Why Advertising Does Not Work On Us
I was watching TV recently and a thought came to me. When was the last time I bought something just because of a commercial on TV? I had to think about it for a bit. And my answer was … months.
Regular advertising isn’t effective anymore. For me, commercials today do one of two things: make me chuckle or annoy me. Most of the time I fast forward through them on my TiVo.
Now, think for a moment about the last really good movie or restaurant that you went to. Did you go because the TV or radio sold you on it? Was it on a billboard? Or was it suggested by someone you know?
All of us are natural marketers. Even you.
Your friends, family, and colleagues listen to you. When you tell them about a great pair of jeans, they buy. They hear you rave about your new favorite restaurant and they go. Or they listen while you give them your review of that really awful movie and decide to save their time and money. People trust your opinion.
All of us are a part of a network and we recommend things to each other all the time, often sincerely, passionately and quite naturally. There is real power in your words.
People Trust You, Not Ads
But advertisements are everywhere. The average person is exposed to thousands of advertising messages per day. We are bombarded and we have begun to tune all of it out. And if given the choice to purchase something recommended by an ad or a friend in our personal network, we’d choose the friend’s recommendation every time. We trust our relationships. And, not only do we not trust advertising, we aren’t even really paying attention to it anymore.
So what is more effective than ads? The answer is … you are. The majority of people prefer to hear about a product from a real person who’s tried it. This is called word-of-mouth marketing.
A recent study found that consumers prefer word-of-mouth marketing to Web ads, billboards or TV. Also, the study found that referrals from people’s personal networks generate more excitement about a product or service than magazines, print ads, TV commercials, billboards or radio.
