How Audio Advertising is Crucial to Sway Customer Decisions

 
Radio and audio ads have the power to move customers. There are approximately 209 million monthly online audio listeners over the age of 12, with an estimated 192 million weekly listeners. Those numbers represent a 16 million person increase in each category over 2021. That means a growing audience of loyal, engaged consumers are waiting to hear your brand message. 
 
Audio advertising has a unique way of connecting with listeners. The spoken word has a way of making an emotional impact on the audience that can sometimes be lacking in other formats. These ads allow you to tell your brand story in a way that resonates with your target audience. Let’s look at some other reasons radio and audio advertising are effective.
 

Audio Has High Emotional Engagement

 
In a recent study, Amazon Ads and Wondery documented audio’s emotional impact on listeners aged 18 and older. They found that it had the power to change more than half of the participants’ moods. Of those, 60% reported feeling happy after listening to streamed audio, followed by optimism, confidence, and joy. It’s no wonder radio and streaming audio are rising in listenership. Whether terrestrial radio, streaming audio, or podcasts, they make the audience feel better. 
 
Another significant factor in listeners’ emotional engagement with radio is the hosts. Loyal audiences feel a personal connection to the on-air personalities of their preferred shows. Dedicated audiences feel they know and trust their favorite hosts as if they are family or friends. That connection means that messaging the listeners hear from their favorite radio or podcast personality has more influence than other ads. 
 

Targets Specific Groups of People

 
Radio stations have a variety of programming. These stations don’t create shows and materials randomly. They know what will attract specific groups of people, so they tailor the programs to content and formats that influence listeners the most. That’s what makes radio a valuable resource for advertisers. 
 
Digital audio can reach your ideal prospective customers with micro-targeting and analytics capabilities. When you target ads more specifically, you can find consumers most likely to be interested in your goods or services. That means more qualified leads, increased conversions, and a greater return on ad spend. 
 
For example, let’s say you are a bespoke furniture maker. You will want to target those interested in buying new furniture through their online behavior. However, not all those will have the budget to invest in your one-of-a-kind creations. Microtargeting lets you get more specific in tastes, preferences, location, income range, and whether they just moved into a new home or are redecorating. You can target specific customer personas with enhanced precision using consumer data.
 

Reach People When They’re Invested

 
Radio reaches people at all times. It is a delightful distraction from the drudgery of commuting, a background for working or studying, news that keeps them informed of local, national, or world events, or a soundtrack for celebrations.  For many people, it’s a welcome respite in which they invest in listening, and it’s when they are most receptive to relevant ads. 
 
Radio has always been the most effective way to communicate with large groups of people. It was the original influencer. As technology advanced, streaming audio increased in popularity and augmented the available broadcast stations. Many streaming platforms don’t allow listeners to skip ads without a premium subscription, providing a considerable advantage for the businesses that advertise on them. Fortunately, the listeners on these platforms don’t find the short messages intrusive and therefore pay more attention to them.
 
With audio, people choose to listen when and how they want. Because they can tailor their listening choices to their moods, activities, or interests, they are more likely to pay attention to sponsorship messages and ads within them. Listeners consider sponsors of popular or favorite shows or podcasts as benefactors and show appreciation by preferring to do business with them over their competition. Sponsorship messages indicate that the company is interested in their local community and supportive of causes important to the residents, creating a kinship with the listener that is rare with most ads. 
 

Audio Is a Powerful Medium

 
Audio is a medium that has a unique ability to influence listeners. It can change their moods, engage their interest, and create a loyal audience of listeners invested in what they hear. Digital audio provides enhanced abilities to target audiences with high specificity and tracks ad performance. In addition to all those benefits, audio, whether broadcast or streaming, is the most powerful and cost-efficient way to reach your audience where and when they are most engaged.