Does everybody hate advertising? A Marketing Land article says yes, but a recent study by HubSpot says 68% of consumers are actually OK with it if the message is relevant to them. So why the dissonance? In this episode, we explore why consumers are paying to opt-out of advertising with new technology, and how marketers can combat this trend by transforming their advertising from something hated, to something appreciated.
In this episode, we discuss…
Advertising from Consumer Perspective (03:13 – 08:24)
- Consumers enjoy, or put up with, advertising when:
- It informs them of something they don’t know about, but need
- It provides a form of entertainment
- The message is aligned with their needs at their point in the customer journey
Advertising from Marketer Perspective (08:25 – 09:33)
- Marketers enjoy advertising because it can:
- Drive demand for their product or service
- Increase brand awareness or trust with consumer
- Make money
What Makes Advertising Hated? (09:34 – 16:42)
- The difference in how consumers and marketers perceive advertising is the heart of why advertising is so hated
- Study: The only online group hated more than advertisers are hackers/online criminals
- Study: 64% of consumers say ads today are annoying or intrusive; 68% say it’s OK if it’s relevant to them
- “Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us,” reveals that unpredictability makes something annoying. A lot of modern advertising is unpredictable.
What Marketers Should Know About Advertising (16:43 – 25:58)
- Without a relevant or compelling message, consumers will tune us out
- Paid technologies like satellite radio, YouTube, YouTube Red, Roku, Spotify, Pandora, Hulu, Amazon, Neflix, make it easy for consumers to opt-out of advertising
- Study: Average American watches up to 5 hours of TV per day — but they’re not necessarily seeing more advertisements
- Study: Print-only readership declines from 62% in 2011 to 51% in 2016
- Global use of AdBlockers has grown by 41%
- Producing advertising that serves the audience and the marketer can help people appreciate advertising again
- Example: Big Bear Mountain Resort Radio Commercial
How To Create Compelling Advertising (26:51 – 28:35)
- Provide utility that cannot be provided elsewhere
- Do not compete with the media experience your advertising is a part of (Ex: pop-ups; pre-roll)
- Become a part of the media experience (Ex: native, sponsorships)
How Iterative Marketing Can Help (28:36 – 32:35)
- Segmentation: Put your target audience into “buckets” based on their interests
- B2B: this could be industries or market segments
- B2C: this could be product categories
- Persona Targeting: This psychographic profile give us insights into how the customer perceives the world and makes decisions
- Allows us to tailor our messaging
- Data Mining: Use first-party data and build rich cookie pools to find people who match your persona profiles and align with your products and services
- Deliver Content At Right Time & Place
- Journey State Targeting
- Align advertising with where customer is in buyer journey
- Provide “bridge” content so customer can advance through buyer journey
- Channels
- Traditional media provides broad brand awareness
- Programmatic or social targets consumer where their interest lies
- Journey State Targeting
Summary (32:26 – 35:01)
- People don’t necessarily hate advertising if it’s relevant to them
- Advertising should provide utility and complement the media experience
- Preparing a segmentation strategy, using data and finding the right channels will in theory make people happier with your advertising
For more information on the charity in this episode, please visit ALS Association.
The Iterative Marketing Podcast, a production of Brilliant Metrics, ran from February 2016 to September 2017. Music by SeaStock Audio.
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