Budget allocation is often complicated for local media sellers and advertisers. Best practices and plenty of data support campaigns that include radio and digital for peak performance, but what’s the right mix for advertiser budgets?
There’s no single answer to this question except that it depends. Many factors impact how to allocate dollars toward linear and digital. We’ll explore what those are and provide some sample scenarios with budget splits.
What Factors Impact Splitting Advertiser Budgets Between Radio and Digital?
When designing the ideal ad mix for your customers, the budget for each tactic matters for overall performance. Putting too much money into one channel and not enough into another can produce lackluster results. You want every business to realize a positive return so they’ll continue to order and renew.
These areas will impact your decisions in mapping out a proposal that includes radio and digital.
The Advertiser’s Goal
Different objectives align with various tactics. The company’s overarching goal will affect the money split. For example, a business seeking brand awareness could invest more in radio and some top-funnel digital tactics. Another goal could be promoting a sale or event. Radio can deliver reach, so it would receive a small slice along with targeted digital options like geofencing, display ads and video.
The best way to consider goals in recommendations is to see how they align with the sales funnel:
- Awareness: Audiences realize they have a need and begin to research.
- Consideration: Consumers define the problem and consider solutions.
- Decision: The customer evaluates all options and is ready to purchase.
Some tactics are effective across the entire sales funnel. Others make more sense in specific phases.
Total Budget
The total amount of money your advertiser has will determine allocation. Keep in mind that a robust campaign should align with the 3-6-5 strategy — three tactics for six months with a $5,000 budget. The longer the campaign, the higher the budget, usually. Additionally, companies may have specific allotments for certain campaign types, big events or seasonality.
Their Digital Footprint
Another key consideration for budget allocation is the company’s digital footprint and maturity. For example, it wouldn’t be appropriate to put 80% of the budget toward social media if the company has no organic presence. If their website doesn’t have frictionless and streamlined online purchasing, display or geofencing ads driving traffic there may underperform.
However, if the business has dedicated landing pages for SEM (search engine marketing) campaigns, paid search should get a significant piece of the budget.
Evaluate “where” ads will go and the company’s digital landscape before you suggest what dollars to put toward tactics.
Available Impressions by Industry and Product
A great guide for digital budgets would also be the available impressions. These will be plentiful for many industries, but not all. The more niche the target audience is, the fewer impressions available.
The type of digital product also impacts this. The narrower the audience, the fewer the potential impressions. You have many ways to target on social media, for example, but when targeting gets too refined, the audience size decreases.
For geofencing, impressions depend on the number and size of fences. CTV/OTT and streaming audio are newer digital options, which means they tend to have fewer impressions versus display.
Advertiser Budget Splits: Example Scenarios
So, now that you know what can influence suggestions, let’s look at some real-life examples.
Local Moving Company Wants to Get More Quote Requests
A local moving company with 20 years of business is seeing a drop-off in quote requests. Some of this is due to more competitors moving into the area. They’ve just updated their website to include a new quote request page. They’ve previously purchased radio spot ads and display banners.
Potential tactics:
- Radio for overall reach during morning and afternoon prime times
- Geofencing ads to target competitors, residential areas or apartment complexes
- OTT ads to target homeowners and specific ZIP codes
To achieve the goals of more traffic to their quote page and conversions, a smart split could be:
- Radio: 20%
- Geofencing: 40%
- OTT: 40%
Regional Restaurant Chain Needs More Employees
Restaurants continue to struggle with staffing, although many have increased wages and benefits. Turnover is high for these positions, so the company needs an employee pipeline. They have an easy application to submit online.
Potential tactics:
- Radio spots that include a unique link to apply in the copy
- Targeted display for geography and demographics
- Social media ads on profiles with a younger age bracket (e.g., TikTok, Snapchat or Instagram)
To help them get more applicants, recommend this allocation:
- Radio: 25%
- Display: 50%
- Social media: 25%
Senior Living Facility Wants to Target Different Decision Makers
Choosing a senior living facility can involve several decision makers. In many cases, adult children will have the most influence. Seniors also play a part, so there’s a split audience with different attributes. However, both demographics are avid radio listeners.
Potential tactics:
- Radio spots that talk to each target audience
- CTV ad spots targeting seniors’ adult children
- Facebook ads to reach both groups
- Streaming audio to capitalize on podcast listening by these consumers
A suggested split for this would be:
- Radio: 20%
- CTV: 40%
- Facebook: 20%
- Streaming audio: 20%
More Advertiser Budget Tips and Insights
These scenarios cover several business types, goals and audiences. Every proposal you create will be unique. You can always look back at similar campaigns you’ve generated or get advice from digital strategists if you’re a Marketron digital customer.
For more insights, use our digital ad mix tool. You’ll get tactic recommendations across eight advertiser goals.
