Top tips, trends and best practices advertisers need to know!

The article features the top tips, trends and best practices advertisers need to know from our most popular 2011 research studies. Here’s another sampling of the kinds of insights you’ll get from this invaluable resource, including findings from studies like “What’s Your Story” and “Capitalizing on the Creative Canvas”:

Who are you?

• Research: Seventy-three percent of consumers found information about a brand via paid media. However, 49% of consumers said if they see the same ad over and over again, it makes them shut out the brand.

 

• Tip: Paid media is akin to a “first date.” Brands need to get consumers to notice them, look closer and generate a basic level of interest. However, brands must be wary to not turn them off by being overly aggressive.

 

• Research: In earned media, consumers have higher expectations of brands, as they stated that brands should be genuine (79%), engaging (77%) and “should understand me” (59%).

 

• Tip: Earned media is the channel for building trust, loyalty and advocacy. Consumers have greater control here, so brands must be transparent and empathetic.

 

• Research: Emotion drives brand attributes and CTR. Researchers found that buttons with higher CTRs are located near elements on the page that generate a strong emotional response, like deals or immediate results.

 

• Tip: Generic calls-to-action like “more info” or “click here” don’t create an emotional response. The button itself will not generate much emotional response. Having a strong call-to-action located near the button provides the most impact.

 

• Research: People are drawn to faces, and fixate more on ads that include faces, but ads with faces are not always the most successful. Only one of the top-five ads tested featured a person, compared to three of the bottom-performing ads that did feature a face.

 

• Tip: Faces should be closely linked to product messages or be a known product spokesperson. Reduce confusion by simplifying messages and imagery. Simple ads create stronger breakthrough and reduce confusion.

 

• Research: Conventional wisdom tells us that consumers read from left to right. However, when examining consumers’ gaze plots and heat maps for the Yahoo! Login Takeover ad, Yahoo! discovered that consumers read from right to left and middle to top.

 

• Tip: Put key information (logos, key messages, etc.) just to the left of the log-in area. Right justify important text, images and logos.

 

To get details on all of this research, check out our new Insights e-magazine, which includes downloadable charts, best practices and advice for advertisers from top 10 research studies.

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