Businesses invest a lot into their advertising strategy. If you didn’t care about this portion of your budget or expect it to deliver results, you wouldn’t invest in it to begin with. This is why it’s so important to understand the various ways in which you can track the effectiveness of your paid media placements, whether that be digital, print, outdoor, radio, tv, social media, or any other of the many facets. Keep reading as we break down how to track your advertisements’ effectiveness so you can continue to refine your strategy and get the most bang for the buck.

Website Analytics

Be sure that your website is connected to Google Analytics and actively tracking the activity on the various pages on your website. This is a critical step to tracking the effectiveness of the advertising which is most likely pushing people to your website for more information. When you analyze how people are finding your website, this will tell you how they’re engaging with your various ad placements. For example, you should be able to track how many people visited your website as a result of a social media ad or a digital ad placed on another website. For people who find your website by directly typing in your URL into Google, that may indicate they found your business from a billboard, tv, or radio ad that promoted your URL.

Unique Links

When placing digital or social media ads, it’s smart to link out to a unique URL or landing page. First, this will provide you with more accurate analytics as to how many people clicked on that link based on your ad placement. Next, it allows you to better control and tailor the content customers first se when visiting your website. It’s not always helpful to simply push people to your homepage. A landing page built specifically for your ad can continue to walk your customer through your sales process by providing the exact information you want them to find first – for example, a contact form to schedule an appointment!

Unique Phone Numbers

Much like a unique link, using a unique phone on an ad will tell you a lot about how people are finding your business. Many businesses have various phone numbers that all ring through to a main line. Then they can track the number of phone calls that come through to each link in a given month. If the line that received the most calls was placed exclusively on one type of advertisement, this tells the business that it was a very effective ad for both placement and content.

Social Media Analytics

Social media analytics are a powerful indicator of how your various ads are performing and should be monitored regularly. First, be sure you know how to interpret each analytics. You’ll want to understand the difference in value between a view versus an engagement versus a link click. They will all yield something different for your business. You can also A/B test different ads which will help tell you what style of ad is most effective among your audience.

Ask!

Finally and most importantly, if you want to ensure accurate tracking of the effectiveness of your advertisements, ask an expert! Advertising professionals are trained in sorting through data, pulling out trends, interpreting numbers, and reading between the lines. They can give you honest feedback as to what’s working, what’s not working, and why. Every business wants to wisely use their ad dollars. Consulting with a professional media buyer can help save you money while expanding your advertising strategy’s performance.

What’s been your experience with tracking the effectiveness of your advertisements? Do you feel informed and in control, or in the dark?

If you’re left with confusion and questions, we would love to provide you with more information and advice. Contact us today to start a friendly conversation!