Should you be advertising on podcasts?

June 11, 2019 Advertising Questions

Chances are, no matter who your customers are, at least some of them are listening to podcasts. According to Edison research, more than half the US population has listened to at least one podcast, and nearly one third of the US population listens at least once a month.

The demographics on those listeners are diverse. They span a wide age range and are near evenly split between male and female listeners. They do tend to skew towards higher income and education levels.

Why have podcasts become so popular? Because you can find one on pretty much any topic. With over 700,000 active podcasts available, there’s one to suit any interest. Comedy? Check. True Crime? Yep! Current events, science, self-help, pop culture, politics, religion or food? Absolutely.

Once listeners start, they don’t like to stop. The average podcast runs about 43 minutes, according to podnews.net, and more than 80% of listeners will listen to a complete episode. That makes the estimated $500 million dollars businesses will spend on podcast advertising by 2020 a pretty solid investment.

If you’re going to explore this medium, connecting with your audience is key. Choose a podcast where listeners are likely to relate with your product. As with other platforms like Twitter and Instagram, users are moving away from staged ads in favor of messages that feel more authentic.

There are two types of ads: baked in and dynamic insertion. A baked in ad is read by the host and becomes part of the podcast forever. Dynamically inserted ads are put into a podcast through a server on an on-demand basis, which allows advertisers to more precisely target their audience. Ads are billed either cost per acquisition (CPA) or cost per mille (CPM). A CPA ad charges the advertiser for each customer the ad campaign wins. A CPM ad charges a set rate for each 1,000 customers reached. Ads can run pre-roll (at the beginning of the podcast), mid-roll (within the body of the podcast) or outro, which is the last call to action at the end of a podcast.

As with any marketing campaign, you need to have a clearly defined goal and budget, and an awareness of how this campaign fits in with your larger marketing strategy.

OTT

The Value Proposition of OTT Advertising

May 9, 2019 Advertising Questions

OTT (Over the Top Technology) advertising is the newest game in town. OTT refers to the way the first streaming devices sat on top of the traditional cable box, though today smart TVs have made the actual box unnecessary in most cases. This emerging technology has created a new advertising frontier where businesses can reach their customers on entertainment apps like Netflix, You Tube and Hulu as well as on music and messaging apps. If the content is accessed via a streaming device- a smart TV, Chromecast, Apple TV or other streaming box, you can now advertise on it.

OTT is scalable, customizable and reasonably budget friendly. It allows you to customize your audience, not just the channel. You can select who sees your ad based on a wide variety of demographic and psychographic factors. Customers can stream content at their convenience rather than having to be in front of the TV at a certain time each week. They can also stream on the go from their mobile devices, allowing them to take their entertainment anywhere in the world. Your ad goes with them

It’s remarkably easy to track viewership on ads delivered through streaming. Data-driven marketing measurements can tell you how many households watched your ad and if they visited your website or social sites after. Many ad packages are pay-per-view rather than pay-per-placement, making them a cost-effective use of valuable advertising dollars.

Most households aren’t completely replacing cable TV. It’s almost impossible to get a streaming system that offers access to local news and sports, which is a must have for most families. A strong marketing plan reaches out across a variety of platforms. OTT advertising should definitely be part of your marketing mix.

Successful commercials in the Portland & Vancouver Markets

January 21, 2019 Uncategorized

A new style of marketing appears every second in today’s world because everyone is trying to stand out in the crowd. Many companies will seize on an idea that is quick, simple, and can be packaged with the promise of easy money.  At Raven Marketing we keep our eyes open to new trends in the way that a composer is excited to bring another instrument into their symphony. One such “instrument” Raven Marketing has mastered is commercial spots. You can take a look at our portfolio of work in the following industries:  appliance retail, automotive sales, home improvement, health & wellness, awareness campaigns, and retail TV.

Successful commercials in the Portland & Vancouver markets can create brand equity for your product or service. You can blame it on the adventuresome spirit that remains from those that traveled the Oregon trail, eccentric people, or the love of the natural beauty around us. Whatever it is – the people of the northwest love what lies ahead with a commercial, and this is where we shine. We think this is favorable condition for new companies to step into the spotlight, or demonstrate the change occurring in an established company. Every company needs a partner that will blaze a path for them. Raven Marketing optimizes media buys, employs prudent development, and utilizes cunning execution when it comes to making a commercial. All of this creates a seamless experience from beginning to end – and right now, local TV advertising has a conversions per dollar ratio that is favorable compared to what you might find with snake-oil salesmen or someone that fancies themselves so influential that you’re lucky to deal with them. There’s enough ego to go around in the marketing community but we’d rather roll up our sleeves to create content that speaks clearly and persuasively to your audience without asking for your first-born child in cost.
From informative to serious, silly to heartwarming, we want to make sure we speak to your audience; to create awareness and, with that awareness, word-of-mouth, which is perhaps the most time-honored principle of marketing. First you get seen, then you get experienced, then you get talked about and used again.If you’re a company in this beautiful part of the country give us a call at 503-954-1473 or send a note to our team to determine how we can help your commercial needs.

microphone in front of computer monitor

Why Using Professional Voiceover Talent Makes Such a Difference

February 24, 2018 Advertising Questions

When it comes to making a good commercial, a lot of things go into it. You must have the right message, the right setting, and the right person behind the message you choose. If you try to do the voiceover yourself or have an amateur do it, people will notice. Anyone who has seen a late-night commercial with an inexperienced furniture salesperson doing a song or dance knows what we’re talking about. It is very important that you have the right delivery method if you want to reach your audience. A professional voiceover can get you there.

 

Professional Voiceovers Are Obvious

As with any type of talent a person gains, it takes time to perfect. If you hire someone who has taken the time to perfect that talent, it will show. Their delivery will be smoother, their voice will be more compelling, naturally, and your audience will be more engaged. Giving your audience a choppy delivery because you went for a less expensive alternative is much more likely to give you a lower return on investment.

While voiceover talent is not free, it is also not that expensive in most cases, either. Unless you opt to hire a top tier celebrity because you want to have a voice everyone recognizes, you can get a voiceover from a professional talent for a reasonable price. You may think that going with a novice would be less expensive, but that is typically not the case. A novice is going to make mistakes. They will say things differently than you have figured out in your head. This means paying for more time, which could easily end up being more than a single price for someone who knows what they are doing.

 

With a Professional Voiceover, Your Audience Gets to Connect Emotionally

When you decide to make a commercial, it is to inspire your audience. You want them to react. This could be to call you for help, turn to you for your services, or buy your product. The only way you are going to get people to react is by making sure they feel something. The emotional connection you get from voiceovers depends on the quality of the voice used. If the person saying the words sounds like they are simply reading a script, your audience will be able to tell. However, if you get a person that truly sells your words, your audience will connect. They will feel the connection, which will inspire them to be more apt to take the action you hope for.

 

Good Voiceovers Also Make Your Commercial More Memorable

One of the goals of all commercials is to inspire an action. For most people, the more they remember a commercial, the more likely they are to react. If you go for a professional voiceover, the commercial will stand out in the mind of your audience. This is especially true if you use a voice people will recognize. Celebrity voices are easy to recognize in many instances, making them an ideal option when you need to find a voice people will relate to.

Whenever the members of your audience think about that celebrity, or that person is in the news, your product, service, or company will come to mind. When you go with a celebrity with a specific image, that image carries over to you as well. When you want a wholesome image for your business, you go with a voice that brings that image to mind. If you want a racy image, where your company is more cutting edge, you find a voice that portrays that as well.

 

A Professional Voiceover Helps with Your Branding

Something you may not have considered for your commercials is your branding. When you go with different voices for your commercials, none of them will be something that stands out when a person starts to hear it. If you do a few commercials with the same voice, people will begin to associate that voice with your company as soon as it comes on the radio or the television. What you want is a voice that people will associate with your brand from the beginning. If you sell to women, you want a comforting voice that comes across as empowered and informative. When you sell to men, you want a voice that sounds as though the message cuts through the fluff and gets to the point. You need to know your audience and give them what they will respond to. A professional voiceover can help with this task.

 

Professional Voiceover Actors Save You Time

Today, you can easily obtain basic hardware and software to perform voiceover work on your own. You may even have a good voice. But the truth is, it takes more than that to create a quality voiceover. Other issues affect how well your voiceover turns out. First, the room that you record your VO will have an impact. Most rooms aren’t a good fit acoustically. You’ll most likely end up with unintended ambient noise and echo. Second, since you’re not a professional voiceover expert, you’ll most likely spend much longer trying to record your audio track. Since you don’t have a sound director listening to your takes, you’ll have to record your track, then listen to it, then re-record it. This takes time and can lead to inconsistencies in production values.

 

Conclusion

When all is said and done, you want your commercial to help increase your bottom line. Spending a little bit more now to get a professional voiceover is much more likely to give you that result. Take the time you need to find the perfect voice to represent who you are and what you have to offer. By getting that perfect voice from the get-go, you have the opportunity to make sure each commercial you release is effective and memorable. Jumping in and trying to do the job yourself or finding an amateur to try and do it for you can cost you.

Contact Raven Marketing at 503-954-1473 to let them show you how to get everything you can out of your budget dollars by opting for a professional who knows how to get the job done right.

car in motion

Why Some of the Best Car Commercials Cost Less

February 1, 2018 Advertising Questions

When it comes to selling goods and services, the vast majority of businesses rely heavily on advertising. Although other factors—such as perceived quality, overall cost, utility, and a consumer’s need for a particular good or service—can greatly impact whether a business is successful or not, few things have such an immediate and significant effect as advertising.

In fact, the most recent year for which statistics are available show that advertising generated almost $200 billion (that’s with a “b”) in sales in the United States alone. With that kind of cash in play, auto manufacturers and dealers are more than willing to spend money on car commercials.

Yet, for all the money they are able to throw into advertising, it is an interesting phenomenon that some of the most effective commercials cost the least amount of money to produce. In this age of huge CGI effects in movies and a constant trend towards bigger and splashier, it seems that—at least with regard to car commercials—sometimes less is better.

 

Ad Spend Per Vehicle Sold

Most car manufacturers engage in some form of advertising; however, every major manufacturer except for Hyundai caps the ad spend at under $3,000 per vehicle sold. What’s more, even though Hyundai spends more than twice as much on advertising per vehicle sold, it is not even in the top 10 companies in terms of overall revenue worldwide.

This large discrepancy suggests that there is much more at play in determining whether a vehicle sells or not than the dollar amount spend on advertising. While a full exploration of the various statistics relating to the advertising industry would yield some fascinating conclusions, for purposes of this piece we will focus on the above two factors: ad spend per vehicle sold and overall revenue.

 

What Makes an Effective Advertisement?

In considering why some car makers spend considerably more per vehicle in advertising, yet fail to crack the lineup of the top companies, it may be helpful to consider the various types of advertising and what sorts of purchases they impact.

Consumers are human beings, which means they are sometimes irrational (at best) when it comes to their purchasing decisions. It follows, then, that the most effective form of automotive advertising would be the big, splashy ads that stir the emotions and seek to push consumers into making a purchase based on feelings.

Certainly, this form of marketing works with other purchases: purchasers of items such as candy, sunscreen, and other simple products—known as “low involvement” products because of the low level of commitment consumers have to them—tend to be much more responsive to emotional appeals than do purchasers of “high involvement” items such as laptop computers, housing, and automobiles.

Essentially, the more money a consumer spends on a product, the more he or she is (usually) involved with it. At the same time, the more involved the consumer is with the product, the less he or she will respond to emotional appeals. For “high involvement” purchases, advertising produces better results when it emphasizes concrete benefits of the product.

 

Car Advertisements

Given that a car is often among the three most expensive items a consumer will ever purchase (a house and a college education being the other two), it stands to reason that effective advertisements will be those that are up front about the benefits of a given car. Advertisements that inform consumers of the benefits of a car, in addition to being more effective, tend to be less expensive to produce than emotional, flashy advertisements that require intensive scripting, filming, and special effects.

 

Getting the Most Out of Advertising Dollars

Were car companies given an unlimited advertising budget, it may make sense to purchase advertisements that hit across the spectrum. Advertisements that relay the benefits of a particular auto as well as appealing to the consumer’s emotions would probably produce the best results.

However, advertising budgets are not unlimited, with the major car companies searching for ways to maximize efficiency and minimize costs. It is telling that Toyota—the largest car company in the world in terms of revenue—spent roughly 50% less on advertising during the first half of 2014 than did GM. This suggests that the company is being selective with its advertising, only spending ad dollars where they will bring in the most revenue.

 

Conclusion

Car companies should take advantage of marketing research and consider the fact that a car purchase is generally considered to be a “high involvement” transaction. Given this, the best way to reach consumers may be to cut back on the flashy effects-laden advertising and just give consumers a straightforward presentation of the vehicle’s features and benefits. While some consumers will always be drawn to emotional appeals, the data suggests that lower-cost, more straightforward advertisements will produce a higher return on investment than flashier advertisements.