▷ Audio, a new marketing opportunity for businesses?

Marketing strategies are constantly evolving and multiplying to adapt to the increasingly demanding requirements of the market. Among the increasingly popular and used content formats is audio. This format has become a means of communication acclaimed by all and which makes it possible to offer a different sound experience to customers. Let’s decipher this marketing trend and especially this new opportunity to seize to improve your digital marketing strategy…

Sound marketing, a constantly renewed trend

While sound marketing has been around for a long time, in recent years, including those marked by the covid-19 pandemic and long periods of confinement, consumer habits have changed. Today, around 76% have adopted audio content on a daily basis. Among this content, there is the podcast, a marketing channel now essential on all media.

Indeed, the radio continues to be emulated and the fact of being able to listen to them online helps to appeal to all age groups and all listeners, whatever their sector of activity. According to surveys that were conducted in 2021 by Sortlist, in France, more than 90% of people who answered the questions say they listen to audio content, in particular on the radio and followed by podcasts. This interest results from the fact that they can be listened to at any time without it being necessary to suspend one’s occupations to watch it as would be the case with a video for example.

The proof: more than half of the time that listeners spend listening to the radio takes place in transport or on the move. Still according to Sortlist:

• Just under 30% favor content that relates to their hobbies and other hobbies;
• Only 10% are interested in content related to their professional activities.
• If they contain product or service recommendations, the conversion rate can go up to around 79%, indicating that listeners are more interested in audio ads, which are much easier for them to understand.

The different audio marketing options

Faced with increasingly tough competition, companies need to adapt their marketing strategies to a larger and ever more demanding target audience. Audio marketing or sound marketing will help establish their reputation through various processes, such as:

• Sounds ;
• Sound effects;
• Music.

Podcasts are a real opportunity to get known or to keep consumers in suspense.

Podcasts

With the confinement, several marketers decided to launch their first podcast and it literally exploded! More than 900,000 were born in 2020. In 2021, several million have been identified. These digital audio contents appeal because of their practicality and diversity. For a company that wants to ride the trend, the podcast is an excellent way to publicize a product or service, to answer questions that customers have about one of them. It allows you to build a bond of trust with those who follow you.

The native podcast

There are different types of podcasts that can be used to introduce you to the general public, starting with native podcasts that are specific to online broadcasts. As it is not subject to compliance with a time limit, as may be the case for a radio broadcast, it can adapt to all formats, all styles. As part of a marketing strategy, he can adopt a tone that will be the hallmark of the company, whatever the theme.

The native podcast makes it possible to go much further to meet the listeners. If they are satisfied, they will naturally talk about it on their favorite social networks and form a community, which makes them the best ambassadors to represent a brand.

Moreover, the podcast can be independent as it can be part of a specialized production house. This not only offers the podcasts they have created themselves, but also those that others have designed to then regroup under the same banner in order to optimize their visibility and expand their audience.

The replay podcast

The replay podcast is also called catch-up radio. As its name suggests, it allows the listener to re-listen to a program that he may have missed when it was broadcast or that he wishes to hear again for one reason or another. It is very commonly used by radio stations so that their broadcasts are accessible to listeners at all times.

Radio podcasts aren’t the only sound marketing options. Indeed, the multiplication of distribution channels remains the best solution to address a much more diversified audience and likely to become customers. To do this, interviewing satisfied customers, collecting testimonials from loyal users and integrating them into the content of a website helps to attract future prospects. The goal is to inspire them to join the list of those who have trusted him and to push them to action, in accordance with the principles of the conversion rate of Elmo Lewis.

Live audio or social audio

It is impossible to ignore the importance of social networks today. They are an integral part of our daily lives and are one of the main preferred means of communication for all generations, a habit that has become all the more ingrained during the pandemic. A company that wants to position itself in the face of increasingly innovative competition must know how to surf the trends without losing its identity. The use of Facebook Live audio allows him to make himself known, to share upcoming projects or products soon to be marketed. It is also an opportunity for the company to talk to its subscribers, to answer their questions, to calm their concerns if there are any. In this category, she can choose to use club house.

Clubhouse has the particularity of being accessible only by invitation and only on iOS devices. In addition, unlike social networks such as Facebook or Instagram, written messages and comments are not prioritized. The “guests” create private discussion rooms, with a limited number of participants. To avoid abuses, moderators are responsible for regulating speaking times and allowing the various participants to express themselves. Although it is not open to everyone, Clubhouse is beginning to impose itself on users, especially since by calling on recognized influencers, it arouses the interest of the youngest.

The Playlist

More and more brands are playing on consumer emotions. Music is one of the most effective communication channels. Everyone knows this melody that sticks in their head all day, the song that we sing without doing it on purpose and that we immediately assimilate to an object, or a brand and which has become mythical.

The Playlist is one of the audio marketing strategies that have been proven for decades. Sound marketing must above all convey the brand image of a company. It must highlight its values. The composition of a brand Playlist requires acute musical skills, but also a perfect knowledge of human psychology. It makes it possible to attract new customers and strengthen the links between a brand and those who are already loyal to them.

In terms of music advertisements, companies have the option of music streaming platforms such as Spotify, which is free to download on smartphones, thus promoting the mobility of listeners. You should know that at the beginning of 2021, it had more than 199 million listeners who had not taken out a subscription, which means that they could hear the advertisements throughout their listening. These millions of people are therefore as many potential customers.

Other media are used by companies to implement their digital marketing strategy. This is for example the case when a person makes a call to customer service. While she waits, music plays. The same applies when she is redirected to another service, or if she has to leave a message on the answering machine.

Who should you entrust with the development of a sound marketing strategy?

The implementation of a sound marketing strategy must be entrusted to professionals in the field. For those who want to become sound designers, training is available. Thus, it is possible to follow studies of 2 years to be sanctioned by a diploma of technician trades of the sound. For a higher diploma in sound professions or a master’s degree in sound production, it will be necessary to follow 5 years of training, in design option within an art school, among others.

A sound designer as he can also be called is therefore responsible for the sound creation or the sound environment of a show or a store. Sound marketing also requires the intervention of a content writer, who writes the interviews, the texts of the podcasts according to the needs of the company and the orientation that they want to give to their content. It may be an advertisement, information or advice relating to the company’s products or services. They can also be simply playful, pleasant to listen to.