HOW TO REACH THE UNREACHABLE: WHAT ONLINE ADVERTISEMENT FORMAT PREFERENCE INDICATES ABOUT END USERS
Open Access
- Author:
- Shively, Bradley Jon
- Area of Honors:
- Information Sciences and Technology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Dr. Jim Jansen, Thesis Supervisor
Bernard James Jansen, Thesis Supervisor
Xiaolong Zhang, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- online advertising
technical literacy
marketing - Abstract:
- Search engine marketing and targeted advertising on the Internet are growing rapidly. With this growth, online advertising providers, such as Google, have introduced demographic variables such as location, time of day, and gender to assist in targeting an appropriate audience for products online. The intent of introducing these factors is to provide advertisers with greater control over what set of Internet users views their ads. This study attempts to measure a more specific metric that directly affect a potential customer’s reaction to online advertising, namely the participants' respective levels of ‘online suaveness’, comprised of technical know-how, use of social networking Websites, and familiarity with online marketing. This research investigates these factors against the user’s preferences for particular advertisement types. The results of the study indicate that viewers with a higher level of online suaveness tend to favor sites with ads that are as unobtrusive as possible. In truth, most report that they simply do not like ads. Banner and skyscraper ads catch the eye of users that are average in skill, but the hard-to-reach demographic of tech savvy young adults show little to no interest in these marketing techniques. However, when ads were integrated into the content of a page and manifested as a recommendation or endorsement from the author of the editorial content presented, this group indicated that they were much less perturbed by the presence of ads. The majority did not even realize they were being presented with advertising content. While it may be difficult to answer the question of exactly how to reach this demographic, it is useful to know what will not work. The results of this study clearly show that just bombarding users with large, graphic-based advertisements will not cut it. Instead, online advertisers and companies hoping to succeed with revenue streams online may need to consider different approaches to advertising in the future. The establishment of relationships with consumers, taking steps to gain long-term trust, and offering a product that truly fulfills the desires of high skilled consumers may be the arduous road required to reach these audiences.