Pandora, Spotify, Google All Access Radio, iTunes… and the list goes on: 24/7 music available to listeners commercial free, well, mostly commercial free.
There are many choices for advertisers to reach digital or internet music listeners. Determining which media player, app, or which music network is right for your campaign starts with knowing who you want to reach and then matching it up with the listeners/members of the music sites.
The benefit of digital music or internet radio sites is the ability to narrow your marketing message to who you believe is your ideal customer. For example, you can target customers who are adults 35-54, affluent, listen to classical music and live in a specific geo targeted area.
Then there is the dashboard or analytics report that every music site should provide. Getting reports on impressions – how many times someone sees your ad or hears your ad and then how many people click-thru is crucial to the success of you campaign.
Here are 5 important questions that need to be answered before getting started with a digital radio campaign.
1. How many total listeners/member/fans are available each hour?
2. Can you target by demographic and geography? How specific can you get? Pandora can narrow a campaign down to whether someone speaks a certain language. (Recently, I wanted to target Latinos who do not speak Spanish and Pandora was able to add that qualifier for the campaign.)
3. Where/when on the site will the ad be positioned and will the ad be a required listen? A great way to tackle the limited commercial frequency.
4. How interactive is the music site? Do they reach out to their listeners with offers and music suggestions? This will give you an idea of how engaged the fans/members are with the music site. The more engaged the better for your marketing message.
5. Does the music site offer cross platforms? Cross platform and multi-screen media is essential to advertising today. (More about that in another blog). Cross platforms means your marketing message will be seen on the computer, laptop, notebook, smart phone, and auto listening too.
The digital platform makes buying media fairly turn key, however, that being said I would recommend starting out with one of the bigger music sites such as Pandora. Although with the news of the Sprint and Spotify deal there may be an immediate surge in awareness that could benefit an advertiser.
