Traditional Advertising Still Has Sway Over Consumers

RESEARCH

• by Aaron Baar , December 8, 2017

In this era of fake news and general distrust, it’s good to know something can still be relied upon. Like advertising.

According to a recent survey of more than 1,000 consumers in the U.S. by business-to-business ratings and reviews firm Clutch advertisements influence 90% of consumers to make a purchase, and many are doing so after seeing or hearing an ad on TV (60%), in print (45%), online (42%) and on social media.

“Whether consumers like it or not, they’re influenced by advertising,” Kristen Herhold, content developer and marketer at Cluch, tells Marketing Daily. 

Owing to their youth, millennials (81%) are much more likely to be influenced by advertising than Baby Boomers (57%), who have generally already set their brand affinity and buying patterns. "Because millennials are more open to new products and brands, [they can] be more easily persuaded," Herhold says. 

Consumers are also more likely to trust in traditional platforms like television and print, presumably because they’ve been around longer and have more regulatory restrictions. Even millennials, who have been identified as a digital generation, still give a lot of credence  influence to traditional media like television and print (trusted by 64% of millennials) over online and social (trusted by only 51%). 

“Millennials grew up with TV,” Herhold notes. “Even the younger ones had television before social and online. It will be interesting to see with all the new technology and targets ads what the new generation [will prefer].”

Household income is also a factor when it comes to advertising trustworthiness. Eighty-three percent of consumers with household incomes over $100,000 were more likely to make a purchase as a result of an advertisement, compared with only 68% of consumers with household incomes of less than $50,000. This may be because higher-income families can afford to be less concerned with where their money goes and are more willing to take a risk on a new, untried product, Herhold says.