Tracking Your Marketing And Advertising Results

Q: I own a (ommitted Brandname restaurant) Franchise. I'm investigating a few different media choices. Radio, Cable-TV, Val-pak and local newspaper. I think I can afford to do two maybe three at once. I'm planning on asking everyone who comes in how they heard about us. I'll keep the ones that are working and ditch the others. Any Advice?

A:Actually, though it seems logical, asking people where they saw your ad is largely a waste of time. The goal of your advertising is to get people into your store, onto your website or into your telephone. The people who contact your business that aren't already customers, were brought in by your marketing... Paid Ads, "Word of Mouth" , signage or what have you. People tend to want to be helpful and will often times "make things up" to be helpful.

For instance I had a client that was using radio exclusively to advertise the grand opening of one of his retail locations. The radio ad we devised was full of imagery that painted a verbal picture of what his store had to offer. The day of the event we both stood at the front door and asked every single person that walked in, how they'd found out about the grand opening. We literally asked hundreds of people (this was a big retail store) approximately 15% said they'd heard it on the radio station it was advertised on 10% said they heard it on a station they weren't advertising on, 10% said they saw it in the paper (we did no print ads), 45% said they saw it on TV (WE NEVER RAN A TV AD), 20% said a friend told them about it (how'd the friend find out about it?)

Though we never ran a single TV ad, 45% of people asked said they saw it on TV. Were they just lying or trying to be helpful? Remember we painted a verbal picture for them, so in their mind they remember's "Seeing the ad"

It also leads me to another problem with that method of tracking... It doesn't take into account the "Word of Mouth" that the advertisement generates. No-one lives in a vaccum, we all have family and friends that read different papers, listen to different radio stations, live in different direct mail zones, and watch different tv shows than us that when exposed to a commercial advertisement may then tell their friend or family member who they know is in the market for what you sell about your offer. But when you ask the customer who walked in where they'd found out about it... if they're honest will say their mom told them about it.. and you'll chalk it up to "Word of Mouth" instead of crediting the advertisement that persuaded the mom.

So how do you track if your ads are working?

Easy.

In the only fact based quantitative way available. Sales. Did your sales increase over last year at the same time? Did your marketshare increase at a greater rate than your industry? Did your marketshare stay flat while others decreased? If any of these indicators hold true, then you're advertising is working. BUT, if you're using more than one medium, say you're in the yellow pages, you're in Val-pak and your on cable tv, how can you tell which of the media was working the best? YOU CAN'T! DON'T TRY. all of your media should be working together harmoniously.

I once had a client that was a Small Power Equipment (lawnmowers and such) dealer. For the past 3 years he'd been advertising in a marriage mailer. He decided to try cable tv to see if it could bring him more business than the marriage mail. After 3 months of consistant advertising he'd told me that the tv ads were working "just ok"... I asked him how his sales were, he said his sales were up considerably, that some of them had come from people who'd said they seen him on TV but his response rate from the coupons in his marriage mail was better than ever. I asked if they'd ever been that good, he said not since he'd started. I asked him if he'd changed his offer? "no?" he replied. We sat in silence for a few minutes and then I could litterally see the lightbulb turn on over his head. "Do you think The TV ads made my coupons work better?" Of course I did. Because he'd exposed people to his company in their living rooms on the TV, and some of them while thumbing through the marriage mailer had recognized the name as someone they knew. His business now had credibility... They'd already seen it and heard about it.... And in the "safety" of their living rooms. So when they saw his coupon.. they knew they could trust his company, and to trust the offer and they acted.

If you follow the basics of Saying the Right Thing, To the Right People, Enough times to cause them to take action... and have all of your media working together to not only "brand" your company but to directly increase your revenue you'll be successfull.

Best Wishes