One of the amazing things about the Internet and any online based marketing is that you can so easily track the return on investment. Google’s AdWords and Analytic, as well as other online software make the whole process of tracking easy, transparent and understandable.
Alternatively, print marketing can be a headache to keep track of and so many businesses don’t know where to even begin tracking when it comes to printed marketing materials. You want to make sure that you are getting a return on your investment and with advertising budgets falling, while costs rise – it’s more essential than ever. So, how do you do it?
Response
There’s no way you can track anything without setting a desired result – this allows you to measure how successful the response is and is usually call to action based. This response can be added to brochures, flyers, posters and other promotional materials and you should offer the consumer an incentive to use them – discounts, freebies etc. This increases the chance of them being used and you being able to track what’s successful and what’s not. So, let’s have a look at how you can track different materials.
In-store sales and Phone Orders
If you wish to track in-store orders and phone leads then the easiest way to do so is to allocate specific numbers to each kind of marketing material you use. This allows you to identify the success rate of each form of off-line marketing medium and the value of each to your business. You should also instruct sales and service staff to ask customers where they heard about the company or deal as this will establish how customers who didn’t get a code heard the business.
Mail or Postal
This is the simplest to track as users simply fill out the form and send it back and you can easily track the specific form itself.
On-site
If you rely on the Internet for your sales or conversions then you can track a response with a specified landing page. Users should be given a specified URL on the offline medium and a specific code that they can enter to complete the transaction. Using Google Analytics you can monitor what pages customers view, interact with, order or bounce away from the site with.
Alternatively, you can also use specific response codes that can be used on-site. These response codes should respond to an offer and should be associated with a specific form of offline marketing material. Users can then enter this information in a promo box onsite and this can then be tracked.
QR Codes
QR Codes or quick response codes can also be used. These bar code like items can be created on anything from A0 poster printing, to flyers, to billboards and work in tandem with smartphone browsers. Users simply scan the code and are then linked to a specific landing page dedicated to the offline material and offer – conversions can then be easily tracked from here on in.
Business can track their offline materials ROI to quite an accurate degree with these actions and get a better idea, which printed materials work and which don’t.
Testing Variables
When it comes to reordering, businesses can tweak each material slightly and place a different code on either variable. This allows them to track a control and variable version and then make changes with each campaign with the aim of increasing lead rates.
In time, you will be able to track, increase orders, change and discontinue the materials that suit your business and the ones that don’t.
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