Local Digital Ad Buyer Perceptions: What They Think Is Most Effective vs. What Actually Performs

Radio Ad Buyers Believe These Tactics to Be the Most Effective

These were the top five digital tactics from the survey:

• SEM (search engine marketing)
• Social media
• Website ads
• CTV/OTT
• Email

Over half of respondents said SEM and social media were the most effective, at 61% and 56%, respectively.

These responses reflect their personal opinions and experience. The complete basis of their beliefs is unknown and could include bias. Those advertisers also may not be using all digital tactics, so their viewpoints may only cover what they know.

What Tactics Do Local Digital Ad Buyers Think Are Ineffective?

The top results from the survey are not digital. They fall under more traditional categories of print. The digital ad types that survey-takers cited as ineffective included streaming audio and mobile in-app and website ads.

Surprisingly, 21% of local advertisers dismissed streaming audio, considering how lots of data tell a different story. Westwood One has published much research on this tactic, finding it outperforms video for attention and brand recall.

These feelings about streaming audio may have to do with more misconceptions that ads have to be visual to be impactful. Whether it’s streaming audio or AM/FM radio, these ad types can convert existing demand and create it.

Local advertisers should not count this tactic out. Pairing streaming audio and radio for a campaign can deliver the best reach and custom targeting.

Performance Has Many Factors

It would be challenging to quantify the performance of tactics without context. We could take all the data available and make some conclusions, but many factors influence how effective a channel is.

To truly measure effectiveness, you’ll have to look at the overall campaign, as they rarely have a single tactic.

So, what are the keys to performance?

• Targeting: It should be neither too broad nor too narrow and should include a variety of components like demographics, location and interests.
• Budget: A budget that’s too low won’t deliver an ideal number of impressions or reach enough of the audience.
• The creative: The content of ads is often undervalued in the performance equation. If they are irrelevant or too general, it likely won’t get much attention.
• Length of time: Campaigns that are too short don’t have enough time to make an impact, which is why you should always push for it to run for more than 30 days.

If ads optimize all these factors, they have a better chance of resonating and delivering on advertiser goals.

More Thoughts on SEM and Social Media as the Most Effective Local Digital Ads

SEM and social media can be successful and usually are more so when they are part of a larger campaign. They need the right budget, strategy, targeting and goal optimization. Without them, these ad types can become very expensive and ineffective.

SEM and social media are not programmatic. They have their own categories within digital advertising. They require a more refined plan to launch with considerations for:

• Larger budgets: A healthy spend ensures campaigns run longer, leading to better performance.
• Getting all the campaign set-up right: SEM campaigns require many parts, from keyword lists to excluding negative keywords and ad copy. Social relies on lots of targeting categories and selecting a specific objective as designated by the platform.
• Organic presence: SEM and social media are more effective when the brand already has organic equity. For SEM, it would be SEO. For social, it would be an active profile on the platform.