Why Audio Advertising Works: Inside the Playbook of Growth-Minded Brands.

For performance-driven brands navigating a fragmented media landscape, audio is emerging as the high-trust, high-impact channel that delivers. Whether through host-read podcast ads or community-rooted radio campaigns, marketers are leaning into the intimacy, authenticity and scale that audio uniquely provides. That message came through during Audacy’s latest marketing webinar this week, where leaders from Aura Frames, Choice Cabinet and ROI360+ shared how audio is helping them build brands and drive measurable results.

Kait Karadimas, VP of Direct-to-Consumer for Aura Frames, said that the brand she works may be highly visual, but it is driving real business outcomes through audio. “Aura has been around for about 10 years now, and we are a connected picture frame brand,” Karadimas said. “It took me a few seconds to explain what Aura is, and I think that that is a really good example of why we need audio, and why we really need endorsers to help us sell Aura Frames.”

She said the product often requires demonstration and storytelling, and that means podcast hosts are central to the strategy.

“Having somebody really sit there and act as the salesperson on our behalf, who owns one of the frames, who’s had it for a couple of weeks, maybe their mom has one, and they really know the full value of the product. They can sell it so much better than a three-second ad on Facebook,” Karadimas said.

Aura’s team devotes significant time to evaluating podcast fits. “At any given point, something like 50% of our budget is going to testing new shows that we have never run with before,” Karadimas said. “They listen to so many past episodes of shows and try to get a feel for how engaged and authentic the host is. We’re using every single piece of data that we can find in order to make decisions about what spaces to buy.”

She pointed to a recent campaign on the Are You Garbage? comedy podcast as an example. “It’s so tailored to the audience. You can tell it’s an ad, but you can also tell that the hosts are not reading off the script,” Karadimas said. “That personal endorsement is really helpful and it’s a critical part of what we’re looking for.”

Performance is tracked through multiple methods, including post-checkout surveys. “People who love podcasts are really loyal to their hosts,” she said. “And so not only are they telling us that they first heard about us on a podcast, but they’re saying in a secondary question which show. Sometimes they’re telling us they heard about it on multiple shows.”

Aura’s broader learning from podcasting is to follow the people, not just the platform. “We’re chasing the connection that they have with their audience,” Karadimas said. “So we’re following those personal endorsements, really anywhere that we can get them.”

She also shared her biggest advice for brands entering audio. “Have patience is the number one thing. It is not going to work for you overnight. You really need to hold on and have that presence throughout the year and wait for those key times when people are coming to you.”

Radio Reinforces the Message

While podcasting is a new way to reach consumers, Gary Sarner, founder of ROI360, says broadcast radio also has enduring power for marketers. “Radio reaches people consistently, day after day,” he said. “And that’s the power of radio.”

Sarner, who works primarily in legal marketing, said his campaigns are designed with long-term brand building in mind. “Marketing campaigns are not built in weeks or months. They are built over years,” he said. “You have to build a brand first. You have to be respected.”

He also emphasized how radio’s community connection is unmatched. “Most businesses want to be involved in community. Radio stations have talent that are involved in the community. No other medium does it faster or better than radio.”

Chris Santin, VP of Sales for Choice Cabinet, shared a similar story. After ending a high-cost media agency relationship, he brought marketing in-house and leaned into radio and social media. “Within two weeks, I called Julie [his rep], and I said, crazy thing. We’ve had multiple people come into our showroom who said, ‘You guys have been here for 17 years. We never knew it. We heard you guys on the radio.’” Santin now sees showroom sales up more than 30%. “The fact that we had people coming in two weeks later — that’s how we started to know that it was working.”

Whether in podcasting or over-the-air radio, all three panelists pointed to trust, patience and knowing your audience as the foundation of effective audio campaigns. “If the talent hasn’t used the product and doesn’t love the product, it is a rip and read,” Sarner said. “If they do, all of a sudden it’s coming from the heart.”