Everyone running a small business at one point or another wants to know “What Works??”. I only have so much money to advertise and I want to use it in the most effective way. How do I know what works and what is a waste of valuable resources (ie MONEY)? Well, many small business owners still don’t know the answer to that question even after using several methods of advertising over a period of years. Why not? Could be a variety of reasons, but the long and short of it is….there is an easy way and we can show you how.
Simply make your methods measurable.
What, measurable? How? Easy. Most print media, radio or tv (and some internet) all utilize a problem/solution/call to action/PHONE! methodology. Its that PHONE! thingy that you can use to your advantage….and many small, medium and large businesses are using it to find what works and what doesn’t.
Screenshot of client call measurement cpanel
Here is a screen shot of one of our client’s control panels. It graphically represents how many calls and website sessions (visits to their website) the client (a Chicago HVAC installer/servicer) has had in a given period of time.
Not only does the control panel show the times the calls or web sessions occurred, it also shows the breakdown of each medium it occurred in (yellow pages, internet, newspaper, etc)
Breakdown of media type
For Quality Control Purposes…
Yeah, sure…”quality control purposes” they record the calls. No, really! It is for quality control or the call recording option can be used for other things specific to an ad campaign. I’ve seen plenty of cases where a small business owner had no idea that he/she had so many hang ups. A lost lead can be a killer in a slow economy. Businesses nead to capitalize on every lead they can get. So when I tell business owners “hey, people are hanging up when they get your answering machine. Invest in a call answering service so your potential customer gets a live person. This is imperative in servicing companys like heating and air conditioning, plumbing, roofing etc., as they’re serving clients who have an urgent need (furnace is out, plumbing leak, roof leak) and they need it fixed NOW! Having your incoming calls measurable is easy and cost effective.
Compare Ad Mediums
Once you’ve gotten call measurement numbers on all of your advertising (even flyers…printing and distribution costs add up quick), you can then measure the cost of each method of advertising verses the return on investment that each provides you. After that its merely process of elimination and continuing the quest to find an even better way to get that sometimes elusive ROI!
