Traditional Media Drives Trust

The ever-evolving digital landscape brings a lot of excitement for marketers, but with it comes more ways to measure a campaign and, by default, new complications when trying to compare business successes of various channels. While Econometric and Media Mix Modeling studies can easily solve this issue, they are a huge investment that many clients don’t have the budget for. As a result, markers begin reverting back to obsessing over media metrics such as number of clicks and what percentage of the target audience was successfully reached. These metrics are important and serve a crucial purpose, however, just looking at these alone overlooks the opportunity of measuring behavioural and attitudinal shifts that can be strong indicators of business outcomes. There are opportunities with many media vendors to unlock added value brand studies in order to measure consumer perception including trust, preference and consideration. Even when minimums for brand studies can’t be met, it is still possible to look to various industry studies that show what channels will likely drive a shift in consumer behaviour. Utilizing this data helps inform a full-funnel approach, ensuring each channel has a role and is working together to deliver on the outcome. 

A recent YouGov study asked an 18+ audience what advertising channels they find most trustworthy and in the US (with similar results for the UK, Canada was not surveyed) traditional channels were at the top with Print, TV and Radio leading the way. At the bottom of the scale was Social Media, which is unsurprising — with all the coverage around fake news on social platforms it can be expected adults don’t even trust paid ads on the platforms. 

A  global study that broke out Canadian data on video platforms is consistent with the above data —  TV far surpasses online video and social media when it comes to building trust. This data shows how important the placement of creative is and how much that influences the consumer’s perception of it and the brand. 

This rings true even when looking at a younger audience of adults ages 18-34. While there is a decrease in TV and increase in Online Video and Social Media, TV is still seen as 3x more trustworthily. 

This research does not imply that we shouldn’t use Social Media, but it does illustrate the importance of different channels contributing to the outcome in different ways. Even a top digital company, TikTok, recently bought a huge TV and outdoor campaign in order to build their brand. It is well known that top-funnel channels such as TV, Radio and Print, help drive more efficiencies with lower-funnel conversion channels such as Search, Social and Display. It’s a simple concept — you need to prime the audience with channels that make them aware, build trust and affinity in order for them to be receptive and comfortable when they receive a lower-funnel conversion message. This means less frequency and messaging is required for lower funnel tactics in order to drive the business outcomes, whether that is a sale or sign up. Full funnel thinking not only drives short-term outcomes, but it also works to build the brand in the long term. 

The data doesn’t lie — the same Canadian study proves this theory by showing that TV and Digital together drive an ROI increase of 23%, while Digital alone would see a 19% decrease in the ROI.

At True Media, we work with data experts for Media Mix Modelling, as well as attribution and correlation analysis. We also utilize tools that optimize channel mix to business outcomes, rather than just intent.  

Remember that you can’t expect a consumer to buy your product without understanding your brand and building a relationship with it first. Ensure you are using full-funnel thinking and apply a multi-channel approach to your campaigns to drive the best outcome for your business.