Consumers Don’t Want “Traditional” Advertising

According to a recent Forrester Research study, consumers literally “hate” advertising. They found that only 13% of consumers make purchase decisions because of advertising and only 6% believe that companies tell the truth in ads. That’s a strong condemnation of “traditional” advertising effectiveness.

Competition for consumer mind-share is increasing, but turning up the volume of advertising hasn’t worked. The signs that consumers are sick of “traditional” advertising are everywhere: The National Do Not Call List, the Can Spam Act, and DVR technology. In addition, the skyrocketing popularity of blogging, TiVo, iPods, and peer-to-peer social networks, shows that consumers are taking more control over their information-seeking experience, a phenomenon that contradicts “traditional” advertising methodology.

People don’t hate advertising; they hate excessive, intrusive, irrelevant and annoying advertising!

Contrary to popular belief, consumers don’t hate advertising. People continue to buy products through catalogs that arrive in the mail; watching super bowl ads have become an annual event; search advertising is booming because people click ads targeted to their interests; and we can all hum a dozen of our favorite TV jingles. However, to be effective, it really does need to be relevant and non-intrusive. Then, there’s no problem at all.

Local businesses must shift their approach from “push” to “pull” as consumers begin to “actively” seek out relevant information rather than “passively” waiting to see or hear traditional advertising and marketing messages. So, despite Forrester Research’s claim, people don’t hate advertising. They just hate excessive, intrusive, irrelevant and annoying advertising!