The Emotional Power of Audio Ads

4 min read

Humans are emotional beings. And when it comes to making decisions, most experts - and even personal experience - will tell you that we lead with our hearts over our heads. Despite how rational you may think you are, it's our emotions that actually drive our every action.

Like, responding to an ad. This is why the most successful marketers go to great lengths to appeal to our emotions. Positive feelings preempt positive engagements.

It's also for this reason that the most successful marketers - and over 81% of agencies today - use audio advertising as a staple of their media mix. Because if there's one thing in this world that could put anybody in good spirits, it's music.

Music ads, the direct path to emotional engagements

Music, literally, puts us in better moods.

It's a common destination for positivity, energy, inspiration, joy, you name it.

And an easy chance for advertisers to make a good impression. After all, happy audiences are known to be highly retentive and engaged ones:

Now with the explosion of smart devices in our homes, cars, and everywhere else we go, there are even more opportunities today for people to get their music - and even more opportunities for advertisers to target these highly attentive listeners.

Podcast ads, the direct path to brand discovery

Another opportunity - and another emotion - for advertisers to take advantage of is in podcasts. And while podcasts may not seem like emotionally charged content, like music, it's the emotional state of the listener that matters most to us here.

Because they're doing something that often leads to more engagements, they're learning.

As a matter of fact, some 3 in 4 listeners say they tune into podcasts explicitly to learn. But what's funny is that it's not just the content in the podcasts themselves that they're learning more about. Apparently, it's also the brands that show up in their podcast ads too:

  • 81% of listeners say they sometimes or always pay attention to podcast ads.
  • 60% of podcast listeners have made purchases from podcast ads.
  • Podcast ads have 4.4X better brand recall than scroll, pop-up, and static display ads combined.
  • Businesses typically see a 10% lift in purchase intent among listeners exposed to their audio ads played during a podcast episode.
  • 80% of listeners can recall a brand advertised in a podcast.
  • 67% of podcast listeners can recall specific products or promotions.

So, keep in mind, that as your target audience learns how cryptocurrencies work, what to put in their banana bread, and where to take their next vacation - they're also discovering more about your business through the podcast ads that are playing in between all of this content.

Audio ads, a powerful branding asset for your business

Ever since the days of the radio jingle, audio ads have always had this unique ability to hook listeners with their catchiness.

Of course, a lot has changed since that first radio ad aired back in 1926, but the use of audio branding certainly has not. Neither has its effect on people too.

Most of us today already know what McDonald's sounds like, we know how a Farmers Insurance ad always ends, while some of you are probably able to recite the phone number to Kars4Kids right now.

And we remember these ads because sound - especially when it comes from the human voice - resonates with its listener. Like we've already seen, both music and podcast ads have famously high recall rates.

Which has the effect of making your marketing all the more memorable too. Like a good song, a good audio ad will linger.

And in a world where today's #1 mobile activity is audio streaming, audio ads are again proving itself to be a valuable branding asset - with the emotional power to move people to action. See it for yourself in the button below.

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