Summary:
Having simple systems in place to track the effectiveness of your ads and promotions is a key to improving your marketing results. This article presents hints on how to set up these systems.

Many small business owners or marketing managers who want to improve their advertising response tend to spend a great deal of time dreaming up new marketing angles or creative approaches. And that's important, because good ideas are the raw material of effective marketing.

But if you want to see your results steadily and predictably improve, good ideas alone aren't enough. You also need a framework to assess how well your ads and promotions are performing.

That's why tracking where your leads and sales are coming from is so important. You see, marketing really is a very scientific process. By tracking the results of each approach you try, you're able to continuously improve the selling results of your ads and promotions.

Tracking your marketing can be as simple as asking callers how they heard about your business, and keeping a note of the responses. Here are some other ways to track where your leads are coming from:

• Ask customers to mention an ad or clip a coupon to receive a benefit (free gift, discount etc.)
• Include an offer code or codeword in your ad or order form.
• Set up a special freedial phone number or email address.
• Online, use tracking links or software
• Ask callers to ask for a certain person, operator or department number.

When you first start measuring your advertising, you'll get a shock: Some of your ads or promotions will generate very few or no sales at all. But that's great to know, because you can stop wasting money on them, and expand on what's working.

If you find ads or promotions that aren't working, cut them immediately. An ad that doesn't sell now will never sell, despite what advertising salespeople tell you about building awareness and gaining exposure.

If you don't currently have a system for tracking where your leads are coming from, you might benefit from reading our FREE Report A Step-By-Step System for Improving Your Marketing ROI. This report goes into much more detail about how to test and track your marketing, and includes a simple spreadsheet template to keep track of your results.

It's one of the 5 "Insider Reports" that you get when you subscribe to our free "Results-Driven Marketing Secrets" Newsletter:

William Swayne is a copywriter and small business marketing consultant based in Brisbane, Australia. He can be contacted at Marketing-Results.com.au