Advertising Your Business in Print. | NewsBrands Ireland, who represent 16 publication titles in Ireland (including The Irish Times), recently released figures showing that ad spend has risen by 4% from Jan to June 2015 - the first overall rise in spending since 2007. €80.9 million was spent on print and online advertising in NewsBrands Ireland titles so far this year: advertising agencies contributed €48.1 million, and advertising coming directly from Irish businesses stood at €32.8 million, though this included property and recruitment ads. |
In contrast, email marketing continues to deliver a strong performance for brands and marketers. It is used by over 90% of businesses and provides a cost-efficient and powerful way for both broadcasting news and one-to-one communications.
9 out of 10 clients perceive email marketing as a channel of ‘importance’ or ‘great strategic importance’ for achieving business goals, according to the UK's National Client Email Report of 2015.
Direct revenue is most often a key email marketing objective and email marketing campaigns are very effective in delivering it.
9 out of 10 clients perceive email marketing as a channel of ‘importance’ or ‘great strategic importance’ for achieving business goals, according to the UK's National Client Email Report of 2015.
Direct revenue is most often a key email marketing objective and email marketing campaigns are very effective in delivering it.
- Driving revenue through sales tops the list of prime objectives, with over a quarter (26%) of marketers seeing it as the most important goal.
- Marketers are aware of the need for engagement with one in five (22%) naming it their prime objective.
- 60% of marketers use conversion rates to evaluate email campaigns effectiveness.
If you want to stick with newspaper advertising though, or even work it into your business plans, measuring effectiveness is key. Having an annual marketing budget and a monthly marketing strategy is only going to grow your business if you can measure the ROI (Return On Investment) for your advertising spend.
Practical Ecommerce suggests you can measure your print advertising methods in 4 ways, and even provide a handy video. Some of it is undoubtedly a wee bit on the obvious side, but worth repeating:
1. - Landing Pages and Advert Specific Sub-Domains on Your Website
Simple enough, have a direct and specific web page that the advert promotes, and monitor the traffic on it, plus conversions that translate to sales.
2. - Use Coupons and Advert Related Calls to Action
Customers are on the look-out for money saving deals, so a 10% discount, 'Buy One Get One Free', or similar incentive when they present a code or a particular phrase works well, and means you can track the metrics in your sales and stock systems.
3. - Monitor Your Sales
If you run an advert in a weekend newspaper, and on the Monday your phone is ringing off the hook, email inbox is flooded with enquiries, or your sales through that week/month are double what they would usually be for that time period... it's a good bet that's related to your advertisment.
4. - Just Ask
Have a customer feedback card, or employees tracking (and recording) verbal queries to your customers, or send a simple post sales email... Simply asking them where (and when!) they heard about your business.
Practical Ecommerce suggests you can measure your print advertising methods in 4 ways, and even provide a handy video. Some of it is undoubtedly a wee bit on the obvious side, but worth repeating:
1. - Landing Pages and Advert Specific Sub-Domains on Your Website
Simple enough, have a direct and specific web page that the advert promotes, and monitor the traffic on it, plus conversions that translate to sales.
2. - Use Coupons and Advert Related Calls to Action
Customers are on the look-out for money saving deals, so a 10% discount, 'Buy One Get One Free', or similar incentive when they present a code or a particular phrase works well, and means you can track the metrics in your sales and stock systems.
3. - Monitor Your Sales
If you run an advert in a weekend newspaper, and on the Monday your phone is ringing off the hook, email inbox is flooded with enquiries, or your sales through that week/month are double what they would usually be for that time period... it's a good bet that's related to your advertisment.
4. - Just Ask
Have a customer feedback card, or employees tracking (and recording) verbal queries to your customers, or send a simple post sales email... Simply asking them where (and when!) they heard about your business.