Alert Yourself to Awareness Payoff from Ads

After reviewing findings from their studies, researchers at Stanford University and Germany’s Goethe University had a warning of importance to retailers: Even if your advertising isn’t increasing sales right now, it still might be serving you well by bringing your store into the shopper’s consideration set. Without the ads, people might not have even been thinking about your store as a place to get what they were seeking.
     Consumers are faced with an abundance of alternatives competing for their attention. To tolerate the complexity, the consumers usually begin their shopping by pruning down the list of possible sources. You could make it into that pruned set, but because your store isn’t ultimately selected, you could stay unaware of this. Do be alert to the possibility because it signals a need for you to increase consumer preferences for your store, not to give up on the advertising you’ve been using.
     To determine the extent to which your ads bring awareness without follow-through purchase, there are three alternatives, ranging from the most to least expensive:

• Contract for focus groups and professional surveys with your target audience. 
• Visit other stores that sell what you sell and talk with the shoppers there, or listen to their conversations. 
• Ask your shoppers how they learned about your store. 

     Ad group ads can get you into the consideration set without giving you the ultimate payoff of the purchase. Teaming up with other retailers to fund a media campaign can save you money and allow you to diversify marketing dollars. But researchers at New York University and University of Florida recommend caution. They point out the importance of your store's distinctive advantages being featured in the advertising.
     When it comes to retailer advertising groups in which you participate, restricting the ad messages to characteristics all members have in common might not be realistic. Instead, solve the problem by being sure funds are allocated in a way that allows for a set of advertising messages, not only a single message. Different ads can feature different distinctive advantages of the ad group members' businesses.
     The best ads pull a variety of triggers. That’s valuable because a prospective purchaser might respond to one appeal more intensely than to another. It’s also valuable because every prospect is more likely to purchase when there’s a bunch of triggers.
     Uncovering how your successful advertising is working gives you tools for improving your marketing.

Click below for more: 
Declare WAR on Customer Loyalty Measures 
Probe for Intentions in Focus Groups 
Survey Consumers Person-to-Person 
Hobnob with Your Neighborhood Retailers 
In Ad Group Ads, Feature Your Advantages 
Uncover Why Your Advertising Works