Successful business owners know that radio and digital marketing are powerful tools individually. However, when they are combined, they make the greatest impact on a marketing campaign, driving significant advertising results. Integrating radio and digital enables marketers to create powerful campaigns that produce an impressive ROI. Let's look at some benefits that illustrate why you should combine radio and digital marketing.

Boost Brand Awareness

Delivering a message across multiple platforms allows businesses to engage with customers at various touch points. Only five to seven impressions are required on average before consumers recognize a brand, increasing memorability and recall leading to sales and repeat customers. 

Consistent branding is essential for awareness. The shape of a logo, colors, and typography set a business's visual identity apart from others, making it instantly recognizable. According to Forbes, a signature color can improve brand recognition by 81%. Additionally, the way marketers convey brand messaging should be consistent and align with the company's core values. 

Expand Your Reach

Combining the power of radio with digital marketing can expand the business's potential reach. Since radio is a high reach medium and digital is more targeted, the combination provides increased reach against your target audience. According to AdNews, a study of 116 marketing campaigns for 21 brands showed the combined efficacy of radio and digital ads increased revenue by 23%, an increase of 6% and 9%, respectively, over radio and digital alone.

Reach indicates the number of people who hear or see a brand's ads and are either introduced to or gain a deeper awareness of the business. Consumers can't purchase goods or services from a company that they don't know exists. By advertising on multiple channels, you can progressively target advertising to local areas, specific interests, or other criteria to impact the right audience.

Increase Ad Frequency

Ad frequency is a strategic balancing act between brand recognition and over-saturation. The key is to use a combination of radio and digital marketing to pique interest and entice a consumer to action. Using multiple channels allows marketers the opportunity to provide variations on the same message without over saturating the audience. Even though there is no magic number for ideal frequency, many marketers follow the Rule of 7, which states it takes an average of seven impressions or interactions with your brand for a consumer to buy from you.

Drive Customer Action

Why combine radio and digital marketing? Once a potential customer hears about a business on the radio, 88% will research it online before buying. Seventy percent of mobile searches convert to action within one hour. Both radio and digital advertising reach people where they shop, whether that is online or in-store. Together, radio and digital advertising allow marketers to achieve the ultimate goal of driving sales and increasing revenue.

Support the Customer Journey

The combination of radio and digital gives businesses a way to interact with their prospective customers throughout each stage of the buyer’s journey:

• Interest and Awareness - A consumer hears a radio ad that informs them of a local business that can wrap and ship their products. The potential customer realizes that this business solves how to get their holiday gifts to remote family members in one stop. 
• Search - The consumer goes online to find out more about the company. This stage is where consistent branding and compelling messaging is key, using tactics like organic search and PPC, for example. 
• Research - The consumer can now compare customer reviews and consult social media for promo codes and testimonials. Making information about the brand easily accessible across channels helps your business stand out as the obvious choice. This stage is the perfect opportunity to interact with the consumer through chat features. 
• Purchase - When a marketer gives a potential customer a variety of ways to experience the brand, it allows the consumer to visualize the product or service, setting the business apart from competitors. An average of 46% of users act after viewing a video ad, made possible by directing users to your website through a radio spot. 
• Experience - A personalized strategy can entail following up with an email or text for customer satisfaction and reviews. This stage allows marketers to implement customer retention strategies, like sending presale notifications or offering promotional codes for a return visit.

See Measurable Results With a Trusted Media Partner 

Combining radio and digital marketing amplifies the effectiveness of your advertising by creating powerful campaigns that can increase ROI. It allows businesses the opportunity to boost their brand awareness, expand their reach, optimize the message frequency, influence customer action, and expand customer interaction throughout the buyer journey. To see measurable results and experience expanded business growth, engage an experienced media partner.