Don't Be Suduced by Free Advertising

Now that I have a website for my equipment rental business, I want to take advantage of free advertising to build up visitors. Any suggestions? -- Gary

One of the most seductive thing about the Internet is the possibility of free advertising. In a successful business how much they pay for advertising is almost irrelevant if you understand marketing systems. Here's how ...

The best marketing technique for any business is the one that brings in paying customers. Make a list of all the ideas you know of, have considered, or have read about. Take action with 10 of them each month.

Every week tally how many new customers each bring, the cost of each campaign, total sales amount and cost of goods. By using direct response marketing you'll be able to code each campaign to know where buyers are coming from.

Keep the top 5 campaigns, than add 5 more the next testing period. After 6 months you'll have 10 ways to bring in new customers. Some ways will work better than others, and the best thing about this method is that you'll know which work.

This is the most simplest form of tracking. You then try a new marketing idea for 6 months then measure, or a campaign of 1,500 contacts. The key is that you are tracking where sales are coming from and the value of those sales.

You don't need fancy software (I do have a few spreadsheets for GOLD members if they are interested), you just need proper direct response marketing that codes each campaign. There is no better way to increase the results of your advertising than to start tracking results.

You might make money on just free advertising, and with this method (a simple marketing system) you'll know for sure. However, you'll also discover your profit per customer by subtracting the cost of marketing and cost of goods. This tells you how much you can spend on a customer.

If you're just getting started as a sales person or in business, knowing how much you can spend per customer is invaluable. Now you'll get better results building on what you are already doing, plus it will take time to see any seasonal variances.

Another reason not to be seduced by free advertising because this method shows you that "free isn't free." In your costs, consider the time it takes to put together a marketing piece. You are just trading either your labor, or the labor of someone else for so called free advertising.

How you benefit is that you know have 5 to 10 ways to bring in new customers. After a year you'll have the information you need to plan your next year of selling. Tracking your results is the best way to avoid the trap of free advertising.

© 2008 JWH Consolidated Inc, All rights reserved.

Justin Hitt provides a no-nonsense approach to increasing profits with results driven marketing for business-to-business industrial and technical services firms. For support on your next marketing campaign, visit http://HittPublishingDirect.com/