It may not seem like it now, but advertising is still set for growth in 2023. According to The Wall Street Journal, Magna, a media intelligence and investment firm, expects, “little or no growth in the first half of the year, followed by a recovery in the second half as the economy becomes more stable.” So, if your clients are hunkering down on their ad spend for the year, they may be falling behind competitors with big plans for the second half of 2023. Don’t wait to help your client with local lead generation.

Help Your Clients with Local Lead Generation

Things Aren’t Actually that Bad

The Wall Street Journal reports that “media owners’ U.S. ad revenues are expected to grow 3.4% to $326 billion this year.” In fact, the U.S. economy was actually showing signs of improvement in the first two months of 2023. There were just a few weeks of financial turbulence recently that have been causing anxiety for brands and consumers alike. That means now is your client’s chance. While the competition is still anxiously squirreling away their ad dollars, your client can use theirs to stay top of mind with consumers.

What Media Types to Use

Don’t Rely Solely on TV Ads

When you think local lead generation, local TV spots are probably one of the first ad types that come to mind. While TV is an old reliable ad format, it probably shouldn’t be your client’s go-to ad type. According to an article by Madison and Wall, there are a few problems with TV ads nowadays:

TV penetration is poised to fall below 50% in the U.S. by the end of 2024
This decline will make satisfying reach-based media goals more costly
Viewers are switching to ad-free and ad-light TV services en masse

Now, that doesn’t mean that your client should give up on TV ads for local lead generation. However, they should consider putting their eggs in a variety of ad media baskets.

Alternate Ad Media Channels

Madison and Wall suggests that marketers put their old TV ad dollars into other video-based ads for local lead generation. YouTube, TikTok and other social networks that support (or better yet, feature) video content are great places to start. Measuring the impact your client's video ads have on these channels and comparing it to that of their local TV ads will let you and your client know if the switch is worth it.

According to data from BIA, here’s where analysts expect local market ad spend growth in 2023:

Digital: Max growth of $1.4 billion
Out of Home (OOH) Ads: Max growth of $87 million
TV OTA: Max growth of $84 million
Print and Direct Mail: Max growth of $56 million
Radio OTA: Max growth of $33 million
Cable (Linear): Max growth of $5 million

The Wall Street Journal agrees that out-of-home ads will be big in 2023. They’re expected to grow by 6% in 2023, with OOH spending reaching $9.6 billion. If The Wall Street Journal’s estimate is correct, that would put OOH ads ahead of digital ads in BIA’s lineup.

Where to Get Personalized Ad Media Information

Of course, all generalized ad data should be taken with a grain of salt. No industries, brands or target audiences are alike. So, how can your client know how to progress with their local lead generation? Simple: Look up their target audience’s profile on AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel. There, you’ll be able to see which ad media formats influenced what percentage of the audience to take action within the last year. You can also discover their opinions on different types of ad strategies and more.

Photo by Harold Wijnholds