4 Tips for Writing Strong Audio Creative

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell acquired the patent for the telephone. Fast forward about 20 years to the mid 1890’s and the idea of transmitting sound wirelessly was born. Believe it or not, AT&T owned the first radio station that played the first paid advertisement 100 years ago, back in 1922 (in case you’re curious, it was for the Hawthorne Court Apartments in Jackson Heights and aired on WEAF in New York).

The first paid audio ad was 10 minutes long and cost $50. It’s probably the 10 minutes long part that caught your attention. These days, it is estimated by marketing experts that we are exposed to between 4,000-10,000 advertising messages a day. (yikes!) We’re getting lots of quick impressions everywhere we go – even if we don’t go anywhere!

Developing strong audio creative requires more than just checking off some boxes if you want to leave a lasting impression on your target audience. To write effective audio creative, we must be concise, capture attention and have a compelling call to action. But there is room for nuance, which when practiced can help your audio creative stand out from the bombardment of audio ads that are everywhere.

Why care about audio creative?

  • Affordable boost to overall your marketing strategy
  • Fast to produce creative
  • Flexible to start and stop quickly
  • People are listening
woman recording audio content in-home studio

An estimated 95.6% of Americans 13 or older listen to some form of audio in their daily lives, which amounts to 270 million people listening daily.

Adweek

While how we listen to audio has dramatically changed over the past 100 years, the fact that we are indeed listening hasn’t changed. Here’s four tips to make your audio creative be more effective.

1) Be relatable

Put yourselves in the shoes of the listener and practice empathy – be personal. Talk directly to the listener, using terms like “you” and “yours”. Show them how the product or service can address a pain point. Be helpful!

Make the listener feel like you care (and you should). When appropriate, consider including a testimonial in your audio creative that helps demonstrate how your product or service solved this same problem for another person. This makes it relatable.

2) Use theater of the mind

With audio creative, you don’t have visuals – and that means that visuals aren’t limiting the imagination of the listener. This gives you the opportunity to paint the picture in the mind of the listener. Use sound effects and music to transport the listener into the space you are conjuring and they will fill in the details, which can be powerfully engaging on an emotional level.

On top of sound effects and music, if you choose to include actors in your audio creative, be intentional with how they are used. And avoid using fake conversations to get your message across – this negates the theater of the mind opportunity.
Here is an example of what NOT to do:

  • Actor 1: Did you know that Ford is offering two thousand dollars cash back on new models, only while supplies last?
    Actor 2: Oh really?! Wow, I didn’t know that.
    Actor 1: Yes! It’s true, this month only, Ford is paying us to buy a new car.
    Actor 2: That’s incredible, let’s go!
    Sfx: tires squeal as two people drive off to the dealership

This is obviously super cheesy, and we’ve all heard ads like it before. Let’s avoid this – it’s demeaning to the intelligence of the listener. If there is an offer, be straightforward about it.

Consider doing something way over the top with banter, which tells the audience that you know you’re being cheesy, but it’s on purpose – and it’s memorable.

An example of how this could work would be to make modifications to the above “bad” copy, but deliver it with a Bill and Ted type of style:

  • Actor 1: Hey Bill
    Actor 2: Ya Ted
    Actor 1: Ford is paying two thousand bucks if you buy a new truck from them
    Actor 2: Noooo waaaaay
    Actor 1: Yes way Ted
    Actor 2: The princesses like totally deserve to ride in a new truck.
    Actor 1: Ya, and with two thousand bucks, we could buy some new amps
    Actor 2: And all our gear will totally fit so easy in the back.
    Both Actors: EXCELLENT!!!
    Sfx (electric guitar riff)
    VO (Disclaimer spoken quickly at the end): Bill and Ted are not real people. Keanu Reeves did not endorse this offer. Offer valid only at Ford dealerships in the greater Seattle area through March 31st, 2022. Other limitations may apply, see dealer for details.

Humor can be a really fun way to get your point across and be memorable. It can also turn into a pop culture thing that catches on and gives real legs to your campaign.

3) Be repetitive

An audio ad doesn’t have shelf life, meaning it doesn’t lay around like a magazine or newspaper ad. It plays and then, poof! It’s gone. So it’s important to make your key takeaways sticky in order to maximize the few seconds you have with your audience.

What’s worth repeating?

  • Your Website: If you want people to visit your website, say your URL repeatedly (and no need to say www. Or “double-you-double-you-double-you-dot) That takes up too much airspace. Just hit the website URL multiple times and consider mentioning it early in the ad, and then again twice at the end. If your website has a weird differentiator, spell it out (literally) and do it the same way every time. It will stick in the listener’s head like a jingle.
  • Your Brand Name: If you want people to remember the name of your brand, and your brand is new or not yet well known to your target audience, say it throughout the ad. For a :30, this might be said five times!
  • Your Calls-to-Action: No need to give out physical street addresses or other minutiae in a radio ad. Use other assets like a website landing page to provide those details, or ask them to text to a number that will easily get them to the landing page you’ve created that has all the details they need.

Marketing Strategy Note: In driving traffic to a landing page, you can remarket to them with digital ads until they convert. This additional strategy is very effective to layer on top of simple audio creative. If you need help exploring these types of layered strategies, get in touch!

4) Consider how you use music and sound effects

Ever heard an audio ad that was hard to understand because the music was a bit too loud? It’s unfortunate but it happens. Using compression as an audio engineering tool will help even out the loud and quiet parts of a piece of music, but the voiceover should always be easy to hear and understand in any playback media (from the sweet car stereo to the crappy desk speakers).

It’s important to use music when it makes sense, but don’t over do it – and don’t assume that you necessarily need music at all!

For example, consider a dry voiceover with no music bed as your creative delivery where the placement is on a music platform – it will stand out. Conversely, if your ad is playing on a podcast, using music to intro and outro your ad will help the listener with the transition and help get their attention.

  • If your ad is playing on a music station, you could start your ad with a record scratch to grab the listeners attention.
  • Use music to punch certain points or pull back attention in a longer spot, or use music as a gimmick.
  • Work with professional voice over artists to ensure quality and keep your production efforts on schedule.

Using a distinct musical sound in specific ways in your audio ads, or consistently using a music bed that captures your brand can help you gain brand awareness and recognition more quickly.

Additionally, the use of a jingle can aid in retention for the listener. A jingle doesn’t necessarily have to be a sung song, it can be spoken word, rhythmic or punchy. It just needs to accurately reflect your brand promise and effectively achieve the goal of retention (not annoyance).
[See our post on working with voiceover talent]

Before you tackle that next copywriting task, remember to step back and consider your audience. Put yourself in their space, mentally, emotionally (if possible) and maybe even physically. Ask yourself, what would it take to reach me if I were in their place?

Then, flex some creative muscle, make sure you capture their attention and give them a reason to take that next step (and make it easy for them!)

Need help with copywriting for audio creative?
We’ll be here when you need us.

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Content Marketing Is Just Good Marketing

In the spring of this year, Edge published a series of articles on effective Content Strategy and Content Marketing. Why spend so much time yammering away about content? Because content marketing, whether you think it’s just an agency buzz term or not, is just good marketing when it comes down to it.

If your website is a steamed Chicago-style, poppy seed-studded bun, then your content is the double char dog between (it must be summer). Take away the content (all that lies between the bun) and there is little left of interest. Shockingly, this is true of both hot dogs and websites.

Your customers may not love double char dogs, but they do love useful content and they are ready to participate with and purchase from brands that produce it.

In fact, 78% of consumers perceive organizations producing content are interested in building positive relationships, and brands that create content regularly via a blog generate 67% more sales leads each month. The folks at Wishpond recently documented these findings and more in an infographic titled, “The State of Content Marketing 2013.”

As you can see from the infographic below, it is a strong state in 2013. What state is your company’s content marketing in?

State of Content Marketing 2013 Infographic by Wishpond

eBlasters of the Universe: Crafting Inbox-Pleasing, Engaging Email Campaigns

Email Marketing: I Have The Newsletter

Actually, I prefer the terms ‘newsletter’ or ‘eFlyer’. An ‘eBlast’ just sounds like something you don’t want to be standing near when it goes off.

Whatever you call it, an effective email marketing strategy will build trust in your brand by keeping your audience informed and giving them a reason to return to your website again and again. YES, people do need a reason to visit your website. That reason is your content, and email campaigns, which are oft regarded as the lowly pack mule of content delivery, remain one of the most effective methods of engaging your audience. Because, no matter where we all go within our own digital universes, we never wander too far from our inbox.

Turn Your Company’s Scattered Expertise Into An Expert Internal Marketing Team

Expert Internal Marketing Team Chalkboard Drawing
“Everyone’s on board with the new content strategy except my contributors. Is that a problem?”

So you just told Karl over in Production that he gets the privilege of contributing to the company website every month in addition to all the work he normally does. How’d that go? Did his face go pale, or red with creative rage?

Content Gap Analysis: Filling The Holes In Your Content Schedule

So you have a very beautiful, but very blank content schedule sitting in front of you. Minding the gaps in your content schedule can help your company generate fresher, more linkable content, while building your brand’s authority. Not to mention keep Google from giving you the thumbs down.

At its core, performing a content gap analysis means taking an inventory of the content your website already has, reassessing your website’s message and voice, and then listing the content that you need to fill in the gaps.

Here are some helpful tips on how to perform a content gap analysis, so you can begin generating ideas and get your content strategy really flowing.

Effective Content Marketing Strategies: Establishing A Content Schedule

Content Juggling Muscle - 1600px

The most engaging websites are NOT static. Before long a static website becomes little more than a screensaver of your business card. Websites that really engage us are fluid; always changing and growing, always considering their audience – with new content coming in all the time.

A recent study from the Content Marketing Institute[1] suggests that in 2013, more than half of all B2C companies plan on increasing their content marketing budgets, and 10% of those making increases say they will be significantly increasing their investment in content marketing this year. To help manage this new emphasis on content marketing more efficiently and effectively, it’s essential to create a content schedule (also known as an editorial calendar). Establishing a content schedule will focus your efforts and ensure that when you engage your clients on the web that it’s worth both your time and theirs.

Is the Spirit of the ’90s Alive In Your Website?

10 Ways To Tell If It’s Time To Update Your Website and Why It’s Important To Have A Clear Goal For Your Website.

Remember the 1990s — Kurt Cobain, grunge, Lugz, Starter Jackets, and those Hypercolor t-shirts that encouraged way too much familiarity and let everyone know when your antiperspirant was failing? But before you break out your chain wallet and start wondering whatever happened to the original Aunt Viv on Fresh Prince, let’s talk about the ’90s in terms of technological advances.