Growing companies need toconcentrate on what they do best – which, often, isn’t marketing.
Most companies want to know whattheir return on investment (ROI) was for an advertising campaign. If it wasn’tsuccessful, they will move on to another method, and it will fail until theytake a look at what the business is trying to achieve. Sure, we all want morecustomers, but what type of customers? What type of customer gives you the bestreturn on your investment?
Today, paid advertising, directmail, publicity and event sponsorships are only a few of the channels vying foryour advertising dollar. Today’s information explosion and different mediaoutlets add to the squeeze on advertising budgets.
Consider these six ways toincrease your advertising ROI:
1. Plan. Your advertising strategyneeds to incorporate your company’s mission and sales objectives. It profilesyour markets and target audiences and identifies your marketing tactics. Willyou focus on service or tire sales, or will it be a combination? Plan whatpercentage of your business should come from tire sales vs. service, then planyour advertising around those sales objectives.
2. Make a market. What new marketscan you create for your business? What new services or equipment have you addedto your business, or better yet, what products or services offer you the bestprofit? Become a specialist in that service and advertise it!
3. Snoop. Are you missingmarketing opportunities by failing to snoop on your competitors? Are you constantlylooking for new industry trends? If not, you could be missing out on new waysto improve your customer and business relations. Consider the minimal timeinvestment required to monitor your market, and read about new trends inindustry news sources.
4. Toot your own horn. Ten yearsago, who would have thought that grocery receipts, gas pumps, or the sides oftrucks would be hot advertising spaces? What traditional and non-traditionalmedia outlets can you leverage to reach your prospects? Smart use of PR andalternative marketing methods – no longer just paid advertising – maximize yourmarketing budget to build your business and market your product or service.
5. Market on the Web. How robustis your Web site and Web marketing plan? Are you e-mailing your customersservice reminders or giving them an opportunity to interact with you by e-mail?A typical auto repair and tire store only sees any given customer two to fourtimes per year, so what better way to keep your business on your customer’smind than by permission-based email?
6. Measure. Are you measuring yourmarketing programs? Can you determine the percentage increase of sales from adirect-mail campaign or the number of customers generated by a specificadvertising program? The ability to track and measure your results matters toyour bottom line and the success of your marketing efforts.
So, what’s your marketing gameplan? When you use these six strategies, you stand to maximize your return oninvestment. In my next article, I will cover ways to calculate and measure yourROI effectively.
– By Angie Nielsen, CEO, MailAmerica, Inc.
