NFIB

Key Your Ads to Find Out Which Ones Work
01/ 06/ 2003

by Jeffrey Moses

Many companies, small and large, have a number of advertising vehicles working for them simultaneously, including TV and/or radio spots, newspaper ads, direct-mail programs and so on. The response from such multidimensional marketing efforts could be favorable, yet it is likely that one or more of the advertising vehicles isn't performing as well as the others.

It's easy to determine which ads are profitable and which aren't, simply by "keying" each ad or direct-mail piece to determine how many customer responses and how much total revenue it is generating. To accomplish this, each ad should direct customers to specific, unique phone numbers or addresses, enabling all customer responses from all ads to be tracked.

To key ads it's not necessary to have completely separate phone numbers or addresses for each ad. The company may have one main phone number, but each ad could be keyed so that customers are directed to ask for a specific phone extension after calling the main number. Calls to these extensions would then be recorded so that both the total number of responses and ultimately the total revenue generated from the ad could be calculated.

Similarly, the company may have one main address or P.O. box. To key ads, different "department" numbers could be created, so that when customers write in, they would include that department number when addressing their response.

All of your Web advertising should also be keyed. Your Web server may offer a way to track all incoming traffic, providing statistics for how many responses were generated by specific site links (i.e., normal hyperlinks, banner ads or classified ads) or search engines.

By keying all ads, a company engages in what could be called scientific advertising. Using a scientific approach takes only a little extra planning and coordination, and lets a company adjust its advertising based not on subjective whim but on actual, proven results generated by each ad.

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