Ways to measure the performance of your printed advertisements

Digital advertising is popular because there are plenty of things you can measure like reach and click-through rates (CTR). 

 

However, there are also plenty of clever ways to measure the performance of your printed advertisements and your marketing can be equally data-driven. 

 

Here are some techniques you can try: 

 

Codes – this is a really easy way to keep track of the effectiveness of your advertising. There’s nothing high-tech about this, it simply means putting a different code on each version of your advertisement and asking people to quote it to receive their special offer, no-obligation quotation, or free gift. You could even invite them to bring their copy of your advertisement to your store to receive a discount. 

 

Not only will you know which advertisement they have seen, you will also be able to attribute any sales you make as a result. Even if your advertisement doesn’t lead to an immediate sale you can keep track of the people who contact you with that code to see if they buy from you in the future. 

 

Unique contact details – another simple but effective approach is to use a dedicated telephone number or email address for each advertisement. The technology is easily available and you will know exactly who responds. If you are running a multi-media campaign you can use different contact details for each channel to understand which is working most effectively. 

 

Embrace Analytics – it’s not everyone’s favourite pastime, but the analytics for your website can show you who has visited your pages, even if they don’t respond to your call to action. You can also see if they have visited other pages on your site which can give you useful information about things that might interest them. 

 

Dedicated website addresses – like unique phone numbers or emails, you can create dedicated web page addresses. You don’t even have to create a page to go with them because you can redirect the address to another page on your site. Alternatively, you can create one or more marketing pages and test what works with some basic a/b testing. 

 

QR codes – most smartphone cameras now recognise a quick response (QR) code, so your audience don’t need to download an app to respond. All they have to do is scan the QR code and agree to go to your webpage. There are plenty of free online tools to create a QR code for a specific page on your site which will make it really easy for people to respond to your advertisement. 

 

These simple ways to measure the responses to your printed advertisements will help you to work out your return on investment (ROI) and give you confidence that they are working for your business. You can also use them to understand your customers’ preferences and interests and to test different approaches. 

 

Carefully thought-through and well-designed printed advertisements will be attractive for your audience, especially when they appear in a trusted publication.