New research shows us there is an underleveraged media solution that can deliver against both top and bottom-of-funnel objectives. The question Vanessa Lyons is asking is: Are you harnessing it enough?
By Vanessa Lyons, executive general manager of ThinkNewsBrands
Imagine the convenience of not having to pursue brand objectives through one campaign, and sales objectives through another. What if you could have all of it, all the time. Having a total media approach that delivers top and bottom-of-funnel results simultaneously can be indispensable for enhancing marketing effectiveness.
The good news is there is an all-in-one solution you can employ to achieve these objectives: Are you leveraging the secret media sauce that is Total News?
Five years of research and three independent studies across 160 brands and $450m+ in advertising spend, show Total News isn’t just the brand building powerhouse we know it to be, it delivers hefty bottom-of-funnel results, too.
Brands investing in Total News have seen up to +14% uplift in sales, +56% increase in customer acquisition and +88% market share increases against those who have not. In addition, brands achieved +88% profit growth – an important commercial dividend that will make every marketing and finance expert sit up and take notice.
These supercharged sales results aren’t just a one-off phenomenon. Research has found brands across industries see an average 4X return ($3.90 for every $1.00 spent on news advertising), whatever the timeframe.
The significance of Total News in the media mix is increasingly obvious. However, Australian market mix modelling shows us that some organisations are currently underinvesting in Total News media spend relative to optimal levels. To achieve maximum ROI impact and reap these rewards, research and evidence supports brands spending 7.5% of their media budget on Total News.
Which means there’s a lot of impact being left on the table in current media mix allocation.
Why total news matters
The reasons Total News achieves such full-funnel pay-off is threefold. Firstly, Total News continues to deliver mass reach across all demographics with a monthly readership of 20.6 million Australians.
Notably, these include the eyeballs that matter commercially. Total News, relative to other media, is more likely to be chosen by segments that are cash rich and economically resilient. Among these cohorts reading news are the all-important ‘super NEOs’ developed by Dr Ross Honeywill and measured by Roy Morgan. These consumers are 2.5 times more likely to earn at least $250,000 per year and are three times more likely to invest and spend their money compared to other demographics.
The second reason Total News is delivering bottom-of-funnel dividends is through data-driven sophistication. Marketers are increasingly looking for audience-based engagement, and they’re relying on first-party data to achieve it. They’re expecting agencies and media partners to harness data-driven insights to attain action ready audiences in an environment that can move them through the funnel. Australia’s leading news publishers have this capability in spades.
When data insight and advertisements placed in news environments combine, there’s substantial pay-off. Research shows 74 per cent of campaigns using the right audience targeting in Total News delivered close to double sales impact, versus 40 per cent of campaigns that did not.
The third reason Total News uniquely delivers through the funnel is the ‘lean-in’ nature of consumers digesting and navigating news content. Total News consistently records longer dwell times thanks to vetted and professional content that secures attention. This makes for an environment geared to generating effective sales outcomes for brands.
In fact, ad exposure in Total News is only getting stronger against other platforms in the media mix. Heatmapping studies reveal Total News’ ad exposure as a percentage of dwell time is 55.3%, compared to 46.2% on Facebook and just 16.9% on YouTube.
Look at these unique elements through bottom-of-funnel metrics and the case for Total News as a whole-of-funnel media play is even more apparent. Total News advertising drives +23pp lifts in purchase intent and brand advocacy on average, as well as +29pp gains in word-of-mouth compared to other media channels.
To borrow the words of News Corp Australia managing director of National Sales, Lou Barrett, the latest research reaffirms Total News as an indispensable tool for brand building, as well as an incredibly reliable channel for driving sales.
“This presents an invaluable opportunity for brands to reassess their budget allocation and place a greater emphasis on Total News to achieve both their brand and sales objectives simultaneously. It’s time for brands to recognise the power of Total News and leverage it to unlock untapped commercial potential in their marketing strategies,” Barrett says.
Isn’t it about time you consider placing greater emphasis on Total News in your media mix to maximise both the brand and sales effectiveness of your campaigns?
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Top image: Vanessa Lyons