Audio: The Secret to a Sparkling Holiday Media Strategy

The holiday advertising season is oversaturated, making it tough to connect with your target audience. But if you move one thing to the top of your list, you can create a sparkling (and successful) holiday media strategy.

We won’t make you wait—that secret for success is audio. And in our latest webinar, Lauren Chesley, Head of Industry, Retail + Restaurants​; Casey Fandacone​, Manager, Sales Marketing​; and Katelyn Mueller​, Associate Creative Director, Studio Resonate​, showed advertisers exactly what to do to stand out this season.

Here’s a sneak peek of what they covered:

• Three key holiday trends you need to know—and how audio allows you to stay on top of them

• Actionable tips from industry experts on what your campaign needs to be successful

• Creative best practices to ensure your messaging stands out and sparkles

There’s snow time like the present. Check out the webinar recording now.

Don’t have time to watch the whole video? Press play on some of the key takeaways from the conversation below. 

Holiday shopping starts early

Highlight: “Advertisers should rethink their timeline. Long gone are the days of heightened messaging for Black Friday or Cyber Week through December only. And now are the days where brands get to start messaging early in Q3, where we are right now, to ground consumers on the ‘why’ behind their brand, who they are, and what consumers can expect from them when they make them the source for inspiration and the destination for shopping throughout the season. So brands can really continue to give detailed product information or specifics on services that they offer during these milestone moments—you can extend that season but have unique time frames where you're dialing up or shifting your message during that particular time frame.” - Lauren Chesley 

Holiday spending is on the rise

Highlight: “We saw that spending for the holidays was growing across all categories. A majority of people said that they either spent the same or more than the year prior in 2023, which led to almost a 4% year-over-year growth in holiday spending, according to the National Retail Federation. And no matter how much consumers shop or where they're shopping, we see that audio is still that constant companion for them as they begin to spend more… We see that nine in 10 listeners say they listen to audio while they're on that shopping journey, and over eight in 10 say that they listen while going either to or from the store where they're doing their shopping. So we know that people are spending more and that they are keeping audio in their ears to keep them in that headspace to celebrate bigger.” - Casey Fandacone

Audio is better and faster

Highlight: “So another really cool thing about audio is how nimble of a medium it is. And by that I mean it's a lot faster and cheaper to produce compared to other channels. So if you start planning for your holiday messaging now, you're going to be able to take advantage of that and make a lot more thoughtful decisions about how to customize your creative for all of these different devices and moments and that winter white space. So you can consider targeting by listener mindset their location, or their device, matching the device and environment.” - Katelyn Mueller

Harness the power of audio

Highlight: “There's just so much (opportunity) when it comes to the holidays and audio, and it's such a powerful tool for the season. And our listeners definitely agree—we see that nearly two in three say that music enhances the holiday atmosphere, and 83% say that audio reminds them of good times with loved ones. We understand that the holidays could also be stressful—people's finances are stretched more, there's heightened travel, or some people might just feel a bit more alone during the season. And audio just brings people together, keeps that spirit alive, and just simply makes people feel happy.” - Casey Fandacone

Audio sleighs the holidays 

Highlight: “So people, in sum, are trading screen time for listening time, and they're leaning more into audio because it's a source of joy and it's a respite. Many say it's good for their well-being. It improves their mood and helps them feel connected, especially when you're thinking about the voices and communities that people trust in terms of podcasting. That is absolutely an opportunity to connect to people—they feel like they're friends. They feel like they're sitting in on the conversation with them. That's community building, and that's a connection that's really meaningful. Especially when there's a lot of messages and there is a cluttered environment, those voices help break through during the holiday season.” - Lauren Chesley 

Spark joy with audio

Highlight: “Audio is inherently personal. And that really makes it a great way to tug at the emotional heartstrings. There's actually kind of a science behind it, which is really cool. With listening to music, part of why it makes us so happy is that it can release dopamine and oxytocin, which are happiness hormones. And then on the sound effects front, calming sounds of nature like birds chirping or a gentle breeze can actually lower your blood pressure. The sound of water and ocean waves and tides can influence the rhythm of our brain waves, and that can encourage relaxation. So when it comes to the holidays, it doesn't have to just be those nature sounds. Think about all of the sounds and all of the music and the holiday songs that we have at our disposal that are already really familiar and comforting to people. Those are going to be straight lines to tapping into emotions. So you definitely want to leverage that in your audio marketing.” - Katelyn Mueller 

Give the gift of audio this holiday

Highlight: “No matter what holidays consumers are shopping for or when or where they're doing it, audio has a direct influence on what they're purchasing and how they're purchasing it. And these stats just make it loud and clear that there really is a direct correlation between audio ads specifically and outperforming visual first ads”  - Casey Fandacone

It’s time to get in the holiday spirit. Download the 2024 Holiday Guide now, and if you’re ready to utilize the power of audio, let's chat.