The Green Sheet Online Edition

February 28, 2011 • Issue 11:02:02

A checklist for advertising effectiveness

Boost Your Biz is a new feature in The Green Sheet that will present actionable tips on how to get the most from your advertising and marketing dollars. This initial article presents a checklist of essential questions that can help you create your advertising message and determine your ad's return on investment:

• What is your purpose for advertising? Have you set specific objectives that will allow you to determine the success of a given ad? Thinking about what you are trying to achieve will make it easier to design an effective ad.

• What is your budget for advertising? Knowing how much you can spend can help you decide the size and frequency of your ad placement. (Remember, a single insertion is rarely effective; the impact of advertising relies, in part, on repetition.)

• What is your call to action? How will you get your customer to pick up the phone or go to your website? With numerous competitors vying for attention, your ad's offer should solve a problem, make a compelling case or present an intriguing opportunity.

• Are there factors that dictate the timing of the ad? If an ad is a limited time offer or intended to promote an event, how far in advance should it run? If your ad has a seasonal angle, when should its placement begin and end?

• Does your ad work in concert with other marketing efforts? If you are advertising through other marketing channels, such as social media, your messages should be consistent - or at least complementary. How can one channel build upon the activity going on in another?

• How will you measure your ad's effectiveness? Has the person who will field responses to your advertising been instructed to ask callers for their source of information on your company? Have you created a landing page on your website and activated a tracking tool like Google Analytics?

Keep in mind that a little bit of forethought can help you capitalize on your advertising investment.

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