Business leaders are more likely to report they have seen broadband providers advertising aimed at companies like theirs than similar advertising from banks or electricity providers, research from the B2Best survey has found.
Around 37% of decision makers at Irish companies agreed that they regularly see or hear advertisements by their broadband provider aimed at businesses like theirs compared to 32% for electricity providers and 30% for banks.
Some 29% of the 336 respondents to the Business Plus survey, conducted by Amárach Research, agreed that they regularly saw adverts from their broadband provider with a further 8% saying they strongly agreed.
A quarter of respondents agreed and 7% strongly agreed that they saw regular adverts from their electricity provider, and the same proportion (15%) said they either agreed or strongly agreed that they saw regular adverts from their bank.
Broadband providers also have the most relative advertising (32%) by a slight margin over electricity providers (29%) and banks (28%).
At 29%, electricity provider advertising generated slightly more interest compared to electricity providers (27%) and banks (24%).
Some 43% of respondents disagreed when asked if their bank’s adverts made them want to find out more, significantly more than with broadband providers (36%) and electricity providers (34%).
Overall, less than three in ten were influenced by advertising to try the products or services — 28% for banks, 27% for electricity, and 27% for broadband providers — and banks, again were more likely to turn respondents off (43%) compared to broadband (37%) and electricity (33%) providers.
Vodafone (43%) and Bank of Ireland (38%) customers were significantly more likely than AIB (28%) or Eir (30%) clients to see or hear adverts from their provider, but the gap between Bord Gais (37%) and Electric Ireland (35%) customers were narrower.
Four in 10 respondents have seen advertisements aimed at businesses like theirs from telco providers and government departments, while 38% have seen IT service providers advertising.
A similar number (37%) mentioned parcel service providers, but respondents were much less likely to have seen adverts from accountancy (24%) or law (14%) firms.
A clear majority (61%) believe that advertisers could be more creative about the ways in which they sell their products or services, while two-fifths (39%) find it hard to identify with the types of businesses they see in advertising.
Just a quarter feel companies advertising to their business have a good understanding of their needs, but a third have either recommended a new product or service for their business (34%) or switched suppliers in the past (31%) because of advertising.
The survey also found that LinkedIn (47%) is the most popular source for relevant news for business leaders ahead of RTÉ.ie (38%) and other social media sites such as X (37%), while specialist online (33%) and trade publications (32%) are read by a third.
Amarách conducted theB2Best research from 1-19 February among a sample of 336 decision makers in Irish organisations using an online survey questionnaire designed in collaboration with Business Plus.
To see the full B2Best research click HERE
(Pic: Getty Images)
