01 Aug Are You Tracking Your Marketing?

Any advertising dollars spent are hard earned dollars, especially for small businesses. That is why it is so important to tracking the effectiveness of your marketing. The easiest and most effective way to do this is by running specials specific for each marketing campaign. For instance, if an auto repair shop wanted to run a newspaper ad, they should have a specific special price for a service that is only valid if they either mention the ad or bring in the coupon from the ad. If that same business wanted to get some mini footballs and throw them out at the local high school football game, they could print a different specific price for another service on those footballs. By doing this, you can track your sales in relation to your marketing efforts. After all, why would you want to continue paying for a marketing strategy that is not working for you? You wouldn’t, and that is why you should always track all of your marketing ventures through specific special offers, unique coupon codes, or unique discounts. It always a good idea to put an expiration date on your sales and coupon codes, so they are not redeemed years later when your pricing has inflated due to economic factors. If it’s possible, you can ask each client how they found you. This is not always feasible with large volumes of clients, but it works great for small businesses. When you do find out the best marketing options for your business, you can put more money towards those efforts and stop paying for advertising that is not bringing in money for you. If you invest a little time to setup this infrastructure, you will see your bottom line increase. When thinking of marketing options, don’t forget about the power of promotional products and the hundreds of thousands of options available.