Advertising attribution is the hot topic of the day. Advertisers want to know whether their advertising is working and if they are getting a return on investment. Media want to show attribution in order to sell more advertising.
Instead of click throughs and views, Radio advertising can demonstrate attribution where it really counts, at the cash register.
The actual decision-making process a consumer uses to buy aproduct, or a service is a complex series of steps taken over long periods of time. This process is called The Decision Journey or The Path to Purchase.
To illustrated how complex the decision journey can be, Prabhakar Raghavan, SVP, Google Ads & Commerce describes this example of a woman from a recent Google study. She spent 73 days in the decision journey. She interacted with more than 250 touchpoints (searches, video views, and page views) before purchasing a single pair of jeans.
She also visited several blogs, browsed large merchant sites, searched for local retailers, and watched product reviews on YouTube.
Raghavan attributes the length of the 73-day decision journey in this example to the desire of the consumer to enjoy her time shopping, to engage with brands that inspire her. She has a limitless array of choices. She wants to make the right choice.
According to The Nielsen RADAR 140, March 2019 report, this very same consumer was most likely listening to her favorite Radio stations for more than 100 hours over the course of her 73-day decision journey to buy that pair of jeans.
Instead of the 250 different internet touch points, this consumer’s Radio listening was probably limited to just a handful of stations, or influencers.
Many of the touch points described in the Google blog post are Internet based, they are one-time touch points. The consumer checks the resource, finds the information they are looking for and then they move on to the next.
However, with Radio, the touch points come from the same trusted source over and over during the decision journey giving the Radio advertiser many more opportunities to influence consumer behavior along the path to purchase.
With most digital offerings, the advertiser is attempting to be in the right place at the right time with the right offer. Isn’t that, and hasn’t that always been, Radio’s claim to fame?
The key to better attribution for Radio advertising lies in crafting a more creative advertising message because the future of search is the spoken word, not keystrokes on a device. The future of search is “Alexa”, “OK Google” and “Hey Siri”.
If an advertiser wants to stand out among millions of search results, they can use Radio to make their brand name the words the consumer searches for.
In a recent Google / Ipsos study, 85 percent of consumers said they will take a product-related action within 24 hours of discovering a product. They may read a review, check prices or even make a purchase.
With Radio advertising, the advertiser can repeatedly drive that product-related action directly to the advertiser’s website and not to a search engine.
But in the study cited by the Google study, the customer still took 73 days to complete her decision journey and make the actual purchase. That should be a lesson to all advertisers who are seeking instant gratification from their advertising.
Because the Internet is so vast, it is very difficult and expensive in the digital realm to be in the right place at the right time with the right offer all the time.
Radio advertising’s lower cost and repetitive nature can revive product interest if the online search ended with no decision. Radio advertising, and a well-crafted creative message is, in effect, an influencer.
The reason the listener is listening to the Radio station in the first place is because they like the entertainment and information they get from the Radio station.
The listener is already engaged and has an open mind for new product information.
The desire for advertising attribution is nothing new. Keyed Advertising has been around for years. In years past, advertisers would place the same print ad in different publications. But each ad had a key, or a special code, that would tell the advertiser which ad was delivering a better ROI.
Companies will run the same ad in different publications or in broadcast media, but the ad in each medium will have a different telephone number for a response. The advertiser can then attribute the advertising response based on which phone line rings.
You hear keyed advertisings in commercials that encourage the prospect to use a promo code on their website. The advertiser only needs one website but with different promo codes from different advertising sources, the advertiser can then attribute the results based on the promo codes.
Radio call letters or station identifiers make for great promo codes in a Radio commercial because your listeners love your station, you play their favorite music. Your call letters or station identifier are easy for your listeners to remember and then use when they visit the advertiser.
If you get enough of your advertisers to use your call letters as key words, you’ll start to train your audience to tell advertisers your Radio station sent them in, even if the advertiser isn’t using keyed advertising or promo codes.
If you would like some help getting started, just let me know.
