If you’re participating in Black Friday and Cyber Monday, could audio be the secret marketing tool that’ll get you more shoppers? Next Broadcast Media believes so, and here’s why and how to use it.

Black Friday to Cyber Monday is a huge opportunity to make a significant portion of your annual revenue. But it's a very small window to do so! Marketing teams need to lure customers with amazing discounts and a spot-on advertising plans.

Using a blend of traditional and contemporary media channels is the ideal way to reach your potential customers. But that's not all.

“A well-formulated plan should not just be visual but audio too.” says Lemya Soltani, Director – Client Partnerships at Next Broadcast Media.

“People are listening as much as watching these days, and to discount audio is to discount a massive portion of your audience too. Digital audio can be one of the strongest channels on your plan. It’ll help businesses reach the widest audience in an effective meaningful way, increasing conversion opportunity”.

Advertising During Black Friday

There’s an advertising frenzy on and around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Social media feeds, inboxes, and websites are packed with discount messaging. While important marketing tools, the sheer volume leaves potential customers fatigued and non-reactive. Or worst case scenario blind to it completely!

To combat this businesses often create bigger discounts, pump more money into existing media channels, or design louder ads. All of which impact the bottom line and do little to address the issue. Next Broadcast Media says instead of trying to be louder, a smarter choice is to implement a quality audio strategy.

The Benefits of Audio Advertising

Sonic Science, a study by Neuro-Insight found that audio has a significant positive impact on listeners' emotions, engagement, and memory. For advertisers this means:

• Engagement: the relevance and reliability of your ad is better
• Emotion: the emotional intensity felt when hearing your ad is stronger
• Memory: the specific details of your ad and recall is improved

Lemya says “Digital audio is a type of media that retailers of any size can use to effectively create a buzz.  Its especially effective for smaller businesses because it's affordable and when an ad is placed alongside international shows and popular music listeners associate the brand with them, thereby making the business sound bigger.”

Due to lower frequency of ads in podcasts and the nature of listening, it cuts through ,the noise of the visual environment and ads are heard in completion.

Digital audio is also composed of key shopper demographics. Deloitte research shows Millennials and Gen Z are the biggest Black Friday Cyber Monday shoppers; these are also the highest consumers of digital audio.

Ausio Advice For Retailers

If brands plan on adding audio to the marketing mix Lemya suggests the following to get the full competitive advantage it can bring:

• Synergise audio and visuals by using the same catchphrase, tagline, call-to-action, etc. When sound and visuals are aligned the ad message is better enforced and more effective.
• Find or request a unique or strong voice actor that uses the right tone and character to bring deals to life. This will help to supersize the impression of the deal and catch the attention of listeners.
• Targeting is essential. “In programmatic audio advertising, we use the same profile data with contextual, dynamic, and demographic filters to narrow in on the right key audience.
• Podcast influencer marketing adds more trust and engagement. Use sponsorships and live reads to have a host vouch for your product/service and promote your sale.

Lemay adds  “If brands can do audio right then their entire Black Friday Cyber Monday marketing plan will be optimized for success. It should be considered as the essential ingredient in all retailers advertising plans.”