Dirk Singer at London PR shop Cow has posted several recent studies on how consumers evaluate different forms of advertising. Word of mouth and online opinions carry the greatest weight as advertising with "some degree of trust," which explains why brands are racing to get into the stream of Twitter and Facebook conversations.
But what people don't like can work
However, marketers should be careful not to read too much into the hyperbole about emerging media. U.S. consumers spend 5 hours and 9 minutes a day on average in front of the television set, so TV remains a powerful ad medium for brand launches and product education. Online member communities get buzz, but use of search engines has consistently outpaced social media for the past six years. Twitter and Facebook are everywhere in the press, but ad formats inside social networks are still struggling with low response rates, and it's worth noting Facebook missed its revenue projection for 2008 -- derived mainly from advertising -- by more than 33 percent.
It's also noteworthy that advertising is judged by the economics of those who respond, not those who don't. So even if 99.9% of people fail to trust your medium, if 0.1% do -- and they become customers at an acceptable cost per sale -- then the ads have worked. After all, you once dated before you married, yet you didn't marry every potential mate in the world. Your "romance marketing" gave you just the right personal response.
We suggest advertisers view emerging media as a worthwhile investment, but only for a fraction of their media budget. The best source of data remains monitoring what works in responses, and then adjusting your mix based on your own results.
For a detailed methodology of how to monitor advertising effectiveness, visit our whitepapers here.
3 comments:
White papers....you mean free stuff? I'm there!
The thing that strikes me most from all this is that there is a difference between "what works best" (from the title of the post) and "have some degree of trust" (from the heading of the chart).
Effectiveness and trust are two different things. Yes, people will usually trust the recommendation of a friend best. But there is also an undeniable attraction to well crafted brands and motivating offers, no matter how they arrive. It's important not to confuse the intent of the data, as you say, Ben.
I also notice that certain channels (mail and guerrilla, for instance) are missing. But that's more of a passing grievance. ;)
I'm totally agree with this post the best form of adversing is that people know recommend the thing.
Post a Comment