from the campaign. A clear CPA goal will determine if your podcast ad campaign is successful.
Tips For Direct Response Campaigns
Direct response campaigns create greater company awareness, but again, in addition to that benefit, they aim to accomplish the goal of immediate customer acquisition.
To be effective, direct response campaigns must include a compelling call to action (CTA) to prompt the customer to buy today and not tomorrow. CTAs should include an exclusive offer that entices the listener to buy. And the offer needs to be unique if the advertiser is hoping to get the prospect to use a promo code mentioned in a podcast ad. An example of a good CTA could be something like, "Use this promo code to receive your first month free," or "Use this code to get an additional product when you order."
If a new customer visits a site and the same or a better offer pops up with a "click here to redeem" message, the visitor will probably click on the pop-up offer and not use the promo code—users will take the offer that provides the least friction. Once there is a proven track record, attributing every conversion to an ad is less critical.
Direct response campaigns may not be a good fit for companies that cannot discount their product or develop a strategy for adding value to their sales proposition. Luxury retail items, for instance, do not typically discount products. Consumers are not purchasing high-end handbags because of a discount; they are purchasing the product because of the product quality and the associated perception. Therefore, brand advertising is a better fit. Direct response advertising is not well suited to companies not interested in offering specials and discounts to motivate buyers.
Summary
As podcast advertising has grown, it has been successful for direct response advertisers such as Athletic Greens and BetterHelp. Brand advertisers are increasingly entering the podcast advertising space. Each campaign type should have established goals before the campaign begins. Success can be achieved with both campaign types, and savvy advertisers are finding the medium a place to grow and scale their advertising results.
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