The article "When and How Do I Track My Advertising?" is about marketing, it has been created by Jeffrey Hauser.
Each and every time it runs! That’s the simple answer. After all, it’s your money and your business at stake.
You should be laerning from every campaign.
Here are basic questions:(1) How many customers did you reach? (2) Why did they pick your business?(3) What was in the ad that made them call or come in?(4) What media did the hottest job?That last quesiton is the result of proper tracking. It’s like going to school. You
are given exams to test your knowledge and see if you're reday for the next level.
Without the tests, you don’t know how you're doing. Marketing must be measured
in the same fashion.
Suppose you’re running a weekly newspaper ad.
If it never
changes from week to week, which week did the hottest? So you have a small coupon
or offer that differs each week and that’s your tracking mechanism. The same
applies to any other medium,The radio ad says ask for Sally at the tag line.
When it runs in a differnet
station, they ask for Annie.
Why the big deal?
Because, how do you know which ad at
which time is doing the lion’s share of the work? Sure, you cuold survey every
customer that comes in, but who has the time and who wants to bother paying
customers?If you run a Yellow Page ad or series of ads, jot down the page number of each
and when a customer calls, ask them for that number at the end of the call. Then,
you can determine your ROI or return on invesmtent. You should be able to chart
how much each customer cost to acquire and whether the particular media is worth
the investment.Every motnh you should adjust your program to reflect the results.
Tracking
takes commitment and effort, but so does running a business.
Every campagin
should allow for a tracking device and an expectation. There is no use throwing
good money after bad.
Use the results to redesign the next promotion and learn
from your mistakes. Advertising isn’t an exact science and needs constant tweaking
and experimentation. Don’t be desperate by poor resutls. Instead, learn and move
forward realizing that your customers are your hottest feedback as to why, or why not,
they are responding to your advertising.Jeffrey Hauser was a sales consulatnt for the Bell System Yellow Pages for
nearly 25 years. He graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Advertising
and has a Master's Degree from Monmouth University. He had his own
advertising agency in Scottsdale, Arizona and ran a consulting and dseign
firm, ABC Advertising. He has atuhored 6 books and a novel, "Pursuit of the
Phoenix," available at amazon.Com. His latset book is, "Inside the Yellow
Pages." Currently, he is the Marketing Director for thenurseschoice.Com,a Health Information and Doctor Referral web site.
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