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While on a mass scale, podcasts and audio have kept a low profile when it comes to customer acquisition campaigns, there are some brands that haven’t ignored it! BetterHelp, Dollar Shave Club, Athletic Greens, and Zip Ruiter are just some of the names you’ve probably heard of through podcasts. These brands use audio as one of their primary channels to acquire new customers. Why? Because its effective!
In April 2023 alone, BetterHelp increased its podcast ad spending by 20% month-to-month, spending an estimated $10.1 million on podcast ads! The ads ran on 988 different shows with Comedy among the brand’s most-used genre.
As BetterHelp demostrates, audio is not just for awareness marketing! It is a very successful direct-response channel with cost per acquisition on par with other consideration-stage activities.
Why audio ads work for customer acquisition
What makes audio so good for acquisition campaigns? Firstly, targeting capabilities. Detailed targeting options help you personalise ads to capture the attention of new customers. It is especially effective at reaching “unreachable” audiences, as it’s not affected by ad blockers. Plus, as ads are played one at a time, you get the full attention of the listener.
Did you know – typical ad completion (Listen Through Rate) for audio is 85-95% – compared to the average YouTube ad view rate of 31.9%?! Impressive!
Example of audio for customer acquisition
We partnered with Publicis and Formula One, to create a podcast advertising campaign for the 2021 Abu Dhabi race. The audio ad was created to drive listeners to a ticket sales website and targeted to all UAE Nationals and residents of all age ranges (16 years +). Attribution tracking pixels used in the creative showed a 92% Listen-Through-Rate, and 2% conversion rate.
As the Formula One example shows, one of the core strengths of digital audio is leveraging the unique engagement and immersive experience of podcasts to convert listeners. With the added benefit of real-time and post analytics advertisers get a holistic view of audio’s contribution across the entire marketing funnel. As more demand for media to deliver more bang for its buck, digital audio acts as the perfect amplifier.
Our pro-tip to maximise the acquisition effect
When it comes to customer acquisition, its all down to personalisation in order to drive interest.
Start by identify the audio type that aligns with your target audience. This could include one of, or all of these – podcasts, streaming, online gaming, and digital radio. For most advertising campaigns we suggest using podcasts, digital radio and streaming to maximise reach and exposure.
Then go on to select genres that have a strong presence among your target demographic.
Once the type and genre is selected, move on to tailoring your creative for context. Create many ad versions for each parameter. For example, if you’re a protein power business you might use soccer references to advertise across soccer sports podcasts. But for health and wellness podcasts the ad message focuses on ingredients.
Don’t forget to consider the voice artist, tone and sounds too. Every detail matters! This is because you ad typically plays in a very intimate environment. Listeners are plugged in with headphones, consuming purposefully selected content…anything unaligned will be very jarring.
Being detailed in the creative and targeting helps you to create a natural and seamless integration, enhancing the effectiveness of your ad.
