Last year, The Verge conducted a poll asking readers if they would use interactive podcast features. The poll received over a thousand votes in total, with the majority (62%) saying yes to the question. When The Verge says interactive podcast features here, they’re referring to polling but the article does allude to how lucrative this could be for brands running podcast ads.
One of the complaints with advertising on podcasts has been that listeners have to leave the platform to perform the call to action, mostly to copy-paste a URL from an episode description to a browser to claim a discount code. This is just as tedious as it sounds.
Despite the tedious process though, these ads are working. As per Edison’s Super Listener Report 2021, listeners are taking action on podcast ads. Depending on the action the ad requires you to take, the answers vary from 74% of respondents who said they've visited the company website to 33% who said they've attended the performance or exhibit. This does not come as a surprise considering how involved listeners feel with their podcasts; audio is an intimate medium.
If we see such high numbers despite the lengthy process of taking action, imagine the growth in conversion rates if taking action were just as simple as clicking a button.
Enter: queen of hip-hop and winner of nine Grammy Awards Mary J. Blige; she also happens to be one of our clients.
Blige and leading DTC distributor Vivino wanted to launch her wine brand – Sun Goddess, which they used Adori’s interactive audio for. In a 5-day campaign, Blige and Vivino sold 900 bottles earning about $15k. The best part – they spent $0 on outbound marketing! All they did was create this landing page which the artist shared on her Twitter. Within less than a week, they earned over 10k listens and a click through rate of 29.5%.
Ergo, the magic of interactivity in audio.
Interactive audio doesn’t need to always be used to sell, sometimes it can just be used to boost brand awareness in a fun way. For example, when Adori designed this demo ad for Toyota to launch their 2021 Sienna.
Now, you might be thinking – these brands performed well because they had existing branding to build on. Perhaps, yes. However, Adori was created by a team of engineers dedicated to helping both independent creators and small brands utilize this technology for efficient growth.
With that in mind…
Know what role it plays in your overall marketing campaign
Every good marketing campaign starts with a defined goal in mind. When you’re defining your goals and you create the customer’s marketing journey, specify the role interactive audio will play in it - does it fall in awareness, interest, or purchase?
In the case of the Sun Goddess campaign, Blige and her team knew they wanted to sell those wine bottles using Adori, so they crafted the whole campaign to achieve that goal (and they hit the mark!) By sending the audience to a landing page, they narrowed doing points of interaction to only what they wanted the audience to interact with.
Get creative
Working on a new advertising medium can be intimidating but it also opens avenues of experimentation and creativity. In case of interactivity, feel free to use it in forms other than just a buy button at the end of the ad; get creative with those Call to Actions! For instance, in the Sun Goddess campaign, there are CTA buttons which allow the user to check out the Friuli region from which the grapes of the wine are sourced. This helps share a depth to the story behind the brand and increases audience engagement.
Engage with the community
Imagine if you could get feedback about your product and your ad, while the campaign is still running. Engaging with the community, especially by using polls in your Adori campaign helps do that. For instance, even though Toyota’s campaign is just a brand awareness campaign, there is a slide that asks listeners what their favorite feature of the new car would be. This plays a dual role – engaging with the community and prompting them to recall what the voiceover said seconds ago. When the marketer studies the campaign, they can understand how engaged the audience was and use that real-time feedback to better craft the next ad.
Let’s paint a picture– you’re on a walk listening to your favorite podcast and an ad for Hello Fresh pops up. The host is offering you a coupon but this time instead of going to the link in description to claim it, you simply need to click a button on your screen that redirects you to a landing page which has the coupon pre-filled in. Aren’t you more likely to click on it?
You won’t be alone. Host-read ads continue to perform well, basking in a 71% rate of brand recall which leads to increased levels of purchase and recommendation. This indicates a massive opportunity for interaction in podcast ads.
Audio (including music) is about a $100Billion market size whereas video's market size is over $1Trillion. There is room to grow here. Even if audio enjoys 10% of contextual visual engagement from listeners, this opens access to potential $100B in opportunities for podcasters and advertisers. ]
With those key takeaways and Adori’s interactive audio platform, your brand could be in the $100B game.
To get started, check out our quick intro or contact us for more information.