Tracking Makes Good Marketing Sense

To make the phone ring, all you need to do is place a few ads online or in print...and then wait. Sound realistic? Not really, but some business owners think that they will instinctively “know” if their advertising/marketing is working. But the reality is, unless you are the only person who answers your company's phone, you cannot truly know what's working. Even if you instruct your staff to ask "how did you hear about us?"  - this is not 100% accurate. Are you sitting within earshot of your receptionists, making sure that they are doing their jobs?  Of course not. My point is that tracking is work, and it takes effort to find out what marketing is effective. So why track your marketing results? The short answer is: without tracking, lots of money can be lost, as you will not have a true picture of what marketing/advertsing is working and what is not.

I've spoken to countless businesss owners who swear "I advertised in X newspaper and it did nothing." It didn't matter that they are only in the office that receives the phone calls once a week, and can’t keep track of whether or not the staff is following the instructions on what questions to ask callers. My question to business owners who don't track is - why bother advertising? You're throwing your money away.

There are a few ways to track advertising and marketing campaigns:

1. Assign different phone numbers to different ads
2. Run coupons that identify the publication it ran in
3. Assign different website addresses in ads
4. Develop a surveys or questionnaire that the "first responders" ask callers or customers
5. Offer a special offers for each promotion
6. Create special codes to enter on your website for a promotion

These are just a few ways to track; the most important thing is to find ways that work for your company and service. Make sure that your tracking program is doable and easy enough to continue. Tally your results. It will make next year's marketing decisions so much easier when you know with certainty which media/marketing worked...and what didn't.