01/02/10 Advertising - get the most of it back to blog
Was Santa Claus good to you this Christmas ? According to the polls , not as good as last year . It’s at this time of the year that many companies look to advertising to increase sales within the difficult first quarter . In the UK online advertising expenditure grew 4.6% in the first 6 months to £1.75bn, overtaking TV at £1.6bn for the first time . Press advertising is a close third , and for many companies newspaper or magazine adverts are a more affordable and realistic medium . So before you give out those 3 numbers on the back of the card or sign that agreement , here are a few tips to press advertising success in 5 simple steps.
Define the campaign : It’s most important to consider the correct type of advertising for your company and the right people to provide it. Generally companies are approached to advertise with sales calls and agree without really considering the benefits . Firstly , make sure the provider is relevant to your business and the people who will see the advert are likely to purchase. No point in advertising a St Andrews Ice cream company in the Essex Diet society journal . Secondly , how many people will see the advert ? What is the number of publications sold or distributed and which areas are covered ? It’s always good to remember a newspaper will quickly be in the cat litter tray where a magazine or calendar may be in a dentist surgery for many months . Can they provide examples of other happy customers who have already agreed there is a good return on investment that you may contact and confirm?
Discuss : Once you think you’ve found the right advertiser , you need to find out exactly what your getting for your money . Size and positioning of the advert within the publications are important factors for visibility . The main reason people do not respond to an advert is that they just don’t see it .As we flick through our paper or magazine how many of us actually pay attention to the adverts ? Consumers have quickly learnt to ignore this information . It’s important to post in a position which holds relevance , sports shop near the sports pages and a restaurant in the entertainment section for example . Many publications use a standard generic advert , avoid this at all costs , you want to be different from the rest to draw in the readers attention . You need to be clear what exactly the advert is going to look like and always proof before publishing . Consider a special offer or a discount for readers to attract business, everyone loves a good deal .
Proceed : So you are happy with the advertiser and the advert to be published . Make sure you have the date of the publication and inform your staff when it’s “ going live” .It’s imperative that everyone is aware that there may be an increase in sales and that any discounts or special offers should be honoured . Many campaigns are pinpointed to new customers and you may only get one chance to impress them with the service or product you supply , so get it right first time .
Collect Data : It can be difficult to make this step an exact science as many factors can affect the rise in sales; the weather, the financial climate and the time of year for instance . There are a few things you can do however to assess the success of the article and the return on your investment .
You can always ask your customer “ Where did you hear about us? “ . This works well for phone or email sales , not so well if you run a restaurant or small shop , you may annoy and confuse customers “ Well I shop here every day “, “ I was just passing” .
If you have offered a discount or special offer this is an easy way to rate the success of the campaign . Track the number of sales going through the till or collect cut out tokens .
Companies with a website would probably list the address in the advert. Using many free tools like Google analytics you can graph the rise in your page views and new visitors . Be careful to assess that this is relevant to the advertisement and not any factors like customer email shots .
Track your total sales and make comparisons from previous weeks .
Once you have this information together you want to mark the percentage rise and the financial effects .
Take note of any other advertising campaigns you have running and consider how they may also affect sales or enquiries .
Review : Once you have collected the data its time to assess if the campaign has been successful and has supplied a suitable return on investment . For many however, financial gain is secondary to the increase in customer base. As we all know , sometimes you have to speculate to accumulate, especially with magazines it may be some months/years before you see the real benefits. Subliminally people do return to something they have seen before , even if they are unaware of it . So if you’ve not seen a huge rise in sales within the first week , do not be too let down if it appears the campaign has flopped , it may not have .
If the advert has been unsuccessful you need to consider why . Was it influenced by another factor like weather , was there a better offer or was it the wrong advertiser for you?
If you have seen a huge rise in sales and found success , well celebrate , you’ve got the most out of it . You have found a medium that works for you and you should replicate this success again and again . But remember , don’t take your eye of the ball , current advertising is changing rapidly , what is relevant for your company now may not be in a years time , or even tomorrow .
RB Grant Electrical Contractors , Office 17 , Myregormie Place, Kirkcaldy, Fife , KY1 3NA
RB Grant Electrical Contractors , Errinwell , Denhead , St Andrews , Fife , KY16 8PB
http://www.rbgrant.co.uk