Orange SCORE

By: Edison R. Guzman
A&E Advertising and Web Design 

You run two ads.

One ad in the local major newspaper, and the other ad in a smaller circulation, yet more targeted paper.

Which of the two ads work best?

Some will argue that the print media with the larger circulation will get the best results. Others will argue that a targeted media will get the best result.

Want to know which is best to spend your advertising dollars on?

The answer is…

I don’t know.

There really is no way of knowing unless you do one thing. One thing that will prove you right or wrong. The one thing that will always tell you where you’re throwing your money away, and where you’re making a killing on your ROI.

The one thing you must do is…track your ads.

When you track ad responses, you can tell whether your ads are working or not.

My local newspaper is the Times Herald Record and I’ve had clients advertise once per week, twice per week, and even seven times per week to learn which day of the week is the best for future advertising. On several occassions, advertising on a Sunday doubled responses compared to daily advertising. With other clients, Wednesdays and Fridays beat out all other days combined.

There is only one way to know which ad works, for which day, and which publication…that is to track your ads.

When comparing newspaper advertising with other forms of advertising, I’ve found that there are many factors to consider. I’ll touch on these factors on future postings. For now, I’ll just say this…

Don’t take the word of the publication. Simply run the best possible ad you can run (using simple formulas like the A.I.D.A. W.I.I.F.M. formula), and track the results. Don’t settle for running one ad on one day. If the publication targets your market, give it a few runs so that you can track and compare results. Once you have the data, you’ll know if you should extend the contract and how often you should advertise.

So, how do you track your ads, you ask?

There are several ways:

1) Offer different coupon codes with different ads. (Same offer, different code)
2) If not retail, offer a special report or white paper your reader can request or download from your web site.
3) Indicate a special discount offer # that must be used in order to get the discount. (Match the code to the ad and publication)
4) Advertise your web site address and track the link advertised (you can use services like AutomaticEcommerce.com for tracking)
5) Indicate the name of a person to ask for in the ad. Each person can be a different publication.
6) Indicate a phone number extension number to dial into. The extension number is assigned to each publication or ad.
7) Use different, trackable 800#s on different ads. (Match the 800# to the ad)
8) Ask the caller where they saw your ad. (This is the least effective way of tracking, but it’s better than nothing.)

Once you’ve set up any of these systems, keep track of how many inquiries you’ve received. Also track how many of those inquiries turn to revenue for your company.

If you run an ad in the local Photo News for instance, and you get more calls than The Record, you must then compare the dollar amount per transaction. Track how many customers converted, versus revenue earned per advertising dollar.

Don’t be surprised to see a higher conversion from less responses. And don’t be surprised if each conversion translates into a higher dollar amount per transaction. The Record and The Photo News attract two totally different markets. Tracking your ads will tell you which publication is best for you.

Naturally, you should also advertise in other media in order to test which is best for you. Just remember to track your responses if you’re advertising to increase revenue.

If you’re simply advertising for exposure, (branding) then that’s a whole other ball game.

On later posts, I’ll reveal the best low-cost, and free marketing strategies you can implement in order to increase revenue with no (or very little) upfront expenses.

Till next post…