When was the last time you really watched TV – Ads and all? I actually watched it tonight – and the one thing that struck me, was the number of ads that were outdated (advertising specials that ended a couple of weeks ago). Talk about a waste of money….
So my question to you is: Do you use TV ads as part of your marketing plan? And if you do – are YOU in control of them? Do you update them regularly? Do you know when, on what channel and how often they are repeated? And most importantly: Do you track your numbers after they are played?
If you’d answer “no” to any of these questions, I’d have to wonder why you would want to pay for them? However, that would be true for any type of marketing/advertising – if you are not going to track your numbers – how do you know what works and what doesn’t work?
If you advertise – make sure you have a way of tracking it – from website statistics to hits on your blog, calls from 800 numbers etc – you have to know your numbers (Interest generated, Conversions, Orders, ROI). Where do your customers come from, what advertising works best for you, just as you need to know what doesn’t work. Why not concentrate on what works, rather than on what is wasting your marketing dollars?
Some other advertising topics…
Advertising in Blogs – by arieanna
The Fundamentals of creative Advertising – by Robert Passikoff
Advertising is Content – by Terry Heaton
Filed under: Advertising, Business Tips, Marketing, Small Business Owner | Tagged: Advertising, Small Business
http://www.tollfreenumber.org has great call tracking tools that you can use in conjunction with your toll free numbers.
http://www.tollfreenumber.org
Sabine,
This is vital information especially in the real estate muck we find ourselves in right now.
My answer for my own startup http://innerarchitect.wordpress.com is to first look to publicity. Publicity is unlike advertising in two major ways:
1. It is free
2. It is perceived as non biased and less threatening as it is not positioned as a sales tool but an informational tool.
The key to your posit on advertising is the great necessity for “tracking” results of your advertising dollars. Without some form of tracking results, a business owner has no clear answers to how effective the campaign becomes, whether to continue ads, where to place the ads (print-online-video), and how much of a marketing budget should be spent on advertising.
Nice work!
dean http://deansguide.wordpress.com
Dean,
I whole-heartedly agree. Marketing/Advertising is one of those “murky” areas – where you can spend money without end – and unless you know what’s working for you – you’ll never know if you’re spending it in the right place.
Sabine
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