A big portion of the opportunities in local media ad sales represents companies with physical goods to sell or services to render. There’s a category that’s emerging beyond these, and it’s the experience economy. Experiences now have their own classification, and their growth falls in line with some consumer shifts of desiring memories rather than stuff.

There are also lots of ad budget dollars to promote these experiences, and they are a perfect fit for local media. Let’s look at the opportunities for you to capture this spending for linear and digital.

People Want Experiences Over Things

Experiences aren’t a new phenomenon. They’ve been part of the mix of how people spend money, but the desire for experiences over things is growing, led by millennials. A survey revealed that 78% would choose experiences over things, and 55% said they’re spending more on them.

The reason? It’s simple — they want to create memories that will stay with them forever. Millennials aren’t the only generation driving this. Collectively, all U.S. consumers are increasing their allocation here.

The pandemic put the experience economy on pause, but those restrictions are now in the past, with most people comfortable with being at live events.

Every Market Has Experiences to Sell

When you think about the experience economy, you may think it only applies to the top event cities like Las Vegas, New York City or Los Angeles. However, every market has experiences, and they don’t have to be stadiums full of people; they can be community based. The key to something “qualifying” is that it’s unique and memorable. The experience is the value to the consumer.

Beyond concerts, festivals, fairs and related events, there are also experiential attractions that offer multisensory experiences incorporating light, sound and more. Some are permanent installations, and others are for a limited time.

With your market knowledge, you can help an experience advertiser target and attract people to their events.

Radio + Digital Is the Key to Capturing Experience Economy Advertising Dollars

As a local media seller, you can offer advertisers an omnichannel campaign where linear and digital amplify each other. Radio provides unbeatable reach for every generation and demographic. Digital then offers advanced targeting to serve ads to the most relevant segments of the population.

When recommending a campaign to these customers, here are some specific digital tactics to use that radio helps lift.

  • Geofencing: You can use geofencing in several ways for experiences. If they are ongoing, you can fence the actual perimeter to drive foot traffic. If these are limited-time events, consider applying a fence around locations where ideal customers would spend time or around entertainment blocks of the city.
  • OTT/CTV: There are many options for targeting these ads, including demographics, behaviors and interests. Spending on these ad types can also “sell” the experience with exciting visuals. For OTT, the call to action (CTA) can be a direct link to tickets or information. For CTV, a QR code can do the same.
  • Display with video: Because these are events, video is critical to engaging viewers to learn more. Quick video stories can do this, and advertisers can also target granularly.
  • Social: Social is another great option. The site you suggest will depend on the key demographic. For a Gen Z crowd, TikTok and Instagram will work. Millennials are also big on Instagram. Older generations are typically more active on Facebook. Talk through this with advertisers, and go from there.

With all these tactics working together and coupled with radio, advertisers can see excellent returns on their ad spend.

Go Win More Ad Deals for Experiences

You have all the ad tactics available that experience advertisers need. It’s time to find those businesses and help them promote their events. Think big and small for this, looking at long-term attractions and one-time shows. They’ll need different strategies because of the time frames.

Get more insights on this category by reading our post on local entertainment venue advertising trends.