Great Brands That Compete On Value: Evaluate Marketing Opportunities Wisely
I’ve been following the Freeport Press blog for years, and recently I came across a post I thought fitting to share with my readers who are determining the best avenues for promotion of their businesses/organizations in the coming year.
“TV, Print Still Most Influential Advertising”
Author: David Pilcher
When your customers are making a buying decision, what factors into their choice? If they’re like most people, trust in your brand is a huge part of the deal. So how can brands build more trust, especially during this time of fake news and ad fraud? If you go by the findings of a recent survey from Clutch, you do it by advertising in traditional media like TV and print.
“TV continues to be the single most influential advertising medium for US adults, details Clutch in recent survey results,” notes [this post in] Marketing Charts (an article entitled “People Still Say Traditional Media Ads Influence Them the Most”). “Six in 10 respondents to Clutch’s survey said that TV ads influence them to make purchases, with print (45%) ads next on the list.”
“Advertising through traditional mediums is seen as the most trustworthy: 61% of consumers trust TV, [followed by] print (58%), radio/podcast (45%), and out-of-home (42%),” notes Kristen Herhold of Clutch.
“The least trustworthy advertising mediums are online (41%) and social media (38%),” Herhold continues.
This comes on top of a ton of recent research showing the power of print in the customer funnel, and the critical role trust plays in advertising.
Try as they might, digital ads face an uphill battle in the trust and acceptance area. Not all ads are created equal, and digital ads just aren’t as accepted or welcome as those in print. Think about your own experience. How much do you love the video ads or the in-line shopping spots on your social feed? Judging by the explosion of ad blocking usage, I think we know that answer.
Research aside, think about your own experience with television and print ads. Do you engage in them even a little bit more than you do the ads on your news feed? Do you pay attention a little bit longer, with a little more of your awareness? Most likely you do, and that’s why traditional media has a big edge over digital in ROI and building brand metrics.
Never before have there been so many options to consider for marketing, which makes for tough decisions given budget constraints. There’s always going to be that new, shiny thing that seems to be attracting all of the attention – innovation is the very nature of my industry, just the same as yours and all others. Despite the fact that there’s plenty of data to support the claims that traditional media remains relevant and impactful, we too have capitalized on new opportunities for growth, thus diversifying and evolving with the times. For instance, many traditional media companies such as TV, print, and radio also have a strong online presence and have been quite smart at leveraging their websites, social media, etc. for further reach. You might be surprised how much you stand to benefit from their offerings aside from the obvious. In the case of Strictly Business, since our clients’ editorial is not only published in the print magazine but also posted on our website and shared on our Facebook page, we’re seeing incredible results with our search engine results page (SERP) rankings. Our Lincoln website alone delivered over 5.4 million Google search impressions for our clients in 2017. If you’re looking to build your online credibility, it doesn’t get much better.
Sure, it’s exciting to try something new in hopes that it delivers results far surpassing what you’ve experienced with your past efforts. And it might just do that. Yet, when modifying your marketing strategy, foregoing consistency in other areas would be much to your detriment. The proverb “don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” meaning don’t risk everything on the success of one venture, aptly applies to many things in business, including marketing. Your strategy must be multi-faceted in order to be effective. Instead of going all in on one form of advertising, especially something relatively new, spread your bets and moderate the odds. Take calculated risks that allow you to explore a different approach while still allocating resources to methods with proven outcomes. After all, they have stood the test of time while others have come and gone, something that doesn’t just happen by chance in a highly competitive environment.
To learn more about how Strictly Business can help you, contact me directly at (402) 466-3330 or visit strictly-business.com/connect. (You can also click on our Staff Letter tab online to view past articles)