As we play out 2023 into early 2024, cash-strapped consumers are going to be inundated with thousands of advertising messages offering them deals and calling for their attention. In the face of this perfect storm of economic insecurity and marketing noise, it’s imperative that FMCG brands have cost-effective strategies to help them cut through during this incredibly busy season.
This is where digital audio comes in. By utilising its unique capabilities, FMCG brands can deliver customised, data-driven and dynamic ads to help them boost sales by adding a personalised layer to national campaigns, tapping into real-time moments, such as time, location or weather, and directing listeners to where they can buy.
FMCG brands wanting to cut through the noise this season should implement these four key tactics:
1. Promote short-term and seasonal offers
Retail offers change from week to week and by location. With Dynamic Creative, retailers can run short-term promotions to manage stock levels or promote seasonal deals by recording details in advance or across the year for always-on campaigns. Ads can be matched to email newsletters and offers promoted at a granular level.
2. Increase footfall and drive sales by referencing a listener’s local store
Calling out local stores can be a great way to gain cut-through and better engage the listener by making the message more relevant to them. We’re increasingly seeing people wanting to buy local because of the perceived environmental, financial and psychological benefits. Shopping local is becoming increasingly synonymous with supporting your local community, so this is an important way to get the consumer on-side.
3. Drive sales of new products through creative tailored to different moments in listeners’ lives
Personalising creative in this way generates a sense of favorability with listeners, as they feel the brand is ‘aware’ of their context; whether that’s the day, the weather or even what they’re listening to. Reflecting the individual listener’s ‘need-state’ in this way can be based on things such as purchasing patterns (bulk buying, weekend shopping etc.), demographics (parental status, income, age, gender etc.) or contextual data (such as the day, broadcast time, and seasonal weather).
Some examples of how that could play out in practice could include:
- “Finally Friday, the perfect time to unwind with Dove’s new body wash.”
- “So, while you’re cosied up at home on this rainy night, treat yourself to some ‘me time’ with our vitamin-e infused body wash.”
4. Increase purchase consideration amongst listeners by tailoring creative messages to different audiences using data-driven messaging
At its core, data-driven messaging centres on four specific questions, the answers to which will form the basis for any messaging strategy:
- Who are my audiences; what are the key sub-segments within each of them?
- What different needs do these audiences and subsegments have, and how do they change across time and context?
- What combination of messages will resonate with those “relevance opportunities” where need, context and time intersect? What messaging will communicate how my brand promise is relevant to the specific consumer, both in that moment and in the future?
- What data is available to make these decisions? How can my brand recognise our consumer and our relevance opportunity?
If you know this, you can produce ads that resonate with your target audiences and, if you have multiple groups, you can tailor different ads to meet their individual needs.
5. Raise awareness of new product launches and offers through sequential messaging
This means creating dynamic content that reflects things like different flavour variants, different offers and even different retailers where the product is available. These can then be rotated throughout the day to create interest and engagement with listeners. This technique could also be used to direct different messaging around the elements of the campaign to again play to different needs within your target audience group.
The ease with which digital audio content can be scheduled, assembled and booked means that brands can easily add a personalised layer to national campaigns. This level of personalisation and engagement can be incredibly powerful when it comes to creating that cut-through that brands need during such a busy retail period.
