Consumers prefer relevant local advertising – new research

This is according to new US consumer research conducted by The Harris Poll, a global consulting and market research company, on behalf of Locality, a US-based local media solutions provider.

The results showed that 85% of respondents said that buying from businesses in their area was ‘most important’, with 30% of those surveyed saying they felt it was ‘extremely important’ to buy local. More than 7 out of 10 Americans expected their advertising messaging and content to be localised.

“As this study shows, by tailoring campaigns to local audiences and nuances, brands foster a stronger sense of community, appearing more connected to local culture and values, which helps build trust. This localised approach, informed by real-time audience data and advanced measurement tools, drives purchase consideration via delivering messages that resonate deeply and reflect unique market conditions, raising ROI and brand loyalty,” says Keith Kazerman, Locality’s president of streaming.

Localisation creates connection

Spark Media’s experience with South African consumers in local communities reflects this trend.

“We’ve seen over the years how editorials in local newspapers that are tailored to the specific communities those papers serve, create a strong sense of engagement, trust and community connection. This opens up opportunities for advertisers in these newspapers, who are then able to leverage this engagement, trust and connection by localising their messaging,” explains Chris Halstead, head of Sales Spark Media at Spark Media.

Local communities don’t just enjoy their local newspapers, they rely on them. In Q42024, local papers had an audited circulation of 4.6 million copies. That’s 4 million more copies than all the dailies and weeklies in South Africa combined.

Understanding how the readers of these newspapers think – what shapes their shopping behaviour and how they spend their money – is critical to localising messaging.

Roots, more than just research

To do this, Spark Media relies on a powerful geographical segmentation tool called Roots that independently samples local communities in South Africa.

These communities are geographically defined areas that receive a specific local community paper, delivered free to the home, bulk dropped at strategic locations, or sold in the local community.

Each local community is sampled independently to ensure a stable sample size, allowing for community-level analysis. Data is weighted at the community level, to homes and to adults 18+ years.

The latest round of Roots research showed that 75% of those surveyed had read their local newspaper at least once in the past four weeks. In addition, 86% of readers used the advertising in these papers as and when they need it.

“In other words, local papers are read by 6,936,000 shoppers in local South African communities, and these consumers are intentionally using their local paper as part of their shopping journey. The research also revealed that these shoppers are happy to engage with the advertising in their local newspaper, and don’t find it disruptive or annoying as with some other ad platforms,” adds Lynne Krog, head of Research.

South Africans intentionally use local papers

Advertising catalogues are welcomed by readers, and used to hunt for specials and discounts, to compare prices on everyday items, and to draw up their monthly and weekly shopping budgets.

Interestingly, many respondents said they took the printed catalogue from their local newspaper to the store with them when shopping.

To some extent, catalogues even determined which malls or shopping centres consumers would visit to do their shopping, with advertised discounts swaying shoppers away from their regular haunts to secure special prices and value-added offerings.

At a time when gaining human attention remains one of the most fundamental objectives for any advertiser, this relationship between local newspapers, their advertisers and local consumers is invaluable.

It’s also pretty unique. Eye-tracking research by attention technology researcher, Lumen, shows that the attention given by readers to print advertising – specifically local newspapers – is far superior than that afforded to digital advertising.

One Lumen study found that attention paid to an average ad in a local paper in South Africa was higher than Black Friday advertising in UK newspapers.

Relevance influences attention

According to Lumen, attention is influenced by a combination of factors, the most significant being context, targeting and the creative.

Halstead says advertisers and marketers spend inordinate amounts of time and money ensuring that creatives are ‘on brand’ and that the right audiences are targeted, but less often consider the context in which the advertising messages will appear.

“Lumen’s findings show that South Africans read newspaper articles more closely than UK readers do .This translates into much deeper engagement with adverts. We tested local papers containing articles that readers found locally relevant. Because of their inherent interest in the content, the ads alongside the editorials received close attention,” Krog adds.

The size of the adverts played an interesting role in netting attention: larger ad formats enjoyed higher viewing and dwell times than smaller ad formats, but smaller ads in SA local papers outperformed those in their UK counterparts.

The research revealed that readers also spent similar amounts of time reading the inserts as they did an average newspaper page.

The most powerful media mix

Local print advertising works hand-in-hand with digital advertising, with the one bolstering the other. Regular digital or engagement campaigns are strengthened significantly when combined with trusted local print media advertising.

Combined local print and digital media solutions offer brands the opportunity to:

• reach specific communities or geographical areas;
  
• focus on building brand trust and credibility;
  
• secure mass exposure on a limited budget;
  
• achieve business goals of raising awareness, driving in-store foot traffic or promoting local events;
  
• convey product or brand messaging that needs to feel personal, relevant and community-based;
  
• benefit from regional targeting and localised messaging;
  
• stand out in the cluttered digital space;
  
• create meaningful connections with real communities.

Make your campaigns work harder by adding targeted local print advertising to the mix.

With 115 local newspapers and 2.9 million copies delivered weekly, it’s easy to effectively boost your brand’s engagement, and reach the right people, in the right place, at the right time with Spark Media.

Reinforce the relevance of your message and extend your campaign’s impact with credible, high-attention local media that provides direct access to engaged, community-based audiences across South Africa.