We have a weekly shopper in our market that just released a Home & Garden section, and I have to take my hat off to them for some of the content they created with their advertisers. They used the exact formula described as "Articles that Include Brand Information" of which 51% of consumers said they were likely to respond to according to MarketingCharts "Article Based Ads Generate Most Action, Pop-ups Least Inspiring". No surprise about pop-ups, but the Article Based advertising go me thinking of how you can translate that into your community web portal or even your station website. What if your clients created a weekly or monthly column to post on your portal or website on products or services with a soft sell approach and more of a how-to or this-is-the-latest style of presentation? Think about that as we review some of the information from the article...
"Article-based advertising is preferred by 51% of respondents who are ?very likely? or ?somewhat likely? to read and act upon the material. Coveted demographic groups - such as Millennials and high-earners - are even more likely to express a preference for ads that tell a story, the survey found More than two-thirds (67%) of those between ages 18 and 24, and 56% of those making at least $75K per year say they are ?very likely? or ?somewhat likely? to read and act upon article-based advertising."
What about the other results of the study on advertising?....
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- Pop-up ads are universally the least favorable option for every audience segment, regardless of age, race, income, sex, region, size of household or presence of children in the household. An overwhelming majority (87%) of survey respondents said they are not very likely or not at all likely to read and act upon pop-up ads).
- 56% of households containing three or more people said they are very likely or somewhat likely to read and act upon articles that include brand information.
- 62% of households with 13 to 17 year-old children said they are very likely or somewhat likely to read and act upon articles that include brand information.
- 52% of college graduates said they conduct internet searches for products or services they read about in online articles either very frequently or somewhat frequently.
According to ARAnet president Scott Severson, the preference for article-based advertising is revealing in that both the youngest and the highest-income respondents prefer articles. ?A key finding for marketers is that younger audiences respond to information that reaches them in the form of articles. More than two-thirds of the respondents between ages 18 and 34 said they conduct internet searches for products or services they read about in online articles either very frequently or somewhat frequently,? Severson said. ?Our interpretation of the data is that, compared with banner ads or other options, people respond better when they can read an article, evaluate it, and then decide to click through for more information.?
Other research from Text 100, which shows that earned media articles are more effective than ads in building brand awareness for complex products, supports the idea that narrative-based material gets more attention in certain situations.