A dirty little secret in the ad world is that longer copy sells better than short, clever copy.
It's not sexy (at all), but it's true. Now, research is showing that's happening in digital venues as well.
First there was the TiVo study that found people are least likely to fast forward through "boring" direct response style ads than through fun, sexy branding ads.
And now, a new study from Adfusion shows that more than half of American consumers are likely to read and act upon online advertising articles that include brand information when compared with banners, pop-ups, email offers and more.
Now, this is according to respondents - in other words, this is what people say they prefer or would do (a very poor indicator of reality, unlike the TiVo study).
A full 51% of respondents in a national survey of 1,074 consumers say they are "very likely" or "somewhat likely" to read and act upon article-based advertising. This is especially true with Millennials and high-earners, who are even more likely to express a preference for ads that tell a story.
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.
They dynamic here appears to be that people conduct searches based on brands they read about in articles. What's unclear is whether this is PR-related or actual "paid advertisement" articles that you increasingly see on news sites like MSNBC.com. Though Marketingvox says earned media tends to pull better than the paid variety - which makes sense.
"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," ARAnet president Scott Severson tells Marketingvox.
"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."
None of this should be surprising. We'll believe an article from a third party on a topic of interest to us, and sometimes even paid articles on topics that interest us, than any overt, interruption-oriented ad.
Look for beefed up spend on these kinds of efforts as response rates for other models continue to go down.
Read more here.
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