In today’s digital world, many businesses there is still a place for print advertising, but how do you know which adverts work and which don’t?
Let’s compare a range of different options and consider which one offers the most accurate and cost effective solution for a business like yours.

Ask the customer?

When a customer calls, it makes sense to ask them how they found you. However, there are a number of pitfalls to this approach

• The first big drawback of this approach is that it’s entirely manual. It is relies on person receiving the call remembering to ask the caller where they got your number. It also requires the same member of staff to log that information somewhere central where it can later be retrieved and analysed.

• The second is that it relies on the customer’s memory. When put on the spot, how likely is it that you accurately remember where you found the number you are calling? It’s easier just to say something general like, “I found you on the web.”

Use Promo codes?
One way to address the accuracy problem is to create a unique code for each advertising campaign and to print that code on the bottom of the advert. Then, when a prospect calls, you ask them for the code. Again great, in theory, by not so good in practice.

• It relies on the caller holding onto the advert or remembering the code.
• It only works when the person taking the call remembers to ask for the code and then logs it.

Use a dedicated phone number for each advert.
Modern technology and cloud based means that it is now cheap and easy to buy or rent a dedicated number for each campaign and to have it redirected to normal business number. This cost effective solution provides accurate results because…

• It is automated, so nobody has to remember to do anything
• The system logs the details over every call allowing you to log in to your number provider’s web portal and see instantly how many calls each campaign generates.

With numbers available from around £1 a month, there is simply no excuse for not tracking the effectiveness of your print adverts.