Quarantined. Isolated. Secluded. These are all words that resonate after over a year of living through the COVID-19 pandemic. Business trips turned into virtual conferences, birthday parties converted into zoom meetings, and family vacations were altered to local, socially-distanced outings. The pandemic has not only affected the way we live our day-to-day lives, but has had an unprecedented effect on the future of consumption, advertising, and understanding of consumer buying behaviors. With the rise of e-commerce, digital advertising, and social media usage, businesses were able to react quickly to the immediate shift in the observation and perception of targeted advertisements. While businesses can celebrate overcoming the challenges in reaching their targeted consumers through traditional marketing methods during the pandemic, the next challenge awaits: Are advertisers prepared for the surge of audiences to re-enter the out-of-home advertising market, post-pandemic?
Following a year of uncertainty and anticipation of the “return to normal,” the summer of 2021 is predicted to bring an immense domestic travel surge. As a matter of fact, American Airlines is expecting to fly nearly 90% of its 2019 system capacity just within the summer months of 2021. Not only are airlines experiencing this surge, but road travel has increased significantly within the past few months. With the increased popularity of road trips expected throughout the course of the summer, car rentals, hotels, and convenience stores are preparing for the anticipated traffic from travelers crossing state borders. Along with the suspense surrounding travel, convenience stores have the opportunity to position themselves to reach their largest in-person audiences since before 2020. Likewise, with millions of Americans ready to explore after a year of isolation, advertisers should be prepared for the surge of in-store traffic and listening ears. Brands have the opportunity to reach a diverse market of potential consumers when propensity to spend is highest, making consumers more inclined to react to advertisements about snacks, drinks, and other travel essentials with the inevitable need to make pit stops while on the road.
Convenience store locations must prioritize the customer experience in order to become the top pick of the road trip when dozens of options line the interstate. Utilizing Audio OOH in store locations to provide upbeat music and informative messaging while consumers are browsing snacks and stretching their legs will create greater brand loyalties. This increased traffic presents a great opportunity for advertisers and brands aiming to increase brand awareness along the path to purchase. On-the-go snacks, drinks, forgotten essentials, and the convenience of a one-stop-shop will acquire the most diverse audience that is ready to impulsively purchase on the way to their destination. Both retailers and brands can benefit from Audio Out-of-Home (Audio OOH) in-store media in convenience store retail locations. Audio OOH enables retailers to increase sales while improving the customer experience when propensity to spend is highest. Vibenomics, the pioneer in Audio OOH, provides retailers with the cloud-based technology and industry expertise to enhance the in-store experience, build brand loyalty and drive higher sales. Allowing locations to control the in-store vibe through background music, live announcements, and promotional messaging, Vibenomics powers audio channels for retailers, giving brands the ability to talk to shoppers directly at the point of sale.
Take advantage of the summer travel surge, and get started with Audio OOH. Visit vibenomics.com to see how Audio OOH can benefit your business and enhance the consumer experience!
Vibenomics, a location-based Audio Out-of-Home™ (AOOH) advertising and experience company, today announces its partnership with IRI®, a global leader in innovative solutions and services for consumer, retail and media companies. Together, Vibenomics and IRI join forces to measure the direct sales impact of exposure to Audio OOH advertising while offering advertisers exclusive access to SKU-level granularity for both pre-campaign feasibility and post-campaign analysis.
Being able to understand return on investment (ROI) from Audio OOH is critical for advertisers and marketers. Without these insights, marketers and CPG brands are less likely to make informed decisions. With this partnership, IRI will scale Vibenomics’ measurement capabilities and relay insights back to media buyers in a way that is meaningful and timely, showing accurate ROI from the Audio OOH solution so advertisers and marketers feel confident in how their media dollars are being spent.
“At Vibenomics, we work very closely with retail media as we serve as a true partner. Part of that partnership means being able to prove ROI from their investments so they can guarantee they’re allocating their ad spend where it makes the most impact,” said Paul Brenner, CSO at Vibenomics. “Through our exclusive access to point-of-sale data, down to the SKU-level, from our grocery and convenience store customers, along with our partnership with IRI to analyze that data, Vibenomics has the ability to collaborate with advertisers to plan tests appropriately and analyze incremental sales lift and return-on-ad-spend (ROAS).”
Vibenomics and IRI recently performed four blind case studies that received encouraging results in the following categories: hair shampoo and conditioner, skin care, dry packaged dinner mixes and adult beverage. IRI utilized Market Lift studies to understand the impact that an Audio OOH campaign had on the sales of a new shampoo and conditioner line, skin cleansing product, dry packaged dinner mix and new adult beverage offering. After looking at the level of spend across a number of stores in a short period of time, the results showed a 34% sales lift in at least one of the categories after measuring the impact of Audio OOH.
“The Audio Out-of-Home medium stands out as it has the ability to shape the consumer experience while they are physically in the store. The product they hear about is immediately available for purchase, no surfing, no waiting,” said Jennifer Pelino, EVP Omni Channel Media at IRI. “That type of call-to-action in the exact physical location where a consumer can directly buy is an extraordinarily powerful marketing vehicle for brands to make an impact. This type of advertising to reach and connect with consumers is one of the many reasons we chose to partner with a company like Vibenomics.”
Over several years, Vibenomics has developed and deployed its proprietary technology to help retailers improve their in-store audio experience. The company recently partnered with the leading global provider of software for digital-out-of-home (DOOH), Vistar Media and presented at the 2020 IAB NewFronts digital event, where the Vibenomics Advertising Market was introduced to some of the world’s largest brands. Vibenomics also teamed up with Kroger, the No.1 pure-play grocery retailer, to improve the customer buying experience in 2,300+ Kroger stores. In September, they expanded programmatic offerings with the launch of Open Exchange and Private Marketplace (PMP) deals via Vistar Media and in October, raised Series A2 funding.
IRI is a leading provider of big data, predictive analytics and forward-looking insights that help CPG, OTC health care organizations, retailers, financial services and media companies grow their businesses. A confluence of major external events — a change in consumer buying habits, big data coming into its own, advanced analytics and personalized consumer activation — is leading to a seismic shift in drivers of success in all industries. With the largest repository of purchase, media, social, causal and loyalty data, all integrated on an on-demand, cloud-based technology platform, IRI is empowering the personalization revolution, helping to guide its more than 5,000 clients around the world in their quests to remain relentlessly relevant, capture market share, connect with consumers, collaborate with key constituents and deliver market-leading growth. For more information, visit www.iriworldwide.com.
Partnership with Vistar Media extends AOOH offering to reach in-store retailers at the point-of-purchase.
Vistar Media, the leading global provider of software for Digital-Out-of-Home (DOOH), is launching the first real-time bidding exchange for Audio-Out-of-Home™ advertising (AOOH). This offering is available via Vistar’s open exchange or through private marketplace (PMP) deals.
Earlier this year, Vistar partnered with Vibenomics, a location-based AOOH advertising and experience company, to embrace AOOH and all that it provides advertisers when reaching consumers at the point-of-purchase. Now, advertisers have the ability to purchase AOOH programmatically either as part of an audience-driven open exchange campaign or through a custom PMP.
“Vibenomics’ unique inventory is the perfect extension of strategies advertisers are already using to engage with consumers in retail environments,” said Michael Provenzano, CEO and co-founder, Vistar Media. “Enabling audio out-of-home expands the value of programmatic for marketers seeking to launch quick messaging turnaround at the point-of-sale.”
The adoption of programmatic AOOH has grown dramatically over the past year. According to a report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) U.S ad and audio spendings increased by thirty percent in the first half of 2019 to $1.2 billion. With so many advertisers eager to influence consumer choices in the short consideration window surrounding purchases, extending in-retail out-of-home to include audio provides a perfect solution thanks to today’s programmatic technology.
“Digital Out-of-Home started to take shape ten years ago and has been accelerating these past five years as better technologies, integrations and standards emerge,” said Paul Brenner, president of AOOH at Vibenomics. “Now having Audio Out-of-Home on an open exchange, we are offering the advancements that have occurred in both Digital-Out-of-Home and streaming and audio advertising.”
For more information about Vistar Media, visit www.vistarmedia.com. For more information about Vibenomics, visit www.vibenomics.com.
Vistar Media is the world’s leading end-to-end programmatic ecosystem for digital out-of-home (DOOH). Vistar Media’s demand-side platform (DSP) and supply-side platform (SSP) empower buyers and sellers to easily transact on DOOH inventory while applying intelligent data insights that improve media performance. Vistar’s SaaS solutions (unified ad server and Cortex for device and content management) deliver enterprise-grade solutions for monetizing and operating digital signage networks at any scale. Through its global reach, direct platform integrations, data partnerships, and complete technology stack, Vistar Media continues to power innovation and growth across the digital signage industry. Founded in 2012, Vistar Media is headquartered in New York City and has offices across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Vibenomics, Inc. is a location-based audio out-of-home advertising and experience company that powers custom radio stations for retailers, giving brands the ability to talk to shoppers directly at the point of sale. With its powerful cloud-based technology, licensed background music library, data integration capabilities, full-service team of audio experience experts, and network of professional voice talent available on-demand, the company provides the right revenue-enhancing vibe for over 120 advertisers in more than 6,000 locations across 49 states, reaching more than 200 million people.
Delivered through flexible plug-and-play mobile tablet devices, Vibenomics dynamically broadcasts hyper-targeted, in-stream audio advertisements and curated playlists within any combination of locations across its swiftly growing national footprint, unlocking a powerful new shopper marketing channel for reaching consumers during the critical final footsteps along the path to purchase. Through a first-of-its-kind partner program, retailers can receive a portion of revenue for all advertisements sold by Vibenomics that play within their locations, giving them the ability to monetize their private airwaves and transform a legacy expense into a new profit center.
Vibenomics, a location-based Audio Out-of-Home™ advertising and experience company, today announces a multi-year relationship with Kroger, the nation’s largest supermarket retailer. Through this relationship, Vibenomics will expand its Audio OOH Advertising Marketplace to enrich the customer experience in more than 2,300 Kroger locations and automate the audio ad buying process to current programmatic standards, allowing users to strategically target customers at the right time depending on weather, local events and more. This relationship allows Kroger to enhance their customer experience and how brands can communicate with customers at the point-of-purchase.
“Vibenomics plays an important part in our strategy to help us win with our customers, accelerate innovation in-store and drive success for the brands we carry,” said Peter Miles-Prouten, senior vice president of partnerships at 84.51°, Kroger’s data analytics subsidiary. “With 11 million households visiting Kroger daily, we’re excited to see Audio Out-of-Home from Vibenomics come to life, offering real, valuable connections with our customers, and opportunities for our CPG partners to advertise effectively.”
Beginning July 20, 2020, this specialized private audio network will broadcast inside Kroger’s owned and operated locations, targeting millions of unique monthly visitors. Vibenomics will be working in tandem with Kroger to determine which categories of advertisers, brands, or specific products make sense to promote on their airwaves while giving thoughtful consideration to the type of shopper experience they strive to deliver.
“Our associates and customers are our number one priority at Kroger, and this is a new way for us to reach them with more meaningful content,” said Cara Pratt, vice president of commercial and product strategy across Kroger’s digital and in-store media business at 84.51°. “It allows us to provide them with up to date and timely information on their favorite brands, helping to improve their shopping experience. It also allows our brand partners to reach customers at a pivotal point in the buying process – the shelf.”
In addition to the relationship with Kroger, Vibenomics has made huge strides in owning the programmatic Audio OOH space this year, reaching up to 17 percent of the shopper population within its coverage area.
“Historically, audio is not seen as a digital out-of-home medium, but we’ve revolutionized how to reach consumers directly at the point-of-sale,” said Paul Brenner, president of Audio OOH and CSO at Vibenomics. “We currently reach 200 million unique people nationwide monthly with a projection to be in over eight thousand convenience and grocery retail outlets by 2021. We’re confident that our technology will continue to align with the rapidly-evolving and unique media planning needs of the world’s most sophisticated brands and digital out-of-home buyers.”
In June, Vibenomics was a presenter at the 2020 IAB NewFronts digital event, where the Vibenomics Advertising Market was introduced to some of the world’s largest brands. The company also announced a strategic partnership in June with Vistar, the number one national wholesale distributor in numerous industry segments including retail, hospitality, office supplies, and more. In April they announced a $6M Series A funding round, led by BIP Capital.
84.51° brings together customer data, predictive analytics, and marketing strategy to drive sales growth and customer loyalty for Kroger and more than 300 consumer-packaged-goods companies in the U.S. Our programs achieve business objectives by driving awareness, trial, sales uplift, earned media impressions and, ultimately, customer loyalty. Using a sophisticated, proprietary suite of tools and technology, we turn customer data into knowledge, resulting in a more enlightened, more personal, dynamic approach to putting the customer at the center of every business decision.
Vibenomics, a location-based Audio Out-of-Home™ (AOOH) advertising and experience company, today announced its partnership with Vistar Media, the leading global provider of software for digital out-of-home (DOOH).
The partnership marks the first time that advertisers will have the ability to purchase audio-only inventory — combining licensed, background-music playlists, paid commercial spots, or brand messaging — on an OOH exchange. Now, advertisers can further impact immediate purchase decisions by reaching shoppers directly through a unique auditory experience at points-of-sale inside thousands of retail locations. In turn, participating brick-and-mortar retail businesses can increase sales, participate in a revenue share program, and enhance the customer experience.
“Vistar Media is a pioneer and leader in the programmatic OOH space,” said Brent Oakley, co-founder and CEO at Vibenomics. “Together, we are opening up access to this growing channel, while utilizing Vistar Media’s experience in building a vast exchange across some of the largest place-based venues in the world. This partnership is so unique because no other SSP could handle both the nuances of out-of-home and provide access to real demand at that level.”
Through a single integration with Vistar’s API, Vibenomics has access to Vistar’s supply-side platform (SSP), as well as Vistar’s ad server, to handle delivery and scheduling of their own ad placements and content. Vibenomics selected Vistar as their ad serving & programmatic software provider because of Vistar’s expertise in handling the nuances of location-based OOH and digital programmatic.
“Vistar chose to partner with Vibenomics and to embrace audio out-of-home because it provides our marketers with the ability to reach a consumer near the point-of-purchase in a retail environment,” said Michael Provenzano, CEO and co-founder, Vistar Media. “Our customers are already doing that with screens in retail locations, and audio-out-of-home is a perfect extension of those strategies. Our partnership with Vibenomics creates not only a new category of DOOH, but also indicates a bright future of advertising overall.”
For more information about Vibenomics, visit www.vibenomics.com. For more information about Vistar Media, visit www.vistarmedia.com.
About Vistar Media
Vistar Media is the world’s leading end-to-end programmatic ecosystem for digital out-of-home (DOOH). Vistar Media’s demand-side platform (DSP) and supply-side platform (SSP) empower buyers and sellers to easily transact on DOOH inventory while applying intelligent data insights that improve media performance. Vistar’s SaaS solutions (unified ad server and Cortex for device and content management) deliver enterprise-grade solutions for monetizing and operating digital signage networks at any scale. Through its global reach, direct platform integrations, data partnerships, and complete technology stack, Vistar Media continues to power innovation and growth across the digital signage industry. Founded in 2012, Vistar Media is headquartered in New York City and has offices across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.
About Vibenomics
Vibenomics, Inc. is a location-based Audio Out-of-Home™ advertising and experience company that powers audio channels for retailers, giving brands the ability to talk to shoppers directly at the point of sale. With its powerful cloud-based technology, licensed background music library, data integration capabilities, full-service team of audio experience experts, and network of on-demand professional voice talent, the company provides the right revenue-enhancing vibe for over 100 advertisers in more than 4,000 locations across 48 states, reaching over 150 million people.
Delivered through flexible plug-and-play mobile tablet devices, Vibenomics dynamically broadcasts hyper-targeted, in-stream audio advertisements and curated playlists within any combination of locations across its swiftly growing national footprint, unlocking a powerful new shopper marketing channel for reaching consumers during the critical final footsteps along the path to purchase. Through a first-of-its kind partner program, retailers can receive a portion of revenue for all advertisements sold by Vibenomics that play within their locations, giving them the ability to monetize their private airwaves and transform a legacy expense into a new profit center.
Vibenomics, provider of custom streaming radio stations for retailers, today announced the launch of a Convenience Store Audio Out-of-Home™ Advertising Marketplace that will generate new revenue for participating stores and help shopper marketers target customers in-store with a new form of retail media. The Marketplace launches with 4000 convenience retail locations in the U.S. across 48 states and by year’s end, will grow to more than 9000 stores.
The C-Store Audio OOH™ Ad Market provides a share of revenue to convenience stores for each campaign that runs in their locations while relieving the cost of selling and managing ads, which is handled entirely by Vibenomics, giving c-store operators the ability to generate profit and an opportunity to offset the traditional cost of business music licensing.
“What had been a cost center for providing background music feeds, can now be a new revenue stream for convenience stores, with material effect on c-store margins,” says Brent Oakley, CEO and Co-founder of Vibenomics. “Convenience store operators appreciate the unique partner program we have developed that enables them to transform the legacy music providers into a new revenue generating engine for their business, and a disruptive new marketing tool for their vendor categories.”
Martin & Bayley Inc. (DBA Huck’s), operator of 123 large-format convenience store locations across Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee, has beta tested the Vibenomics Audio Out-of-Home™ Advertising Marketplace resulting in significant sales lift and return on ad spend for its vendor category advertisers, including a 21% increase in sales for an energy drink product.
“At Huck’s, we are constantly looking to enhance the customer experience in each of our stores, while raising the bottom line,” says Jon Bunch, Director of Marketing Business Development for Huck’s. “Our category partners are excited by the new Huck’s Radio audio OOH advertising ability, and my team is pumped to be moving more product and creating a new profit center all while enhancing the in-store experience, thanks to Vibenomics.”
To better quantify the Audio OOH™ opportunity, Vibenomics leveraged location intelligence from SafeGraph alongside US census block insights to analyze visitor behavior and demographic characteristics across more than 150,000 individual points of interest in the convenience store industry. The results of this analysis are available to download as an infographic titled ‘Profile of a Convenience Store Shopper’. When compared to industry averages, the Vibenomics C-Store Audio OOH™ Ad Marketplace locations had:
The technology that powers Vibenomics enables brands to target the precise audience profile, behaviors, and locations that maximize conversions. Advertisers can choose to provide their own creative assets, or rely on Vibenomics’ full-service sonic branding studio to produce custom audio spots as a value-add, for campaigns ranging from general use national spots to highly personalized hyper-local or retailer co-branded media strategies.
“With the innovation and explosive growth happening in convenience, this retail sector has emerged as a natural fit for Vibenomics that enables our audio out-of-home advertising to reach the majority of US consumers during those critical final footsteps along the path to purchase for a diverse range of product categories,” concludes Mr. Oakley.
Vibenomics, Inc. is a location-based Audio Out-of-Home™ advertising and experience company that powers custom radio stations for retailers, giving brands the ability to talk to shoppers directly at the point of sale. With its powerful cloud-based technology, licensed background music library, data integration capabilities, full-service team of audio experience experts, and network of professional voice talent available on-demand, the company provides the right revenue-enhancing vibe for over 100 advertisers in more than 4000 locations across 48 states, reaching over 150 million people.
Delivered through flexible plug-and-play mobile tablet devices, Vibenomics dynamically broadcasts hyper-targeted, in-stream audio advertisements and curated playlists within any combination of locations across its swiftly growing national footprint, unlocking a powerful new shopper marketing channel for reaching consumers during the critical final footsteps along the path to purchase. Through a first-of-its kind partner program, retailers can receive a portion of revenue for all advertisements sold by Vibenomics that play within their locations, giving them the ability to monetize their private airwaves and transform a legacy expense into a new profit center.
Founded in 2016 in Indianapolis as Fuzic, the company rebranded to Vibenomics in 2017 and is backed by $7.6 million in investments.
Audio marketing is becoming more and more recognized for its effectiveness. If a business chooses to supplement its in-store audio strategy with digital displays, it can only serve to strengthen the business’ message, enhance customer and employee experiences, as well as help to grow business organically.
Digital signage is a great way to provide information and entertainment in a tech savvy way. Guess what else does that? You guessed it: audio. Using in-store audio can direct customers to the displays for information, interactive experiences, video clips, or even live social feeds. Digital displays can also be an excellent resource for bettering the overall customer experience, but prove to be even more effective if accompanied with informative audio messaging.
Finding the best display screens for the space and managing audio with on-demand messaging can be the one—two marketing punch a business needs. But how do all of those mediums work together? Here are 5 ways in-store audio can supplement and strengthen a digital display strategy.
How many times have customers walked right on by a digital display without even glancing at it? Even the best, most well-thought out displays can be missed by a customer too busy on their phone, wrangling a child, or talking to a friend. Use in-store audio messaging to help alert that customer, regardless of what is distracting their eyes at the moment.
It’s also important to keep in mind that not everyone reads at the same speed. If the display changes too quickly or has too much content, customers may miss it. And if they miss it the first time, it’s unlikely they’re waiting for the message to come around again. By offering the information in two ways—one on the display and one on audio—customers won’t miss the important message.
Social media is an opportunity to showcase not just products, but happy employees and customers. By sharing those types of messages, a business can spark additional engagement and gain traction on social media channels. Just as important, people like to see their name—or in this case, their handle—in lights. Tying social media, digital display, and in-store audio is a trifecta of marketing strength.
Use in-store audio to tell customers that if they tweet or post a picture, it may be featured on the digital display at the front of the store. Make it a fun contest; encourage them to take a picture of their favorite product, and share why they love it. Tying these three elements together can create unique, buzzworthy content customers and the business alike can benefit from.
Even the best employees can occasionally fall flat on a sales pitch or an upsell opportunity. Digital signage can give customers the most subtle of pushes just by directing their attention to the displayed image or text. Encouraging customers to view the image or watch to see a new way a product can be used or styled through an in-store announcement can help connect to the visual—and can be just the thing to push the sale over the edge.
Using displays to showcase photos of current or prior events to promote upcoming happenings is a great way to get customers excited. Get on the speakers with an announcement instructing event guests where they can go to put on their best model pose, and then share the photos in real-time on the store’s display. Or, use announcements to direct customers to the display for more information about upcoming events in case they want to mark down the details.
Co-marketing efforts can keep events lively. And those photos—with the proper permissions of course—can be used in the promotion of the next event.
Both digital signage and in-store audio on their own are great ways to market to customers while they are physically in a brick and mortar store. But, when used together, they can have a transformational effect on the bottom line. Finding a partner that can help to create messaging—both audio and digital—that compliments one other is key.
Interested in learning more? Request a demo of Vibenomics today and learn how you can start creating on-brand audio and displays for your in-store customers.
A beautiful website…that has no visitors. A wonderfully curated social media feed…with no one to follow it. All of the careful work put into creating the perfect digital presence, including offers, events, and information that customers can benefit from and engage with. How, though, can businesses drive in-store customers to those valuable digital sites?
This is one of the most common problems businesses encounter when venturing into the digital space. Driving engaged customers to a website or a social experience can be difficult, but there are a few key ways to overcome the challenges and get customers to flock online. One of those key channels to utilize—and coincidentally one of the easiest—is in-store announcements.
Customers are already in the store and likely have their smartphones in-hand, ready to quickly visit a website or social channel right away, or even make a note of a contest or reason to visit later on. Why not take advantage of the captive audience that is already interested in the business and the products or services it offers?
Here are a 8 sure-fire announcement ideas that can help drive website traffic, social media likes, and all manner of social engagement:
1. Encourage customers to visit the website and donate or get involved with a local charity event that the store is hosting. Charity events and fundraisers can bring out the best in staff and customers alike. Use in-store announcements to drive customers to a special landing page so they can learn more about the charity and read information about how they can participate.
2. Drive customers to the business’ Facebook page to participate in a poll about the genre of music for a chance to win a prize. Music can make or break the vibe of a business. One of the most important ways to win in this category is to match the musical tastes to primary customers. Using in-store announcements to drive interested participants to the Facebook page for a poll not only garners new Facebook likes and interactions, but also allows the business to adjust the music—and therefore the vibe—to match their customers’ preferences.
3. Announce a discount on the next purchase if customer posts a photo of their outfit or service, tagging the company. A great way to get customers to a website or social site is through encouraging participation and sharing. Allow customers to brag a little about the way they use or style a product, raise awareness with their followers, and receive a discount? It’s a win all around!
4. Offer a special prize if customers post photos of their workouts, meal plans, or shopping tips every day for a month, using a certain hashtag. For a gym, retailer, or grocery store, getting customers to keep coming back is the crux of the business. Announce a contest while they are already in-store, giving brand fanatics (or wannabes!) an extra incentive to keep sharing the love.
5. Encourage signing up for the newsletter mailing list for special offers through the year. A newsletter can be one of the best ways to reach customers where they live: their inbox. If they are aware of the special offers and information available in the newsletter, there is no reason they wouldn’t sign up right way, even while waiting in line or browsing in the aisle.
6. Drive guests to a blog for more details about an upcoming event. Blogs provide a wealth of information for many businesses without taking up valuable homepage space. Use in-store announcements to let customers know about an upcoming event while also driving traffic to the blog site for additional information.
7. Offer customers a chance to win a free trial of a product or service by commenting on social posts, using a certain hashtag. Part of the beauty of social media is learning something new about customers. Use it to garner valuable information and offer customers a free trial of a product or service in return. The business has the opportunity to learn, and the customer may just keep using the product or service once the trial period is over.
8. Encourage customers to visit the website to view a video explaining more about a new offering. Video is reigning as the leader of the digital world. More people than ever are responding to video—so use it! Drive customers to the site to view a quick video and help them learn a little something more about the products, services, and even the staff.
Using in-store audio allows for an easy and effective way to control the vibe inside the store walls. However, it’s also an excellent tool that can encourage customers to connect with the business in the digital space. From in the store to in the cyber-space, a true connection with customers is critical.
Interested in learning more? Request a demo of Vibenomics today and learn how you can start creating on-brand music and messaging for your in-store customers.
In recent posts, we’ve covered an extensive amount of information about how to use in-store audio to create the best, most desired atmosphere for a business. The amount of time, effort, strategic thought and other resources that go into determining every aspect of a store’s audio experience—from dayparting to tempo—are not insignificant.
And yet, there is one area that we haven’t yet examined. That could be because the topic isn’t nearly as fun as thinking about holiday vibes and creative in-store announcements. While many businesses use music to set the tone and to create just the right mood, are the tunes they’re using actually legal?
The short answer? It depends.
So, what do business owners need to know about licensed versus unlicensed music? And how can business owners be sure their audio selections are on the right side of copyright law? Read on to find out!
Music—including what’s played over the speakers in-store—is protected by copyright law as a way to cover the copyright owners, allowing them exclusive rights to perform or play the music. According to copyright law, if someone, such as a business owner, plays that music for anything other than personal enjoyment without explicit permission, they are infringing on the copyright. That means the copyright owner has the right to sue for damages. Yes, a business owner can be sued for playing copyright protected music in their stores, and the cost of doing so can be very high. Courts can order damage recovery to the tune (get it?) of $750 to $150,000 per violation, depending on what the courts decide is reasonable.
However, there is an opportunity for businesses to use music legally to create the desired store vibe through music licensing. Music licensing is the appropriate use of copyrighted music, and it serves as a way to ensure that the copyright owners of the music are compensated when their work is used publically. If a license to the music is purchased, that purchaser has (albeit limited) rights to use the music without fear of infringing on the copyright. While there are a few exceptions, business owners need to obtain licensed music or partner with a technology solution that has a fully-licensed library of music.
Using licensed music to set the in-store vibe is critical so as not to infringe on copyright law and risk a potentially very costly mistake.
There are several ways for businesses to legally license and play music over their in-store speakers. The first is through obtaining a license of their own by working with a Performing Rights Organization (PRO). Most music publishers and songwriters join a PRO that handles licensing their work to the public on their behalf. Examples of these organizations include the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), and SESAC. These organizations are responsible for collecting and sending royalties to the copyright owners.
However, obtaining a license from one does not mean gaining rights to all. For example, a license from ASCAP only means a business can play music from that particular organization’s copyright holders, which can become EXTREMELY complicated, not to mention risky. In order to combat this, businesses can purchase a blanket license, meaning they can play any of the music from each library. However, costs to do so can rack up quickly to the tune of at least several thousands of dollars per year.
Rather than pay that hefty price tag, businesses can instead work with a technology solution provider that has a fully-licensed library of music. Using a technology that boasts a huge licensed music set list means business owners can stay out of the licensing nuts and bolts, but remain in charge of selecting the best playlists for their business without legality worries.
Understanding how to license music is something few business owners have the time or energy to focus on. They are far too busy with bottom lines, employee satisfaction, and all the other facets that go into running a successful company.
So, rather than pay or hire a lawyer to negotiate licensing deals, why not allow a technology partner to handle the legal side and keep the music licensed? Then, all you need to do is curate the perfect playlist and press ‘play’.
Interested in learning more? Request a demo of Vibenomics today and learn how you can start creating on-brand music and messaging for your in-store customers.
Transforming a space can bring to mind images of sledge hammers and a new paint job. But it doesn’t have to be quite so HGTV. Instead of blasting out a wall or two, a business can be transformed with what is blasting out of the speakers.
How? Great question! Read on for 5 great ways in-store audio can easily transform what goes on in the business.
A business space can be made or lost by its customers. If a business is looking for ways to attract its target customer, the answer may just be found in what they have playing from the store’s speakers. Think about it. Customers walk through the mall and hear the same type of songs they played in their cars on the way there. Or they walk into an upscale wine shop and hear beautiful, classical music playing. Since the customer’s preferences come first, what does that target customer want to hear? What will keep them in the shop and encourage them to make a purchase or book a service? A sharp, edgy retail shop, for example, should make sure their playlist reflects its brand and isn’t playing dated tunes. Just incorporating that simple change can have a huge impact on the overall space.
It is critical to have the right flow of customer traffic in every type of business, from grocery stores to retail outlets to restaurants and more. The right in-store playlist can help control and manage that very thing. How? By playing songs with the most appropriate tempo and pace. When a customer or guest hear fast tempo music, their natural inclination is to move faster―the opposite being true of slower tempos, making customers want to linger a bit longer. Think about the audience, the desired traffic pattern, and when it makes sense to kick up the music or slow it down. For example, during a dinner rush at a family restaurant, keeping the up-tempo music going will keep the tables turning over at a regular pace. Later in the evening, however, the tempo can be slowed so maybe those last customers will stay for dessert.
In general, our society isn’t too fond of waiting. Whether customers are passing the time in a lobby for an appointment, a waiting room for their car repair, or even in longer lines at the checkout―it’s probably not their favorite part of your business’ experience. So, do your best to make it as enjoyable as possible! Creative and helpful announcements can keep this captive audience aware of their wait times and any upcoming events or special offers. The right music can help give customers something to tap their toes to and enjoy while they wait. Suddenly these wait times are less annoying and the overall vibe becomes much more positive.
Who spends the MOST time in a business? The staff, of course. And what (or who) has some of the greatest influence on the customer experience? Again, the staff. Then it stands to reason that business owners should want to keep their staff happy. A great way to achieve that goal is by using in-store audio. Airing a solid, curated playlist that staff will enjoy and/or an in-store announcement strategy that will keep them informed regardless of the crowds and store size, making sure the staff is happy can be the best transformation a business can undergo.
In-store audio not only helps to achieve these four above goals, but it can also be a great tool to promote new products and events, all while creating a better overall store vibe and customer experience. And how important is the vibe to the bottom line? VisionCritical estimates that, by 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the most important key brand differentiator. And what can transform a business space more than a better customer experience and a better bottom line?
If the goal is transforming the business space, one of the easiest and most impactful ways to create a new or upgraded vibe is through in-store audio. While some may say that it’s all just “noise,” that’s far from the case. In fact, it can be the tipping point to making or breaking a sale.
Interested in learning more? Request a demo of Vibenomics today and learn how you can start creating on-brand music and messaging for your in-store customers.
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