Study: Traditional Media Drive Search

A study by Google intended to showcase the value of its Google Print offering to advertisers (written up in Marketing Charts and MarketingVox) shows that newspapers remain very much relevant to this Marketing 2.0 world. Newspapers (and other traditional media) drive online activity. Here are some of the top-level findings based on an October, 2007 survey:

• 42% reported that in the last month they had purchased at least one product they saw in the newspaper
• 44% reported that in the last month they had researched at least one product they saw in the newspaper (with some overlap between the groups)
• Overall, 56% had either purchased or researched at least one product they saw in the newspaper in the last month
• Where did that 44% of readers do their research? 67% of people who did research after seeing a newspaper ad did it online.
• Overall, nearly 30% of Internet-using newspaper readers went online to research at least one product that they saw in the newspaper (on average, they researched nine).

What medium did you use to conduct the research which resulted from seeing a newspaper ad?

Source: Clark, Martire & Bartolomeo, Inc. (n=441 US adults who perform a search with a search engine at least once a month)

These data are consistent with findings in the recent BabyCenter research I discussed, where WOM (online and off) was frequently stimulated by traditional media.

The following diagram is from slides I presented at Idearc recently, trying to convey that integrated marketing is now required in a more complex and fragmented consumer environment. Accordingly traditional media remains very relevant.

The newspaper research above and other research show that consumers are often stimulated by WOM or traditional media and then search or otherwise conduct online research to learn more. They eventually buy locally. This behavior is what everybody needs to consider and understand in their marketing efforts. And it’s why local is so important.

____

Related: Gannett is developing a single platform (One Gannett) for agencies and media buyers across media types: newspapers, digital outdoor (Captivate) and TV. Google is doing the same and a little-known company called Live Holdings (LiveAdMarket) has already gone fartherst of anyone in this “multi-platform” direction.

Advertisement