Who hasn’t found themselves humming along — or dancing in the frozen foods aisle — to songs playing over a store’s audio system? Once they’ve captured the ears of shoppers, it’s easy to add a message or advertisement encouraging listeners to add another product to their cart.
The perfect ingredient to spice up your marketing mix -programmatic advertising – is soaring to new, exciting heights, with ad spending expected to reach nearly $100 billion in 2022. Audio out-of-home (AOOH) advertising enhances in-person shopping experiences and empowers brands to boost visibility and recognition via product ads. Marketers incorporating this technology boost their retail media plans with yet another impactful, strategic component.
AOOH Increases Retail ROI
A consistent marketing strategy requires more than visual content. Stores incorporating AOOH benefit from its ability to boost brand awareness with sponsored product ads, reaching hundreds of customers each day.
This innovative approach enables retailers to monetize their data while creating insights and earning additional revenue. Brands also benefit from boosted product visibility on digital shelves via measurable ads, retailer intent, and purchase data without relying on third-party cookies. Shoppers win, too, through exposure to relevant ads that are seamlessly integrated into their in-store experiences and help them find products they want — or need — to buy.
Advertisers are singing AOOH’s praises for other reasons, too:
●Out-of-store advertising limits how many products you can promote, and while it’s effective for encouraging people to come into your store, AOOH’s messages are more likely to generate impulse buys.
● Print and digital point-of-purchase displays are effective advertising tools, but unless a shopper visits every part of a store, they’ll miss a few signs. Broadcasting AOOH throughout the store, on the other hand, calls everyone’s attention to specific products brands want to highlight.
● AOOH also allows brands to quickly and cost-effectively direct shoppers to new or featured products by encouraging them to visit a specific aisle within the store.
● 83 percent of shoppers still visit a physical store, and 70 percent prefer in-person shopping.
● Shoppers are 61 percent likely to purchase due to the audio advertisement.
● Over 75 percent of consumers say they’d buy from a brand with which they feel a connection. AOOH assists brands with creating that emotional tie, via ads promoting customer appreciation days and loyalty programs.
● Shoppers can’t skip audio ads, either, unlike digital streaming ads, and they carry a 24 percent higher recall rate than display ads.
● Spending on programmatic digital ads has increased exponentially between 2019 and 2022, growing from $59.57 billion to over $96 billion predicted for this year.
Programmatic audio ads are also easy to track, allowing marketers to analyze and measure campaign success and ROI with impressions. AOOH is completely customizable to location as well, so stores with multiple banner locations can create playlists tailored to each location’s shopper demographics.
Hear an Ad, Backtrack to the Treats Aisle
Retailers — especially supermarkets and convenience stores — benefit significantly from AOOH because many shoppers prefer to do their grocery shopping in person. AOOH complements other omnichannel media used to reach customers before (and during) their visits to stores.
When stores broadcast a combination of music and messaging, those curated playlists, along with the tone, style, dialect, and language used, impact the shopping experience. When used effectively, this strategy should mirror what customers have come to expect from shopping online: personalization. Brands can achieve this personalization with AOOH by:
● Creating playlists aligned with local demographic interests.
● Leveraging effective messaging relevant to the demographic and its current buying needs.
● Optimizing the timing of AOOH messages and identifying the best times to feature specific brands and products.
Above all, AOOH empowers brands to direct, educate and influence shoppers storewide while respecting their privacy. It’s a complementary tool that engages customers, builds stronger relationships between consumers and brands, and empowers brands to reach customers from the moment they enter the store until they walk (or dance) out.
The author, Paul Brenner, has more than 25 years of experience in media & entertainment and technology leadership, Paul Brenner served in several c-suite roles, including division President with Emmis Operating Company [NASDAQ:EMMS]. As President of NextRadio/TagStation, his work focused on global innovation through FM Chip activations in all smartphones for audience measurement, improved in-car user experiences, and data attribution platforms for all broadcast radio. In 2019, Paul joined Vibenomics as Chief Strategy Officer to help develop the go-to-market strategy for the company’s first-to-market Audio Out-of-Home™ advertising solution. After a successful launch, Brenner was promoted to President of Audio OOH to oversee all efforts surrounding the revenue-generating activity and related partnerships and recently joined the DPAA Research Committee and new IAB Retail Media Committee.
