Monday, May 25, 2009

Ad-ology: Advertise Or Die

According to a new Ad-ology Research study, more than 48% of U.S. adults believe that a lack of advertising by a retail store, bank or auto dealership during a recession indicates the business must be struggling.

Conversely, a vast majority perceives businesses that continue to advertise as being competitive or committed to doing business.

Ranking low in the key findings, the word "radio," (".. TV, newspaper, direct mail, and Internet top local media from which consumers saw/heard an ad within the last 30 days that led them to take action.."

Is it that these respondents simply don't realize at the conscious level that radio's ads impact them? Or, do they want our ads and offers to be more easily searchable online and on mobile devices? I'd bet it's both of the above.

Meanwhile...

* 40% of consumers use coupons more now than a year ago
* Most consumers are as willing or more willing to pay more for ‘healthy' or ‘organic' products than they were a year ago
* A ‘deeply discounted price' was the number-one factor that would make consumers more likely to purchase a big-ticket item (+$1,000)
* Store Web sites ranked second only to search engines as the way consumers research products and shop online


I didn't like that they seem to have short-changed radio's ability to influence, but do love this conclusion of the study, as C. Lee Smith, president and CEO of Ad-ology Research, says "It is critical to advertise in the current economic climate, to maintain long-term positive consumer perception of your brand... advertising... assures consumers of a business' reliability... "

3 comments:

Bob Hamilton said...

Agreed Jaye..flawed research..radio is so much a part of our day recall is impossible...

Charlotte Lawyer said...

Agree 100% with your conclusions.

Many times radio is not recalled as the medium in which message exposure occured.

Mobile and web-based advertising can alleviate this problem with direct accountability tied back through metrics.

Ray Massie said...

Here's an idea that would take time, but might help. Put the spots online. I don't mean in the streams...I mean put the audio of every single advertiser on line in a searchable database. Listeners don't know the client sometimes...but they'll remember they heard a car spot...or a weight loss commercial, or get out of debt spot. Why aren't these online? Why do we make it so damn hard for listeners to get what they want?

Go further. Transcribe and post the copy too. Tag the spots so they can be searched at ease by a listener...like you would I tunes. Heck, use an I-tunes like interface to help listeners find the copy. We are already putting our copy into computers now...what's one more step.

Any of that work would go further in helping our audiences and our advertisers. We look to maintain a difference...a way to build value. Here's one.

One final thought on social media and radio. You only earn the right to market to a person after you've earned their trust and conviction.

For example, we used to have a program in place for our morning show endorsements. It was a Make Right policy. If a listener called to complain about anything that happened at an endorsed business, the business must make the listener happy. No ifs, ands, or buts. If they didn't, we didn't endorse them.

Sell that idea to a seller today.

Credibility.

-- radioray1025@gmail.com