Praxis Communications, Inc.

MEASURING THE VALUE OF PRINT TRADE ADVERTISING
Challenge:
There are several important reasons why print trade advertising is still a viable way to promote your product or brand, in spite of the overwhelming movement toward on-line media. People still like to hold a physical magazine and read it. If you're launching a new product, trade advertising can give you the reach you want at a fairly affordable cost; if you need to create brand credibility, a full color ad campaign confirms your commitment to the market in a big way. Also, publishers will be more inclined to print your editorial if you’re an advertiser. But marketing directors are being asked to justify everything they spend money on, and the value of print advertising is difficult to measure, particularly since publications no longer provide reader service cards. Add to that the fact that most companies don’t have a rigorous system for asking prospects how they found them, and the challenge for evaluation becomes even greater. Fortunately, there is a fairly simple answer to this dilemma.

Solution:
One of the most effective ways to make a direct connection between your ad spending and the leads you get is to assign a unique URL to each publication. You'll need to make sure your web host is set up to report clickthroughs from these specific URLs to your main site address. Check the monthly reports after your ads have run. This will give you a pretty good idea of how many site visitors came to you as a direct result of your ad. For long-term measurement of brand effectiveness, many publications will provide benchmark studies at low to no cost to help you see how your ads – over time – have improved brand perception and believability. These are usually done in two phases, typically 12 to 18 months apart. The first study should be done before your new ads appear, the latter after they’ve run awhile. Comparing changes in reader perception will tell you how well your campaign is working to meet your objectives.

Getting it done:
  1. For immediate feedback on lead generation, buy a unique URL with a logical name to assign to each publication you plan to run in. For instance, if your present URL is www.GammaInstruments.com, and you sell analyzers in the petrochemical market, try URLs such as www.GammaAnalyzers.com, www.GammaChem.com, etc. Check with your host to make sure these “flip” over to your main site, and that they can track any clickthroughs.
  2. Check the stats after your ads run to see how many visitors have come to your site as a direct result of your ad. Be sure to add content to your site specifically about the product or feature in the ad, and encourage visitors to register so you'll know who they are.
  3. For the long-term, particularly on new brand campaigns, check with the publisher to find out if they are willing to fund a benchmark or readership study to measure changes in perception over time. In addition to benchmarking your campaign, these studies will also provide significant insight into how you might want to adjust your ad message or positioning.
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