Women Notice Contextually Relevant Online Ads from Brands

July 4, 2012

Want to get noticed online by female consumers? Contextually relevant ads are the answer according to a new study by Dynamic Logic conducted for Vibrant Media. The March 2012 study surveyed U.S. online women to learn how they think and feel about contextual online video ads.

69% of respondents indicated that they’re more likely to pay attention to ads and the brands mentioned in those ads if they’re contextually relevant to the site and page the respondent was visiting as well as the activity the respondent was doing when the ad displayed. Conversely, 70% of respondents stated that they were more likely to ignore ads that were irrelevant to the site.

Advertisers are spending most of their time trying to figure out how to track online behaviors, but traditional contextual relevance targeting shouldn’t be abandoned. First, contextual advertising has far less of a negative stigma attached to it related to privacy concerns than behavioral tracking does. Second, the important audience of female consumers, who make or influence the vast majority of purchase decisions, notice and appreciate contextually relevant messages and ads from brands.

Specific results from the study related toward respondents’ attitudes about contextually relevant online ads reveal the following:

62% of respondents believe that contextually relevant ads make them feel more favorably towards the brand.
56% of respondents believe that they have a more favorable impression of sites with relevant ads.
50% of respondents believe that contextually relevant ads make their site experiences more valuable.

Combine these results with the BlogHer and Vision Critical study in February 2012 that showed how positively women react to social media and online content when making purchase decisions, and there is no doubt that brands have a unique opportunity to connect with the female consumer audience online. What is your brand doing to seize the opportunity? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Svilen Milev

Bio
Latest Posts

Susan Gunelius

President & CEO at KeySplash Creative, Inc.

Susan Gunelius is the author of multiple marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and blogging books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, a leading blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com, a featured writer for Forbes.com, and the Guide to Blogging for About.com. Additionally, her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, FoxBusiness.com, WashingtonPost.com, TheStreet.com, SmartMoney.com, TodayShow.com, BusinessWeek.com, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Small Business, and more. She has nearly 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Susan also appears at in-person and virtual events where she speaks about marketing, branding, social media, and more (visit www.SusanGunelius.com for more information). You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.