Tracking is important no matter if you’re creating television spots, print, digital or outdoor advertisements, developing a method of tracking success is of the upmost importance. Some tools already exist that won’t cost you any extra money.
Think about using multiple URLs and targeting each URL for a specific advertising outlet. For example, you could use a unique URL for outdoor ads that direct customers to your website. Use a different URL on your print ads, another in email blasts and so on. This simple method will allow you to track the traffic your website is pulling from each different advertising medium, so that you can pinpoint which method is driving the most traffic. The goal is simple: if something works do more of it, and if it doesn’t work, retool it or consider eliminating the underperforming ads from your marketing mix.
Your website already comes with a statistical tracking software that is free to use and somewhat intuitive. Google analytics also provides some pretty in-depth analysis of web traffic as well as conversion, which we covered in an earlier article (add link to article.) Google also has a smart phone app that tracks analytics in real time to show you how your website is performing.
Under Webmaster tools offers another very nifty technology that seldom gets used. It lets you see real-time traffic on your website. As soon as someone lands on your homepage, the reporting tool tells you what pages they are visiting, how they are navigating from page to page, and how much time they are spending on the site.
This simple solution enables you to optimize your marketing investment using hard data. You can redistribute your advertising budget to focus more money on what is working well and change, modify, or eliminate the advertising methods that are underperforming. A little planning and the use of tracking will go a long way to stretch your advertising dollars and provide you quantitative results to ensure you are investing your budget for maximum results.
