Commentary

Geo-conquesting: Reaching Boomers The Hyper-Local Way

Location location location. While the saying might have once been a real estate agent’s mantra, it’s also becoming the golden rule for launching targeted radio campaigns. That’s because it’s no longer enough to reach the right type of potential customer, it’s about reaching them at the right place and at precisely the right time. 

There is no doubt that Boomers are tuning into radio en masse, every day. According to Nielsen, in 2014 radio reached 65% of Americans 55 and over. But while advertisers have historically enjoyed the unparalleled reach of radio, those campaigns haven’t had the same accountability as digital advertising. Until now. 

Today, listeners of all ages are spending more and more time on their mobile devices. The latest figures, according to the Pew Internet Project for example, revealed that over 90% of American adults have a cell phone as of January 2014. And with radio audiences increasingly prefer music and news-to-go, this has afforded advertisers a whole new set of tools to achieve an unprecedented level of targeted audience engagement.

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Here’s how. By combining the powerful mass appeal of radio with the hyper-local targeting capabilities of mobile, advertisers can now not only reach their desired demographic (Boomer or otherwise), but they can do so around a specific consumer’s passion points and brand affinities.

Consider this: a local Nissan car dealership in Pennsylvania can now use radio to not only reach Boomers, but reach a woman in her mid-fifties who is checking the weather on the Accuweather app at precisely the moment when she is directly outside of the dealership or a competing dealership.  

Advertisers are beginning to comprehend the powerful potential of these new tools in creating more sophisticated and effective campaigns. From an industry standpoint, spending on geo-targeted display advertising is growing rapidly. And according to a report released by emarketer, total expenditures on mobile display advertising are expected to lead this year’s rise in total media ad spending in the US. In fact, advertisers will spend 83.0% more on tablets and smartphones than they did in 2013—an increase to the tune of $8.04 billion. This means that by the end of this year, mobile will represent nearly 10% of all media ad spending, surpassing newspapers, magazines and radio for the first time as national brands realign strategies to sync up with the increased use of mobile devices.

This sea change in advertising capabilities is a huge boost for radio; stations are unlocking whole new sources of revenue and advertisers are effectively reaching the perfect audience—people not just categorized by gender, or age, but by where they are and most importantly, what they like.

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