Archive for November, 2008

tracking advertising

Friday, November 28th, 2008

A few days ago, I was reminded of the importance of tracking advertising through a story a friend told me.

The story: a company spent $60,000 or so on an advertising campaign, but didn’t implement any means of tracking the results of the ad. Meaning they have spent $60,000 and have no idea if it raised their brand awareness or brought in customers and revenue (I’m not sure which was the aim of their campaign.) So when the radio stations come back and ask if the company wants to repeat the ad, who knows if they should say yes or no…

The moral: tracking advertising is important for a number of reasons:

  • makes it easy to decide on a repeat of the campaign
  • helps you better understand your demographic (e.g. they may listen to the radio but not respond to the type of ad you ran)
  • assess the ROI (return on investment) and value of the campaign – $60,000 is nothing if it results in $500,000 of sales, but it is a ridiculous amount of money if it results in $100 profit
  • tracking and comparing different ads allows you to decide the most effective advertising for your business (e.g. radio vs TV vs major newspapers vs local advertising) PLUS you can tweak the actual ad to find the best presentation, too

Even if your budget is nowhere near $60,000, tracking of advertising is a worthwhile exercise.

Don’t assume that free ads aren’t worth tracking, either. Why?

  • the results from a free ad can be a useful comparison with paid advertising
  • free ads can be a great place to test different wording and formats for your ad before you pay for its placement (assuming a very similar audience of course)
  • if the ad is free in monetary terms but costs a lot of time, tracking will help you determine if you are getting enough reward for your time
  • a free ad may be attracting the wrong people – people who don’t become customers and use up your valuable time. If you know many false leads are coming from a certain ad, stop that ad even if it is free!

Have you used tracking with your advertising? Did you find it a useful activity, even if tedious and time consuming?

 

P.S. You can read more about the basics of tracking your advertising or assessing the results of tracking in my articles.

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Rewards and acknowledgements

Monday, November 24th, 2008

I spoke at a workshop this morning on goal setting – we worked on SMARTY Goals, business values and setting challenges.

As part of setting goals and milestones, it is important to notice the work you have done and the progress made even if you haven’t fully reached the original goal (as Melissa, wrote in her blog, aim for the moon as you’ll at least reach the stars.) Having small rewards for yourself is one way to acknowledge what you have done, which makes it easier for you to move on and do the next step, and the next, and the next…

Rewards can be anything that you gain pleasure from (booking a massage, eating a doughnut, taking time to read a book, buying a book or magazine, seeing a movie, taking your family on a picnic, sitting in a spa, and so on.) You can keep the reward to yourself, too, so don’t worry about what anyone else would think of the reward.

My guidelines for rewards are:

  1. make it a reward for you, not your family or coach or whoever
  2. make the reward match the goal in size – a doughnut for a year’s worth of hard work is not much reward, but a two week beach holiday is probably a bit over zealous to reward sending out one newsletter!
  3. if you promised yourself a reward, make sure you get it when you’ve earned it
  4. keep a reminder of the reward with the goal – maybe a photo next to your computer, light a coconut candle to think of a tropical holiday, or stick a car key on your mirror

And don’t be afraid to share your achievements with others, either. Even small achievements can be shared and acknowledged by friends, people you network with or a coach.

How often do you reward reaching a goal? Do you give yourself acknowledgement of work you’ve done and how far you’ve come, even if it wasn’t actually a goal?

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Have you recently resent that?

Monday, November 24th, 2008

Sometimes, I really wonder how people learn English as a second language – it can be so tricky! For instance, the letters s and c can sound exactly the same but using the wrong one can totally change the meaning of a word, such as in recent and resent.

Recent: of a similar time to the present – not long ago or far into the future.
The recent rains have helped our water supply.

Resent: to send something again.
I resent the email after he said he hadn’t received it the first time.

If English isn’t your first language, do you find learning such words difficult?

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You look ravishingly ravenous today

Monday, November 17th, 2008

Today’s meanings are not words that sound alike (well, except for starting with rav!) but can be easily confused…

Ravaging: causing destruction, destroying something
The Vikings are known for ravaging many towns and villages.

Ravishing: taking by force; raping. It is more commonly used to mean ‘of great beauty and delight’ which derives from women of great beauty ‘raping’ men of their senses with their beauty!
Ravishing rich women was one of the old pirate’s delights.

Ravenous: very hungry {as hungry as a beast came from the devouring aspect of ravish.}
They were ravenous after their long hike.

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Don’t get court…

Monday, November 10th, 2008

The Victoria Police have a sign that is used by some shops that amuses me. It aims to reduce shoplifting and finishes “why risk getting court?” Obviously, it is a play on words and catches attention, which is what I like about it.

In case you are struggling with why this amuses me, here are the definitions of the words court and caught.

caught: the past tense of to catch
She caught the ball and won the game.

court:an institution that applies law and justice for society; a defined area, usually with markings, for the playing of a specific game.
Judges, lawyers and jurors come together in court.
A tennis net is strung across the court.

The legal system is there for us, as as games – you could say they are ours. So the word our is in our court…

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Beyond the call…

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

I recently read a post by Melissa about being sick and running your business and it made me smile. I think I can safely say I went beyond the call of duty for one of my clients last month, on the day Melissa wrote that post…

I spent the morning in hospital in false labour and the afternoon doing errands. By late afternoon, I was in full labour with painful contractions and received a request for an urgent client newsletter mailing. So I spent the early evening preparing and sending out an email in between major contractions – and then went back to hospital for my son’s birth!

Aside from my dedication to client’s :) , managing business during personal health issues is a serious topic for business owners. Do you struggle on and hope you’ll get better but risk making yourself worse? Do you tell clients you’re sick and delay their work? Do you get help from somewhere?

As professionals, we want to fulfill promises to clients and deliver on time and to a suitable standard. As people, we need time to recover from illness and time to rest and care for ourselves. It is when these needs clash that we struggle.

The ideal is to prepare for such issues, rather than find ourselves unable to deal with it (imagine being so sick you can’t even warn clients things are running behind…) What ways have you prepared your business for your unplanned (or planned) absences?

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I formally request…

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

formally: meeting polite procedures, not casually
We were formally recived at the door by the butler.

formerly: previously, used to be/do something
She was formerly the president of the state association.

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