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Marketers And Consumers Remain Far Apart On Advertising Perception

There appears to be a major gap between marketers and buyers when it comes to the perception of advertising and its effects on purchasing habits. While 83% of marketers believe that traditional advertising is the most effective means of influencing purchasing decisions, only 47% of consumers say they trust brand advertising, according to a survey from Experticity.

This same perception gap exists in social media as well. As many as 82% of marketers believe social media is “extremely or somewhat effective” in influencing buyer decisions, whereas 49% of buyers reported that they trust brand social media campaigns.

To conduct the report, titled: The 2015 Consumer Trust Survey, Experticity partnered with ReRez Research to survey 300 North American consumers and 217 North American senior marketing executives. The primary goal of the study was to gain new insight into the minds of consumers about how they make buying decisions. The research also intended to shed light on how well marketing executives are aligning with consumer outreach during the buying process.

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While consumers don’t have the highest level of trust in advertising and social marketing efforts, the majority (72%) find online reviews and opinions from family and friends either “somewhat or extremely helpful” when making a purchase. Web sites (68%), marketing materials and articles/news stories (62%) also are valued by the consumer, indicating that these buyers value either trusted sources or firsthand experience before making a purchase.

The majority of marketers (between 78% and 86%) report their company is “somewhat to extremely skilled” in every marketing tactic listed in the survey. As a whole, these statistics suggest that marketers appear to be overconfident in the approach.

In the wake of this news, the report concludes that brands need to question their marketing mix, to better align with reaching the channels consumers seek out when making these buying decisions. The report recommended retailers take three actions:

  • Map the customer’s buying journey. Who has the valued opinion?;

  • Identify everyday experts and influencers; and

  • Plan how to give them the type of information and product access that drives real impact.

Click here to gain access to results from the report.

 

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