No matter what industry you’re in, advertising is a critical part of any business’s marketing strategy and success.

Some of the most important reasons to advertise include raising brand awareness to stay top-of-mind with customers and potential customers, creating a competitive advantage so that they choose your business over another, and of course – driving sales and revenue.

But more than that, advertising can help your business create a strong brand identity so that it’s more easily remembered as well as build relationships with customers that help them feel more connected to your business, spread word-of-mouth recommendations, and choose you time and time again.

There are many different ways you can advertise your business. From traditional methods like billboards, TV commercials, radio ads, and printed newspaper advertisements to more modern digital ways such as social media, Google, and online media platforms like Step Out Buffalo.

When selecting which advertising route is best for you, think of your brand and your audience. A business with an older audience might opt to do a newspaper print ad, while a business trying to reach a younger demographic would have more success on a digital platform. Learn more about how to select the right advertising methods

Tracking Your Investments

Once your advertising is in place, there are several ways to know if it’s actually working. Here are some steps you can take to track the effectiveness of your advertising and make sure you’re getting a return on your investment:

1. Set clear goals

What do you want to achieve with your advertising? Do you want to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or drive sales? Once you know your goals, you can track your progress and measure the effectiveness of your advertising accordingly based on specific metrics.

2. Track your results

There are a number of ways to track the results of your advertising. You can track website traffic, social media engagement, leads generated, and sales. You can also use analytics tools to track the effectiveness of your ads across different channels.

3. Experiment with different strategies

Experimentation is a key step in the advertising process and should not be skipped. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different advertising strategies and make tweaks – big and small. This will help you find the strategies that work best for your business and your goals. Try experimenting with:

1.  Different ad formats
2. Targeting different audiences
3. Advertising on different platforms (ie. TikTok vs Banner Ads) and products within a platform (ie Instagram Stories vs feed posts)
4. Run different ad creatives – adjust aspects like the copy, design, call to action, caption, and overall concept to see what lands best.

4. Compare your results to your goals

Once you have tracked your results, you need to compare them to your goals. This will help you determine whether your advertising is working and whether you need to make any changes.

5. Be patient

It takes time to see the results of your advertising. Don’t expect to see a huge increase in traffic or sales overnight. Be patient and track your results over time to see if your advertising is working.

Pro tip: Double Down On What’s Working

While it’s not exactly a step in the process of understanding if you are getting a return on your advertising investment, it’s important to note that you should double down on what is working in order to maintain that ROI. Once you’ve spent some time and money and have a better idea of how your target audience responds to certain approaches, assess what’s working best and adjust the ratio of your efforts to focus on the best of the best while eliminating the duds.

By following these steps, you can track the effectiveness of your advertising and make sure you’re getting a return on your investment – and make any necessary changes to fix it if it’s not on the right track.

Digital Advertising Tools

If you’re utilizing digital advertising, there are several ways you can track your advertising success using data:

• Use a tracking pixel. A tracking pixel is a small piece of code that you can add to your website or landing page. This code will allow you to track how many people click on your ads and how many of those people visit your website.
  
• Use Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a free tool that can help you track the effectiveness of your website traffic. You can use Google Analytics to track website traffic from different sources, including your advertising campaigns.
  
• Use social media analytics. Most social media platforms offer analytics tools that can help you track the effectiveness of your social media campaigns. You can use these tools to track website traffic from social media, engagement with your posts, and leads generated.
  

The Importance Of Customer Feedback

Lastly, no matter what type of advertising method you choose, you can always assess its effectiveness by talking to your customers. How? Simply ask them how they found out about your business and what made them decide to do business with you. This information can help you identify the most effective advertising channels and strategies that have actually gotten customers through the door (whether it’s virtual or IRL).

Your Business + Step Out Buffalo

At Step Out Buffalo, we firmly believe in creating effective, organic advertisements that benefit both businesses and their potential customers viewing the ads. We collect data to help you understand how your advertisements are performing, and in full transparency we share the results of each promotional item with you and schedule a recap call at the end of each campaign to discuss the results and get your feedback on the campaign. Plus we’ll game-plan how we can adjust to get even better results next time.

Sound familiar? ~trust the process~

To learn more about our advertising program, read client success stories, discover what makes us different, and see if our audience is who you’d like to target, tap here!