Rob Deichert is CRO of TuneIn, a leading live streaming audio service.
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Families may no longer gather around "the wireless" in the living room to listen to radio broadcasts together. But in the age of the podcast—not to mention the Wi-Fi-operated smart speaker—it’s clear that audio is here to stay as a viable marketing medium.
With the advent of streaming technology, ample marketing opportunities have emerged within this channel. As a disclosure, my company TuneIn is a provider of streaming audio services.
To effectively market in this channel, advertisers must zero in on the relevant trends at play. Yet I’ve borne witness to how constantly this space is evolving, which can present many challenges to brands. Here are six ways leading brands can stay relevant and drive revenue forward in the ever-changing landscape of audio advertising.
1. Implementing Data-Driven Insights
Brands can take advantage of partnerships with streaming platforms to leverage insights from the ample consumer data they collect. These insights can be used to not only recommend content to listeners but also help advertisers find the audiences most receptive to their messages. This is the same strategy digital advertising has utilized on websites for the last 30 years. By tapping into this valuable data, advertisers can best ensure they are not missing out on high-quality engagement opportunities.
2. Leveraging The Rise In Content Availability
Digital audio offers access to a much broader range of content—including news, sports, Jeopardy!-style music quiz shows and more—which can help brands target the right listeners. Gone is the spray-and-pray tactic of yore: Brands can now identify the specific content types or channels most relevant to their target audience to ensure their messaging reaches the most receptive listeners.
3. Exploring Placement Within Podcasts And Niche Content
Podcasting and niche content, in particular, has exploded in recent years and will continue to be an avenue through which many listeners receive information about the world around them. In order to win over the consumers who tune in to podcasts and niche content, relevant advertisers will have to implement specific podcasting and niche content strategies. This is another area in which platform partners can help.
4. Taking Advantage of Audio’s Extended Reach
Streaming platforms can allow advertisers to speak to listeners far beyond the limits of a traditional radio signal. As listeners shift between different audio content genres and formats, maximizing reach demands that brands ensure they appear in a strategic, holistic campaign toward their target audiences.
Listener data can help brands identify new geographies where consumers have exhibited similar behavior to their original target audience—and potentially open up new markets to help grow their footprint far beyond their local customer base.
5. Considering Extended Distribution Capabilities
Digital distribution gives listeners the freedom to stream content from their preferred devices. In turn, that means advertisers can engage consumers no matter where they are located or what they are doing, whethat’shat’s at home or work, in the car or otherwise. The same is true of listeners located in other countries—or even on the other side of the world. Advertisers can tap into this behavior to reach far more consumers, no matter where they live, no matter whether the content is local or global.
6. Understanding The Impact Of A Carefully Curated UX
Simply put, one of the most unique ways in which streaming offers a superior listening experience is due to the fact that udon’tdon’t have to seek out content to string together to fulfill their needs. Instead, audio platforms are highly customized to users, capable of recognizing the content users like and making increasingly better recommendations as time goes on. The result is brand affinity, which makes devoted listeners more open to relevant messages on a platform they trust.
Riding The Wave Of Streaming Audio Advertising Opportunities
Though rapid changes and evolutions in the world of streaming audio can make the landscape daunting to navigate, these advancements offer brands tremendous opportunities when it comes to directing their ads toward a targeted audience. I hope this article offers readers insight into some of the most important trends to keep in mind when building an effective audio advertising campaign.
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