how to you track your marketing efforts? - Posted by BigV

import · January 23, 2007, 1:45pm

Posted by Mike Feeney on January 23, 2007 at 21:38:55:

I ask callers where they heard about us.It’s one of the questions on a questionaire I ask everyone.Hope it helps.God Bless,Mike

import · January 23, 2007, 1:45pm

Posted by BigV on January 23, 2007 at 14:45:08:

How do you guys track what works and what does not work when it comes to your marketing dollars?

Thanks,
BigV

import · January 25, 2007, 3:03pm

Re: how to you track your marketing efforts? - Posted by Don (VA)

Posted by Don (VA) on January 25, 2007 at 16:03:32:

Lots of ways. As Mike suggests, one of the best and simplest is to ask. Then there are more sophisticated ways to track what works better. For instance, supposed you’re testing two mailings–maybe two versions of a postcard, or a postcard versus a letter. On the callback number, Mailing A will say to ask for “Extension 101” and Mailing B will say to ask for “Extension 102.” Things like that.

Another very important point: As you say, you want to track what works. And that may not mean the pure initial response rate. Rather, it’s the number of profitable calls you get. For example, let’s say you do mailings to 1,000 out-of-town landlords on the north side of town and 1,000 out-of-town landlords on the south side of town. North side produces 30 calls and South side produces 20 calls. Superficially, North looks better–a 50% greater pull.

But…what’s the quality of the call? Suppose you get 2 deals from North side for a profit of $20,000. But you get 4 deals from South side for a profit of $50,000. Looked at that way (the way it should be looked at), you got 4 deals out of 1,000 (0.4%) from the South side, and only 2 deals out of 1,000 (0.2%) from the North side. And–your profit per deal from South side was $12,500, versus $10,000 from North side.

Bottom line: Don’t look just at raw response. Track what makes the most money for you.