Do You Track Your Marketing?

I was amazed at something that came out during a seminar last week in New Jersey at the Larson Juhl open house. There were about 70 framers in attendance, and as groups go, they were quite advanced in their knowledge and experience with website and email, which made for a very interesting discussion. However, at one point, the topic of measuring marketing results came up. I asked how many in the room measure the return on their marketing investments. Guess how many raised a hand….ONE! That’s right, only one person in the room said they tracked returns on marketing efforts. I’ve been around long enough to know that there were more that didn’t raise a hand but still…………….I was truly shocked.

I can’t think of many aspects of business more important than knowing why customers are coming in. Without this, you can’t ever really know what is working and what isn’t. Marketing your company is expensive and time-consuming, but it is vital. Finding the marketing methods that bring you customers can only happen if you collect that information from those that find you.

Start by creating a code for each type of marketing you do and add them to your POS system. If Possible, program your system to require a marketing code BEFORE any order can be recorded. Soon you’ll be printing reports that tell you how many dollars came in through each marketing method you use. Compare those dollars to the cost you pay for each marketing type and you’ll quickly learn which are paying off and which ones you need to cancel. You’ll really be glad you started!