Options for reaching consumers through music

Amy Winehouse, James Morrison, Neon Trees, The Penguins, Ne-Yo, The Black Keys, Nat King Cole, Boyce Avenue, and Cyndi Lauper… what do these recording artists have in common? Other than being musicians and being on a 29-year-old female’s mp3 player, not a whole lot. If an advertiser intends to reach this potential consumer through music, what are some options?

Terrestrial radio is always a solid choice. There is a mass reach and has the closest time of purchase that many other media options lack. However, one of the down sides to mass reach is that there is a limiting factor to targeting. Research can help advertisers to find stations that pull well generally for a demographic like women 18-34. But what about the women in that age bracket that don’t listen to those high-ranking stations and listen to male dominated stations instead?

Today, advertisers can look to online streaming music as a highly targetable option. With vendors like Spotify and Pandora, advertisers are able to target messaging on very specific demographic and geographic criteria. The down side to this is that while membership is growing exponentially, it’s not the audience size that radio has.

For those of you who have a Spotify or Pandora account, do you remember signing up and giving your birthday and your gender as part of the process? This information allows advertisers to only put the message in front of potential consumers. It limits the amount of spill.

So if a 42-year-old man is listening to a Justin Timberlake station, which is primarily known for a big female audience, he will not be shown the advertiser’s ad. However, if a 29-year-old woman is listening to Alice in Chains, you can reach her.

For online streaming, it’s not about the genre of music, but rather, the person. For terrestrial radio, it’s about casting a wide net and reaching a lot of people. Depending on the campaign and the goal, either of these options or even both can work.