Jul/09
Consumer Trust in Advertising
Recently, Nielson released some very interesting insight regarding what types of advertising consumers trust the most.
Before I show you the numbers.. Let’s dive into the importance one might weigh on these findings.
When deploying any type of advertising, you choose the medium that you feel best suits your audience. So although these numbers give us a solid idea of how consumers as a whole trust specific mediums, let’s not forget that your only concern will be, does your audience trust the medium(s) you choose… Following me?
For example, if you’re marketing to the 25-40 demographic using online mediums, the fact that your 87-year old neighbor doesn’t trust online ads is completely irrelevant.
Okay, enough of the fluff… Here’s some numbers.
Recommendations from people known - 90%
Consumer opinions posted online - 70%
Brand websites - 70%
Editorial content (e.g. newspaper article) - 69%
Brand sponsorships - 64%
TV - 62%
Newspaper - 61%
Magazines - 59%
Billboards/Outdoor advertising - 55%
Radio - 55%
Email marketing - 54%
Ads before movies - 52%
Search engine result ads - 41%
Online video ads - 37%
Online banner ads - 33%
Text ads on mobile phones - 24%
In conclusion, although these numbers paint an excellent picture of the overall acceptance of many different types of advertising, I wouldn’t recommend going out and dumping your online banner ads for more newspaper ads… Definitely not!
Try and get a feel for what your prospects and audience want to see. That’s when you’ll truly start to benefit from you ad spending.
Feb/09
Branding… Seeing the Importance
Many business owners fail to see the importance of branding their business. This costly mistake sends their marketing efforts into a constant counter clockwise motion… And that’s not a good thing.
Here’s what I mean. An inconsistent or non-existent brand puts your marketing efforts in a continuous ‘first impression’ stage, as there is never a sense of familiarity from your prospects and customers.
Let’s dig a little deeper… Drive down a city street and notice how quick you can pick the ‘golden arches’ out from a sea of other billboards, signs and buildings. This is the perfect example. If McDonald’s used different color ‘arches’ for each location, would you have notice their upcoming location just as easily? Most definetely not.
Branding is a consistent theme comprised of a well-design logo and color scheme. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, simply unique.
Let’s try a test… Skim through the mountain of business cards you have lying around and pick one. Visit the web site located on this card. A well-branded company will continue this color scheme from their business card, throughout their website. Doing this provides you with a sense of familiarity and reassures you that you’re indeed on the website you were looking for.
Now try this with another card… Perhaps this second company doesn’t carry a branding theme. How do you feel now? A little less certain perhaps. This is not a feeling a company wants you to have when researching them.
Branding impact may seem faint or somewhat unnecessary, however thats what makes branding so powerful… It often works without many of us seeing it.
If you have any questions on branding your business, don’t hesitate to contact our team here at Primary Target. We would be happy to help where we can.