Print ads continue to prompt action

Print advertisements continue to prompt action or planned action despite questioned confidence in their ability to jump start the sales process, according to Readex Research data on 1-page, 4-color ads measured from 2001-August 2008. The data shows a 30 percent increase in the number of readers who say they took or planned to take at least one action as a result of seeing an individual ad.

And despite economic concerns, the average percentage of readers that have purchased or plan to purchase a product or service based on seeing an ad has remained stable, fluctuating between 6 and 7 percent over the past 7 years. Therefore, advertisers who are reluctant to renew their ad campaigns for 2009 should be made aware of the risks. Not only will defecting advertisers miss an opportunity to remain visible throughout the year, but they'll also sacrifice their opportunity to open the door to additional sales. In fact, if one company stops providing readers with an opportunity to act upon their ads, odds are there will be a competitor prepared to take its place.

Keep in mind that advertisements aren't designed to close a sale. Instead, most advertising objectives hover around the first few phases of the sales process: attracting attention, increasing awareness, and generating interest. So, ads that prompt action are usually going above and beyond their line of duty. But the fact that over a third of people, on average, take some sort of action after reading an ad supports that print advertising remains a viable outlet for marketing messages.

Source: November 2008 Readex Research AE Memo 7, Print Ads Continue to Prompt Reader Action.