One of the tactics YouTube uses to drive engagement with its ads is to occasionally replace an ad with a survey question. If you answer the question, you can skip the ad faster.
It’s a clever way of gathering some basic information. Who is behind the screen? What kinds of ads best serve that person? Are you serving them optimized campaigns?
On its face, this sounds pretty darn smart.
Except…
Multiple times recently, YouTube has served me up a survey asking “how relevant was the previous ad to you?”
A good question…but the truth was I couldn’t answer it.
Because I didn’t remember the previous ad. I wasn’t paying attention.
And that’s the rub.
Currently, PPC ad click-throughs average just five in a thousand. The average person probably sees about 100 ads in a day (and recalls very few of them). And we’ve reached a saturation point where many of us are actively avoiding advertisements. In fact, Neilson found (in 2023) that 64% of consumers were taking active measures to avoid ads on streaming services (a figure likely to extend to other types of ad avoidance).
So, how are marketers supposed to get the attention of new customers? How do we get the word out about new offerings? How do we avoid getting lost in the endless noise?
The answer isn’t necessarily in the survey questions, because by the time we ask them, the ad has already been ignored. The answer, instead, lies with advertising differently. Employing mindsets and tactics that data tells us still work.
Here are three truths to get us there.
First, a mindset: You are in this for the long haul.
Customer loyalty isn’t built in a day. Viral sensations often aren’t the first tactic someone tried. The marketing that succeeds is the marketing that builds over time, showing customers that you care about solving a problem, will treat them well if they stick around, and have staying power.
The second truth is that ads still work when they feel personal.
Personal can mean more than one thing, so let’s unpack that.
:: Neilson found that 59% of people said they’d be more likely to buy something recommended by an influencer they trust.
:: Based on that same research, 63% of people are likely to buy a product when the company provides useful information for free.
This means sharing your knowledge with customers with no strings attached. Like a cookware company that makes free cooking videos. A B2B project management software that offers a white paper on best practices for project management. A self-publishing company with clear, easy-to-find, easy-to-follow instructions for formatting a book.
And our third truth: brands thinking outside the box are still winning in the attention economy.
From Taco Bell’s retirement community concept to Snoop Dog as the Olympics spokesman, unusual and authentic marketing is still racking up its fair share of wins.
One of the keys to these successes is thinking like a journalist. What is worth a headline? What do people want to talk about (for better or worse)? What is so wacky that news outlets can’t bear not to talk about it? How can you, in other words, introduce a marketing effort that organically spreads. Not through the paid ads your customers are ignoring but through the influencers, journalists, friends, and social media channels they trust.
If you’re nodding along but need help finding your weird, viral idea, tracking down the right influencers, or helping your team get on board with new mindsets, we’d love to help. Reach out anytime.
