Some combinations are so iconic, they create a unique experience that is impossible to replicate. Take, for example, a fresh-baked, chocolate chip cookie, oozing with delicious, melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Pretty great, right? Now, level up that experience by dunking your cookie in an ice-cold glass of milk. Ah… pure bliss! We know these elements stand strong on their own, but combining them creates an elevated, dynamic experience like no other. And creating a quality experience like no other will leave a greater, more memorable, and effective impact.
We’d like to introduce a pair that we think could easily stand strong against our good friends, milk, and cookies. This pair will not only create synergy for your brand but increase your ROI — the integration of 98.3 The Dove and digital advertising.
Right now (if you’re like most business owners), you’re probably asking the question, “Why should I combine radio advertising and digital advertising?” You might have experimented with digital campaigns. You’ve probably even pursued radio marketing at one point. But, how do radio and digital advertising work together to become a dynamic duo? The magic is in the integration of the two. Integrating your online marketing efforts makes other media spend work harder. So, as a result, the combination of online and offline advertising improves the effectiveness of offline advertising.
We’ve broken down how different combinations of radio and various types of digital marketing can work off of one another to produce effective results. Read on to discover how you can integrate radio and digital for a more comprehensive, robust marketing strategy.
Radio and Targeted Display
It is statistically proven that combining traditional media, such as radio, with digital campaigns increases brand recall by 4.5 times! One way to hone in and advance your digital campaign efforts is to consider focusing on targeted display.
What is targeted display exactly? Targeted display advertisements are relevant banner ads that are placed on mobile and desktop versions of websites. These banner ads are highly targeted, reaching specific locations, demographics, and groups with certain online behavioral interests and patterns. For example, say you’re on your desktop computer browsing Amazon. Because Kaldi’s Coffee has identified your location and web activity as their “ideal target,” you see a Kaldi’s banner ad at the top of your screen while shopping via Amazon.
Another feature of targeted display that takes the process one step further is known as remarketing. Remarketing, also known as retargeting, allows businesses to serve banner ads to consumers who previously visited their website.
By keeping your brand “top of mind” with your audience through a combination of both radio ads and targeted display ads, consumers will be reminded of and will be presented with your brand while in their natural, day-to-day environments and routines.
Radio and Search
Radio advertising is most often designed to target mass groups of listeners, while search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) are designed to connect with a very specific target audience, for a more personal experience. SEO can be achieved by anyone who learns the basics of content development and what search engines are looking for in terms of content quality.
When partnering with 98.3 The Dove, you can potentially reach a much wider audience. And by utilizing SEO/SEM, you can better attract interested prospects who actively seek specific products. By combining these two efforts, you can get the best of both worlds. One great example of this is including target keywords in your radio advertisement. This will help listeners to remember specific words or phrases about your company and will allow them to then search more easily for your brand online. But remember, if your site is not organically ranking for these specific words related to your business, potential customers won’t find you. If that’s the case, it’s important to invest in SEO to improve your ranking in the long-term. In the short-term, an SEM campaign is a great tool to get exposure on the first page of search results.
Radio and Social Media
By combining two or more channels like social media and radio, you’ll be able to extend your reach and increase your overall ROI with a cohesive marketing strategy that engages your current customers, as well as potential customers.
Not only is it effective, but combining radio and social media efforts can be a cost-effective way to reach more people, at a higher frequency. Radio can provide local content, music and personalities that listeners are loyal to, and a huge audience and mass reach. While social media provides the ability to have one-on-one interactions with an audience, and the power to humanize your brand.
Large and small businesses alike are aware of the importance of establishing a strong social media presence as an effective way to reach new listeners. When you post fun, interesting, and engaging content, people will share your posts and your message will then spread online. A great way to truly engage your radio listeners is to ask them questions they can then answer on social media. For example, a local auto shop might ask their listeners to take to social media and share their “Top five songs about cars” using a specific branded hashtag. This gets a buzz going by people talking, commenting, sharing, reposting and most importantly, interacting with your brand! You can even make this a contest and share the winner’s songs and name on the radio!
Uniting your message across radio and social media platforms increases the number of eyes and ears paying attention to your message. And one plus is that this can be a simple thing to implement! If a radio contest isn’t a good fit for your brand, another option is to promote your radio ads directly on your social channels. You can make the audio of your ad directly available on your Facebook page, share a snippet of your ad being heard on Instagram, or reward customers who hear your ad and report back on Twitter.
Another exemplary way to integrate your radio with social media is to utilize your radio station’s presence. Radio stations have large numbers of loyal listeners, and in turn, an impressive social media following. At 98.3 The Dove, our listeners turn to our social media pages to look for news, events, photos, posts from on-air personalities, fun quizzes and more! Broadening your reach with our captive fans by sponsoring tweets, Facebook posts, or content on our social pages could be inexpensive and highly effective.
Radio and Video Advertising
Imagine if we never knew what Flo from Progressive Insurance looked like. Or, the Geico Gecko. Thanks to the power of video, we not only know of them, but they’ve become popular and distinguished household names. Not to mention, Halloween costumes! So now, when we hear Progressive or Geico radio spots, we can connect their voices and messages visually with these characters. This leads to brand trust, loyalty, and an overall synergy with your advertising elements.
Video advertising is another great complement to radio, as it gives your brand the ability to extend your message even further, adding moving visuals. Whatever story you’re telling in your radio advertisement can be further developed with video. Online video specifically is a great option to pair with your radio efforts, because it allows you to interact and engage with your customers by allowing them to get to know your brand, and allowing them to be more comfortable with you.
And it’s no secret that online video has had a surge in popularity over the years. It has been reported that 85% of people watch online video on any of their mobile devices every month. That’s a lot of eyes! Creating a campaign that combines the power of both radio and online video will allow your campaign to transcend media in a competitive atmosphere to get listeners excited.
There are many ways to effectively reach potential consumers with your video advertising. For example, your video advertisement could be displayed prior to users watching a video across various websites they visit. Or, your video advertisement could show to your target audience as they watch their favorite streamed video content by utilizing ConnectedTV. Our team at Zimmer Communications has the ability to target your video advertising to a specific audience you define. With our sophisticated 3rd-party audience targeting, you can define your audience by things like age, geography, interests, industry, profession, etc., and build a target audience profile for your business. Of course, you can always post video advertisements directly to your social media channels and website as well! By narrowing in your target audience through video, while also casting a larger net, drawing in local consumers through your radio advertisements, you will be able to better reach quality leads.
Using these tried and true combinations of marketing techniques will allow you to reach potential customers at the most opportune times and in the most opportune places. It allows word of mouth to spread not only via mobile phones and computer screens, but in conversations held by people in real-time.
As a busy business owner, you might not know (or have time) to determine what tactics are going to reach your target audience most effectively. You need a strategic and trusted partner to help you figure that out. That’s where we can help. We’ll spend time with you identifying and perfecting your brand story, understanding your goals, and will work with you to develop your brand strategy.
At 98.3 The Dove, we’ve had years of experience working in this industry and generating success for our clients. We know what works and what doesn’t. Our team is excited to help you create the best campaign that will connect you to your audience.