Advertising Strategy

6. Measuring Effectiveness

Measure the effectiveness of your advertising in terms of your objectives.

If your strategic objective is to raise the profile of the company, you will probably have to carry out market research studies to find out about customers' attitudes. If your aim is to create sales, you should be able to measure response fairly easily and cheaply.

6.1 Most of your sales advertising can be monitored simply and directly.

• Always ask new enquirers how they heard about you.
• Use coded advertisements. Ask enquirers to quote the code when they respond to your ad. You will be able to trace which ad generated the response.
• Use reply coupons.You will be able to trace the source of the coupon, as well as obtaining information on the potential customer.
• Make use of the readers' reply services in trade journals.
• Use a dedicated telephone number for each campaign. Freephone numbers are a decisive factor in increasing call vloumes and can be obtained and pointed at your normal phone line for free.The call statistics will show you which advert is performing best.

6.2 Calculate the total costs of your campaign and weigh them against the response.

Your advertising will not be effective if it is not backed up with trained staff, brochures, adequate stock levels and the ability to live up to the promise of the ad.

Make sure you have allowed for all the likely costs. For example:

• The cost of buying advertising space.
• Design costs, including print preparation.
• Brochures and other literature.
• The fulfilment cost (goods, postage, delivery, employee costs and so on).

6.3 Some ads may generate many responses but convert few to sales. If your conversion ratio is poor, something is going wrong.

• Review your brochure or follow-up literature. It may not provide enough information or live up to the promises made in the ad.
• Check the employees who are handling the response. Telephone staff may not be sufficiently trained in the right areas.
• Re-examine your price structure. The price you are offering may be unsuitable for your target market.