Audio Marketing: The Best Kept Secret of Small Business Ideas

What good is trying to get somewhere if you don’t know where you’re starting?

According to consensus, the earliest recorded marketing sample can be traced back to ancient Egypt around 3000 B.C. Hapu, a business owner of the time, posted a reward flyer that not only advertised the location of his fabric shop, but also highlighted its quality and reputation.

Although marketing has evolved over the millennia and will continue to do so, one aspect that may endure is the use of audio. Unlike text, video, and print, audio marketing has unique capabilities that can be both effective and cost-efficient. It can capture our attention, transport us to different places, and speak to us in ways that are both literal and figurative. With great potential still to be explored, here are five ways audio marketing can revolutionize your business.

Cost-effectiveness

Compared to other marketing mediums, audio marketing is remarkably affordable, largely because they’re simple and efficient. No pricy cameras, crews, and production. Even with its simplicity, audio is stellar in conveying the allure of a product or service.

Podcasts are a great example of how cost-effective audio marketing can be. According to Hubspot, the average CPM (cost per mille, which is cost per one thousand downloads or impressions) is $25. This level of awareness for only $25 is remarkable. Additionally, the podcast industry has yet to reach its maximum potential.

While you could opt for an aimless PPC campaign or spend thousands on a video campaign that may not succeed, audio marketing provides a broad-level impact for your money. When it comes to cost-effective marketing, nothing beats audio.

Personalized & Targeted Advertising

Audio is like an ethical tracking device.

Social media was once considered the pinnacle of targeting consumers, but its early days were chaotic and unethical, resulting in user opt-out becoming easier.

In contrast, audio can target just as effectively without the ethical concerns, as it targets demographically rather than individually. No personal monitoring of a user's shopping, web history, or communication is required. Instead, businesses can benefit from mass data: age, income, and gender metrics, without any moral or legal restrictions. Audio can use a dynamic jingle or sponsor a podcast with the perfect audience or develop a radio campaign that engages the #1 target demographic during morning drives. Audio offers a clear path to ensure that the message and company are heard by those who are most likely to respond.

Sensory and Emotional Experiences

ignore the data for a second and just…feel with me.

Audio stands out from other mediums through its outcomes, but also through the methods used to achieve them. It is sensory, evocative, powerful, and, as previously mentioned, highly personal. This is also the reason why a particular market is experiencing a surge in growth, which could be considered the most compelling indication that audio will shape the future: headphones.

“Robust momentum”, right there in the title. If that doesn’t accurately describe the trend of audio, nothing does.

Convenience

Headphones aren’t making gazillions because people are listening occasionally. They listen while they cook, exercise, walk, clean, study, garden, wait for the doctor for two hours, you name it. Audio is everywhere, and other mediums struggle to be so, if even possible.

Richard Thaler's famous principle in the realm of behavioral economics states that "making things easy can encourage people to act." Nowadays, headphones have not only made audio consumption easier but also more common and of better quality, which presents a lucrative opportunity for astute advertisers.

Experimentation

Moore's Law, a renowned technological concept, predicts exponential rather than linear growth in our technological progress. This explains why the technological advancements between 2012 and 2022 are significantly greater than those between 1912 and 1922. With the continuous improvement of technology and audio capabilities coupled with decreasing costs, both creators and business owners are able to experiment more frequently, and this is proving to be beneficial.

3D audio and augmented reality are here, and yet they could just be the prologue. What the future holds could be so awe-inspiring, it’s unimaginable in the present.

The Future of Marketing Audio

Two core facts illustrate just how promising audio is, and how tantalizing its future looks:

People favor listening rather than watching and scrolling, and the data in audio consumption shows it. Complementing that, is audio marketing still being in its early stages, much like electric cars a decade ago. Despite its mysteriousness, the potential for audio marketing is immense, which is what makes its future so promising. If you or someone you know owns a small business and wants to leverage the influential impact of audio, the team at Iliad Media Group would love to hear your story and help you get your message heard. After all, regardless of what a business offers or who its staff are, without being heard, it's all for naught.