Over the last three years, NRS Media has conducted extensive research into advertiser attitudes and preferences in the USA, UK, Australia, South Africa and now Canada.

Thousands of advertisers from a wide range of businesses participated in the research and this has led to some fascinating insights on local direct advertisers, their marketing strategies how they use media. While there were various key differences across countries and cultures, the research showed a remarkable optimism and positive attitude towards advertising. A few of these insights are outlined below.

In response to the question “Would you say that sales works well for your business all the time, some of the time, at special times of the year, or not at all?”, 30% of Australian advertisers stated “all the time”, compared with 46% of US advertisers, 28% of UK advertisers, 40% of South African advertisers and 21% of Canadian advertisers.

When advertisers were asked “Do the people you currently advertise with understand your business needs all the time?”, 38% of Australian advertisers said yes, compared with 31% from the US, 38% from the UK, 43% from South Africa and 40% from Canada.

Interestingly, in response to sales approaches, “A sales representative who takes the time to learn about our business” was overwhelmingly positive, with 90% of Australian advertisers keen on this approach, alongside 86% of US advertisers, 88% of UK advertisers, 94% of South African advertisers and 94% of Canadian advertisers.

The research was conducted to develop a proprietary software modelling tool – called Profiler™ –which continues to capture data and build on these insights.