Understanding How Customers Approach Media to Shape Ads to Them

Even the best ads in the world won’t have much impact if they’re delivered to the wrong crowd — or at the wrong time. That’s why companies invest so much time and resources into understanding who their customers are and where they spend their time online. Only then can they see an optimal ROI from their marketing efforts. Shaping your ads to adhere to these habits makes them more effective because it personalizes ads to the customers you want to reach.

In this post, we’ll discuss how customers approach media to give you a better idea of the mindset and behavior that leads people to your ads so that you can shape them accordingly.

Understanding How Customers Approach Media

Realizing how your core customers approach media, both from a high-level perspective and a ground-level vantage, is vital to understanding their overall buyer’s journey. Modern consumers expect brands to interact with them on their terms – when, where, and how they prefer. In other words, they expect an omnichannel approach from the brand with creative that resonates with their issues.
While delivering that omnichannel experience is essential, you must understand how to allocate your investments – that is, which aspects of the overall experience should be given more weight. For instance, if your core demographic is more likely to listen to traditional radio than podcasts, you should devote more resources to that medium. The opposite holds true as well.
As you develop ads and track your progress, you’ll be able to recognize these patterns. If customers interact with your brand better through one channel, it tells you that you’ve reached them effectively. Marketing is a consistent work in progress. Updating and changing your techniques based on analytics results gives you insight into your current and growing customer base across digital media.

Diving into Various Media Types

What are some of the ways that people interact with media and platforms? Let’s discuss a few common ones and how you can shape your content accordingly:

Browsing Habits and Interactivity

Many customers engage with digital media through “active browsing,” often interacting with content that strikes a chord with them. Think about quizzes or polls on social media that garner a lot of engagement. To develop ads that resonate with your audience, consider incorporating interactive elements in them — elements that invite user participation. Keep the content light-hearted and friendly, and you’re bound to see a significant segment of your audience engage with it.

Snackable Content Preferences

With so much content vying for your customer’s attention, design content so that people can understand it without having to read it in-depth – which you can do by making content people can quickly scan or skim. Snackable content is a way to capture your audience’s attention without intimidating or boring them. Especially with the rise of social media, consumers enjoy and expect short, easily digestible content that doesn’t require too much effort.

Podcasts and Audio Books

Podcasting has become an extremely popular and memorable medium for the public across all ages, backgrounds, and cultures. In addition, audiobooks can deliver a captive audience to your brand. With well-designed and well-placed ads presenting your message to avid listeners, you can grow your brand’s reach and engagement through these channels.

Personalization in Experience

Today’s consumers demand a personalized experience. They want brands to tailor content and offers to their personal preferences, purchasing history, unique interests, and pain points. By leveraging data-driven analytics, you can understand their needs and wants more clearly and how your customers interact with your brand. Then, you can develop your content to fit the most relevant aspects of what they enjoy.

On-the-Go Consumption

It’s no secret that people are increasingly glued to their smartphones wherever they go. Consumers are increasingly more likely to access digital and audio media via mobile devices while on the move — whether in the car, on the subway, or even going out for a walk. With that in mind, look for ways to optimize your audio content to be easily accessible from any smartphone or tablet.

Second Screening

“Second screening” is when consumers use their mobile devices while consuming other media. For example, a customer may be watching TV on their sofa while scrolling through a social media feed on their phone, tablet, or computer. Since second-screening is so prevalent nowadays, it’s crucial to craft ads that complement and work within the constraints of this behavior. You can encourage cross-engagement by prompting viewers to participate in social media discussions or exclusive online offers. If you know when an ad will run or publish (such as when a new podcast episode you sponsor drops), you can invest in digital ads to show up more in that window when people will be looking up your brand.

Get Expert Input to Match Ads

It’s vital that you understand how your customers approach media in general and certain platforms specifically, to effectively match ad creative and placement to them. Consistently finding success in this endeavor is, of course, easier said than done. However, with the help of an experienced media partner, you’ll be able to allocate your resources efficiently and generate the greatest possible impact – resulting in significant ROI and continued business growth.