Online advertising in India: Word of Mouth works better than search engine advertising!

A must read for online advertisers!

In India, 87% of those who use the Internet trust others’ advice rather than any kind of advertising, proving that word-of-mouth is the most powerful advertising tool

As per the research by Nielson:

Online advertising in India: the trust factors

• WoM (i.e. Word of mouth) is the most trusted source: 87% users believe so.
• Newspapers come second in the ‘most trusted list’, with 77 % saying so.
• Opinions expressed online : 73% trust them
• Opnions expressed on brands’ Web sites : 72%,
• TV is the least trusted: 65 %

What’s more interesting is that users are waking up to reality of hard selling (i.e. all intrusive marketing!):

The least trusted forms of advertising in India are:

• Search engine advertisements (41 per cent),
• ads that precede movie screening (41 per cent),
• online banner ads (38 per cent), and
• text ads on mobile phones (24 per cent)

“As a consumer one is exposed to advertising in various media but what touches a chord is either a very innovative message or a product, which is good value for money. Word of mouth brings with it a big “trust” factor, which is quite often missing in other forms of advertising. Indians by nature tend to believe a friend or an associate while evaluating a product”

[via Hindu]

So what are the major takeaways for online advertisers?

• Exploit one’s social network.
• Pay attention to intention economy. Plain advertising doesn’t work anymore.
• Explore recommendation engines and user rating
• And of course, target blogs who express opinions.

What do you think?

tags: online advertising in India