Today, more than ever before, viewers are turning to second screens for more information about what they're watching. If your online presence doesn't complement your broadcast ad strategy, chances are good that you're losing leads you've worked hard to generate. Squaring your online presence with your radio and TV leads could mean a huge win for your company.
Fifty percent of Americans with online access second-screen when they're looking at video content (including that on TV) — and a whopping 88 percent of millennials admit to engaging in this seemingly absentminded activity, according to Consumerist.
Of course, many of these people are flocking to social media to share their feelings about their favorite characters, but eMarketer reports that more than half of US internet users are still watching TV commercials. What's more, 62 percent of consumers who paid for a product or service advertised in a TV or radio commercial researched online before buying.
This Is a Good Thing
Rather than seeing this as an obstacle, you can use this split-screen attention to your advantage. Those second-screen searches build trust, credibility and purchase intent for your brand.
Distracted consumption has been an issue since the dawn of radio days. As far back as the 1930s, pollsters bemoaned the way that radio was used in the background. Now that smartphones and tablets provide the distraction, there is opportunity to create engaging connections that weren't possible when media consumption was single-screen (or single-wave). The key with your online presence is to recapture consumers' attention with engaging and addictive content.
All too often within businesses, media teams work in silos, and the web department tends to be separate from the advertising department. When different mediums create separate channels of response, silos develop. Instead, let your ad channels complement each other.
How the Channels Work Together
These tactics will be familiar, because they are the same ones you're already using to sync television and radio.
When you build on your TV buy with radio, you can capitalize on the niche demographic targets the two mediums create together — and you can use them complementarily, at different times of day. Your online plan should be part of an integrated mix, too.
The URL you use in TV and radio spots should be unique to the campaign, not just a push to the regular corporate homepage. Be sure that landing page is thematically linked to your campaign, so you're seamlessly continuing the sale. Even so, some percentage of your target audience will search online rather than type in a URL, so be sure you're bidding on key phrases that are relevant to your ad campaign.
This AdAge article recaps the most effective ads of the 21st century, all of which include cross-platform engagement, such as Budweiser's "Wassup" campaign, a series of ads that drove viewers to the website to learn how to say "wassup" in 30 different languages. Building on a creative idea that's flexible across media will produce results for your campaign. When it comes to planning and implementing an integrated marketing strategy, a trusted media partner is a wise investment.
