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Natural Marketing Services, LLC - Atlanta, GA
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| To Advertise or Not to Advertise? |
- Test, Track and Evaluate
- Test an advertising channel on a short-term basis. One run is not a test. Be sure to test at a minimum of the criteria below:
- Monthly (3-4 months)
- Weekly (6 weeks)
- Daily (once a week for 6 weeks)
- Mailers (3x)
- Ad Signage (3-4 months)
- Radio/TV (ask your ad rep. for frequency and duration)
- Track the results of your test. Which means you will need to have a tracking mechanism (a coupon, offer, alternate number, drive traffic to a particular web page, etc.)
- Evaluate the results of your advertising campaign. Determine your CPA. (Cost Per Acquisition = Advertising Costs/Number of New Customers as a Result of that Advertising Effort)
- Don’t blame the good or bad only on the advertising channel. Other success factors include:
- Message – relevant to the target market, attention-grabbing heading, concise, engaging
- Creative – attractive/attention-grabbing graphics, scan-able layout, font variation for readability
- Offer/Call to Action – attractive, compelling, trackable
If you are interested in scheduling a low-cost marketing strategy session to jump-start your business, call Bernadette at 678.643.3899.
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That is the Question
Many of our clients ask if they should advertise in particular publication, sponsor an event or participate in a direct mail program. For our Virtual Marketing Department clients, we evaluate all of their advertising opportunities for them. Below is the criteria we use on their behalf, and what we suggest all of our clients use.
You may be called on by many different advertising representatives with a great pitch about how their program can grow your business. The bottom line is that no one knows what is best for your business better than YOU. Evaluate every opportunity based on your marketing plan so that you can clearly compare apples-to-apples. If you don’t have one, at least be clear about your particular target market before signing an advertising agreement.
- Request a Media Kit (in writing) It should include:
- Circulation – ask about real distribution, not “pass along” distribution (where a magazine is read over and over in a doctor’s office etc.). If they are a small publication, get verification of print quantities from their printer.
- Radio – make sure they are Arbitron rated and verify that information. If they are not Arbitron rated, then their listenership is purely speculation.
- TV – make sure they are Nielsen rated. Some small cable networks have no Nielsen rating, and their viewership is purely speculation.
- Billboards and other ad signage – their metrics are tricky. The best metric to compare is number of cars or people who pass by these channels. It doesn’t necessarily mean they are looking.
- Direct Mail/Co-Op Mail – Look at number of households mailed. Keep in mind that although Co-Op Mail is less expensive, the power of your impression becomes diluted by the factor of how many other advertisers are included in it.
- Pay attention to demographics.
- At a minimum, the advertising source should have numbers in terms of gender, age, income and geography for their readers, listeners and viewers.
- Ask for more detail about demographics and geography. If you know that your business targets families with incomes over $50k within a 5-mile radius of your location, then find out how many people will see or hear your ad with the advertising channel within that same geography. The ad rep. should be able to do some further research and at least give you an estimate.
- Compare Apples-to-Apples
- Know your cost per impression. If you wouldn’t be reaching the advertising channel’s entire target market, then divide your cost by the number of impressions within YOUR target market. One particular channel may have a larger distribution, but your business may only appeal to a small segment of it.
- When deciding between advertising venues compare the net cost per impression.
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