We often hear as an Internet marketing firm that a company has tested a particular channel, such as print or PPC, and they did not get the desired result so they are no longer interested in using the channel. The reality is that there are several factors that impact the results of a campaign and a single factor can have a profound impact on the success or failure.
Let’s use print as an example. If you are running a print ad in a publication there are many elements that influence the results of the campaign. The first, and probably the most important, factor is how much you are paying for the ad. To make a typical print ad work from a direct marketing and ROI perspective, it’s not usually feasible to buy the print ad at the regular rate card price. Instead, you have to negotiate a discounted price. And if that fails, try asking for additional exposure through other channels such as display advertising, email, etc. at no additional expense.The goal is to try to reduce the overall cost per lead and sale for your campaign to make it work financially.
Negotiating the print ad at a reasonable price gives you a chance to succeed. To actually achieve your target cost per lead and sale, it’s critical to develop a complete marketing campaign that produces results and can be tracked to accurately measure the success or failure. There are two major components to your print campaign. The first is the print ad itself. Within the print ad, there are various elements that impact the result including the content, offer, and design. From a tracking perspective, you also want to ensure that you are using a unique phone number or URL to track results.
The second component that significantly impacts results is the website or landing page that you are using. To capture a lead from the traffic, it’s essential to use a compelling offer to maximize conversion. This is an example of how many factors impact a print campaign. Every other marketing channel, from PPC to SEO to social media, has it’s own set of variables that influence the result. And to get the most out of your advertising budget, it’s all about continually testing as many variables as possible to continue to improve the result. The beauty of using multiple channels that perform well on a cost per lead and sales basis is that you are maximizing traffic while mitigating risk. If you have any questions, please feel free to share them with us.