Why Audio Advertising is Such a Hot Trend and how to Make it Work Better with AI Voices

In a crowded media environment, advertisers constantly look to penetrate the noise of new information and win their audience's attention. Audio advertising has the unique ability to overcome these challenges, making audio ads an essential format for marketing.

COVID-19 also affected the development of audio ads. According to recent statistics, 18% of adults have been listening to more podcasts since the start of the pandemic. Marketers predict that total commercial spending on podcasts will reach around $2 billion by 2023.

This article will figure out why audio advertising is such a hot trend today and how it can benefit your business.

Audio Advertising: The Realities and Advantages

We embed voice devices in almost every aspect of our lives. As a result, audio content is increasingly competing with the visual for activities like:

• Household chores 
• Athletics 
• Driving

When we’re engaged in these activities, we prefer to perceive information by ear so that our hands and eyes are free.

Some of the most famous audio ad distribution platforms are YouTube, Spotify, SoundCloud, Amazon Music, and Shazam.

Many entrepreneurs underestimate audio advertising by focusing more on video ads. However, primarily because of the periods of quarantine, users are becoming tired of the screen. Even on YouTube, people often prefer to listen to the content.

Therefore, making video ads in 2021 without audio branding is no longer enough. Moreover, video advertising requires more resources and thus is more expensive than audio.

Other advantages of the audio advertising medium include:

Ubiquity

Audio is available everywhere all the time. People can listen to the content on almost any device while simultaneously doing other stuff. That's why audio commercials reach us in the car, during sports, or even in the shower. They can overtake us during the day when we are not available for other forms of advertising. 

Deep Level of Perception 

Listening to text is a more active process than watching a video. That's because you have to imagine something after you hear it. Thus, audio content will have a more significant impact on the listener’s mind and remain there longer (than a video) after hearing it.

In the age of multisensory communication, music and sounds have a stronger emotional impact than visual imagery. According to a study of 1,000 UK consumers, 60% believe that music in marketing is more memorable than visuals. 45% say that audio helps them understand a brand's personality. And 47% say it helps them feel more connected to a brand.

Cost Efficiency

The cost of producing an audio commercial ranges from $1,000 to $2,500. It depends on the costs for music, voice actors, and editing. At the same time, the average price of a video varies from $1,000 to $5,000 per finished minute. So you can see the difference.

Incrementally Higher Reach

According to Statista, in 2021, 53% of respondents, after listening to a podcast’s audio ad, searched for more information about it. And 29% percent of respondents purchased the advertised product or service.

A Google campaign with Nestle and Zenith are also excellent examples of how effective audio advertising is. During the campaign, Paul Cocks, EMEA product strategy lead, Google decided to test the effectiveness of audio in commercials.

The marketers paid attention to the incremental reach on display and video versus display, video, and audio bundled together. The latter advertising showed an incrementality of 58% reach.

Although the proportion of audio advertising for the project was only around 30% of the budget, it reflected 51% of the reach.

But how to create an ad that is capable of delivering such tangible outcomes to your company? Here are a few tips to keep in mind when producing your commercial.

How to Create an Audio Ad that will Grab your Customer’s Attention

Keep it simple and intelligible

Usually, people who listen to your commercial are doing something else at the same time. Their attention is already scattered. Therefore, it's better to shorten the amount of relevant information they need to remember.

You only have about 30 seconds or less to grab your listener's attention, so the message should be clear. Ask yourself the question: if your listener only remembers one thing from the ad, what would you like it to be?

Be Friendly

Everyone loves to listen to friendly people who speak clearly, lively, and fluently. For audio ad audiences, this is especially true: listeners turn on their favorite playlist, radio, or podcast to have a good time. Therefore, try to keep your ad unobtrusive.

Don't use Loud Background Music

As a rule, the audience of online platforms consists of sophisticated listeners. They know a lot about audio content. It is crucial to focus on the content, not the volume, to address them in the right way. Try to get creative not only when deciding on a voice but also the track.

Be Consistent

Audio advertising is one more way to promote your brand. That's why everything, from creating a script for your commercial to having it placed on specific platforms, should sound like a polished product. 

The idea, message, words, phrases, and tone should match the ad's voice and vice versa. 

Paying attention to different aspects of ad production is essential. Below we reveal how to turn regular audio advertising into a professional product.

How Voice Cloning can Help you Create a Consistent and Effective Audio Ad

As we already mentioned, vocals matter a lot in audio ads. It's hard to find the right actors capable of verbalizing a script in a way that supports the commercial's message and has the highest possible chance to drive sales.

Meeting and recording a specific actor is always complicated. It requires many additional resources that slow down production and result in unexpected costs. 

However, AI technology allows you to solve this problem by replacing natural speech with a synthetic voice. The latter will be indistinguishable from the voice of a real person.

If you want a specific person to narrate your commercial, you can license their voice without requiring their presence in the studio. With Respeecher, you just need an hour-long record of the original voice. After that, the process of voice cloning can commence by generating unlimited content without involving the actual voice actor.

Even in cases when the client doesn’t have high-res sources available, Respeecher delivers the highest resolution audio across the board. Download this whitepaper about Respeecher's audio super-resolution algorithm to find out more.

Voice synthesis will help your business save money and time. License unique voices on the Voice Marketplace and forget about hiring or working around the schedules of actors.

A professional synthetic voice can become the centerpiece for your brand by playing a significant role in your company's worldwide recognition. 

The AI voice generator makes it possible to localize your audio ads by adapting them to the languages of the regions you are advertising in. The actor can speak English in ads for the US and UK, and Italian, French, and German for those respective audiences. The actor’s voice will speak your language of choice fluently, just as it did in the original recording.