| |
| |
|
Advertising Resource Center |
|
|
|
What's the Score?
You may be aware that in a basketball game the assistant coaches keep an almost unending list of personal statistics for each player. Rebounds, assists, points, minutes played, etc. Why is that? Because they know that these individual statistics all add up to the bottom line. The final score. If they can achieve even a small incremental improvement in these individual statistics for each player this will have a compound affect on the final score. And of course, it helps them know which players to give the most playing time too. In marketing your business you should be just as disciplined. Which products and which ads and which media should you give the most playing time? Do you know? What's the point of designing and implementing an advertising campaign if you don't know if it worked or if it was better than the last one? What a waste. How do you know where the best place is to spend your advertising dollars? By tracking everything. Incoming calls, emails, walk-ins, website visitors, etc. Train yourself and your staff to always ask these questions. Where did they come from? How did they hear about you? Which ad did they call on? Here is an example: Let's say you place a classified ad in the newspaper at a cost of $135.00 offering a free report on your product. You could track the incoming calls in many ways (for instance by directing them to a free recorded message with a unique extension number or simply by asking them where they heard about the offer when they call). Let's say you receive 12 calls on this ad and 2 of them end up as completed sales. What is your cost per prospect? (Cost of Ad) / (Number of Calls) = Cost Per Prospect $135.00 / 12 = $11.25 Your cost per prospect is $11.25
(Number of Sold Clients) / (Number of Prospects) = Conversion Rate 2 / 12 = .17 (or 17%) Your conversion rate of prospects to sold clients is 17%
(Cost of Ad) / (Number of Sold Clients) = Cost Per Sale $135.00 / 2 = $67.50 Your marketing cost per sale is $67.50.
Which ad is performing better? What is your cost per prospect for this ad? (Cost of Ad) / (Number of Calls) = Cost Per Prospect $450.00 / 27 = $16.67 Your cost per prospect is $16.67
(Number of Sold Clients) / (Number of Prospects) = Conversion Rate 4 / 27 = .15 (or 15%) Your conversion rate of prospects to sold clients is 15%
(Cost of Ad ) / (Number of Sold Clients) = Cost Per Sale $450.00 / 4 = $112.50 Your marketing cost per sale is $112.50. Depending on your products and profit margin both of these ads may be performing well enough to merit continuation. However, based on this information we would want to look for other opportunities to expand our use of the classified ad first. This may seem a little basic but this information is extremely valuable and often overlooked. The outcome of most athletic contests is normally decided by a very small margin, sometimes by as little as tenths of an inch or hundredths of a second, missing that pass completion by half a step or missing one basket. One would suspect that most winners and losers in business are also determined by very small margins. Not giving that extra little bit of caring and customer service. Not having your presentation skills honed, not including testimonials with your sales information. Not having the most effective headline in your ad or not having a headline at all. And worst of all, not knowing which ads are working and which should be put on the bench. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no use being a damn fool about it." - W.C. Fields Shawn Meldrum has spent the last two decades marketing everything from almonds to landscape lighting. He currently specializes in marketing for mortgage brokers, loan officers and real estate agents. For free mortgage marketing articles and much more visit: http://www.MortgageMarketingTips.com/
MORE RESOURCES: Student debt snares parents, putting retirement at risk Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Funding your child's college education is on many parents' mind. With college tuition costs rising each year, there's reason for concern. So, before starting a savings plan, make sure to do your homework and pick the investment option that's right for your family. Mitt Romney’s statement that the “very poor” don’t concern him comes as the portion of Americans living in deep poverty is the highest in 35 years Vigorous debate on the value of state backing Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao raised the prospect of contributing to the euro-area’s bailout programs, telling Chancellor Angela Merkel that China may be prepared to assist in resolving its debt crisis. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the fifth- biggest U.S. bank by assets, gave Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein a $7 million restricted-stock bonus for 2011, a decrease from $12.6 million a year earlier. Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn said the monetary authority will cut borrowing costs once it’s confident inflation will keep slowing. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, which accused a fired Singapore trader of manipulating London interbank offered rates, had condoned such behavior and sought scapegoats in an internal probe, the former employee said. Japan Inc. is suffering and the supply chain is bearing the cost. Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Douglas Creutz, analyst at Cowen & Co., and Paul Kedrosky, author of the Infectious Greed Blog and a Bloomberg contributing editor, talk about the relationship between Zynga Inc. and Facebook Inc. They speak with Cory Johnson on Bloomberg Television's "Bloomberg West." (Source: Bloomberg) Advertising campaigns aren't only being designed for TV anymore, the Super Bowl has gone high-tech The day's top ten most important stocks include Estee Lauder, Research in Motion and Zynga Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Steen Jakobsen, chief economist at Saxo Bank A/S, discusses the outlook for Europe's sovereign debt crisis and the U.S. economy. He speaks with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's "Asia Edge." (Source: Bloomberg) The social network may be valued at $100 billion, or 100 times profit Buyout funds see profits in turning foreclosed homes into rentals |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Does Your Brochure Pass the Test - Or is It Headed for the Trash? Part One The decision on whether or not someone will read your brochure is usually decided in the first 5 seconds they look at it. What kind of message are you communicating in that five seconds? Will you make a favorable impression with your prospect? Will you move your prospect closer to the sale?There are really only two key elements that will determine how well your brochure is received by prospects. Prove It! - Give Your Marketing and Advertising More Credibility Your marketing and advertising won't be effective if your potential customers don't believe the claims you make. So how can you prove your that you can do what you say you can?Tone it down. The Inside Secrets Of Free Publicity For Your Business Product publicity is the "secret pathway" to business success everyone wants. In simple terms, product publicity is a kind of advertising that costs you nothing, yet brings in the orders for you. Advertising on a Budget -- Part 2: Thinking Small This is the second article of a three-part series. I'm illustrating the marketing challenges of a small business, PrescottWeddings. Seven Ways to Waste Your Money on Yellow Pages Advertising Each year there is a Yellow Pages arms race where competitors in each category are encouraged to out spend each other. There is only one winner in this arms race, and it is not you! Too many advertisers waste their money on Yellow Pages advertising without first considering their marketing strategy. 7 Tips for Better Ads The content of advertising is basically the sameno matter what the media. It is good and it works,or it is bad. Advertising Copy: What's Really Important? You labor long and hard trying to create the perfect advertising piece but only about 20% of your copy is going to get read. The rest will simply be scanned. Advertising Your Holistic Business The most basic answer is the same answer as to the question, how does advertising work? Advertising works through repetition, and Holistic Hometown offers you that repetition.What all successful companies know is that advertising it a process. Electronic Display Signs Electronic display signs are used nowadays in great extent to display important information instantly all over the world, which uses LED technology, which stands for light- emitting diodes. These are widely used in the worlds of commerce, government and even non-profit organizations. What Happened? Troubleshooting Poor Response from Ad Campaigns Too many small business owners today run ad campaigns that get little to no results, and they have no idea why. When you have the knowledge to troubleshoot the poor responses, you also have the knowledge to make the needed changes so that - next time - your sales improve! Let's take a look at the breakdown of an ad campaign, and how to determine what went wrong. Vinyl Banners for the Right Occasion The sinage marketplace is competitive! Consequently, some companies are going to focus on price and neglect quality. To complicate the situation, companies that produce stock vinyl banner material offer a bevy of different materials based on weights/thickness, color, reflective properties, ink absorption properties, etc. 5 Newspaper Advertising Myths Revealed What I'm about to reveal are myths that most people thinkare 'true.'They seem set in stone yet they are deadly to theadvertiser. The Power of... You certainly must know that Many Big Marketers consider COPYWRITING to be the most important skill you need to be earning online.There's a lot of good copywriting around. For All Those People Who Struggle With Benefits and Features For Everyone Who Has Ever Struggled Sorting Out Benefits From Features - "SWAT Them!"SWAT is not actually an acronym. It is a compaction of the question "so what?"You see, one of the biggest problems that even experienced copywriters and marketers fall into is being clear on what benefits their product or service actually delivers to their customers. Can I Write and Print My Own Business Brochures and Business Cards? If you have a computer and a printer, preferably one that can print in color, then you can make your own brochures and business cards that are very professional-looking! Be sure to use good quality paper (that is available at any office supplies store like Office Depot or Staples) for anything that you are going to hand out or send to potential customers and clients.Writing Text for Your Brochure and Business CardThe very best thing to do is to get a few examples of business brochures and business cards, preferably from the same type of business as the business you are starting. 11 Ways To Make Your Business Cards Work For You 1. Spend money on decent quality business cards. Classified Ads That Get Results Classified ads do not have the big market appeal that a full color display ad has, but they are still one of the most economical ways to get your business into the public eye. And, because classifieds do not demand expensive eye-catching designs or ingenious wording that you often see in direct-mail campaigns, they are a perfect marketing avenue for even new entrepreneurs. Why Hire an Advertising/Marketing Consultant? As a business owner, you have the option of taking several different approaches to handling your Marketing and Advertising. You may choose to handle the responsibility yourself, with the idea that no one understands your business quite the way you do. Is Your Yellow Pages Ad Putting Cash in Your Pocket... or Sucking Cash Out? Any idea? It's a question that more than a few Yellow Page advertisers ponder. If you are currently spending money every month to run an ad in your local directory, you don't want to wrestle with that question. Design Your Own Newspaper Ads Many people in business lay-out (design) their ownads. That old adage "If It Is To Be It Is Up ToMe" prevails.
|