Answering your SOS for more ROI

This has to be a quick one, but it could not be more important.

Are you getting work from an agency that has absolutely no idea whether it is giving you any return on investment (ROI)? Worse still, are you among the vast majority of agency clients who doesn't even ask about ROI? Shame on you.

In today's economic market, you can't afford to just "do advertising". You have to do advertising that delivers response. You have to monitor and measure that response, and keep making adjustments until you get a measure of your ROI. This involves some heavy lifting by you -- the client. You have to set up systems to capture and record the source of every lead -- and what happened after that lead came in. Then you have information -- and information means you can make an informed decision, which is a heck of lot better than just guessing or relying on your agency's "gut instinct".

Start by going to your web site response form (you have one, right?) and adding a field for "How did you learn about us". Put in a drop down list of every possible response and make it a mandatory field. Make sure the person answering your phones has the same list and asks the same question whenever a prospect calls. Pretty soon you will some real marketing data on what works -- and what doesn't.

Got a topic you want me to address? Send it along. I promise to respond within seven days.

First aid for dumb-as-stink, do-it-yourself advertising

So I'm going about my business and I see a bus shelter ad for a real estate company run by a man and a woman.

The woman is smiling in a goofy sort of way and making the universal symbol for "OK". Boring, dumb, but I get it. Then I look at the man, who I presume is her husband. He is not smiling. Indeed, he has this dumb look that makes him appear like he has just been lobotomized. And now I know -- this is a dumb-as-stink, do-it-yourself ad. Which brings me to the purpose of AD-Monitions -- helping the millions of small businesses avoid the classic mistakes of dumb-as-stink, do-it-yourself ads. I am going to help by tossing out some simple tips that will help you avoid dumb-as-stink, do-it-yourself ads. That's part one.

Part two is to get a discussion going on what works. Don't tell me about expensive, big-time budget stuff. I want the little stuff that produced big results. You know, like the Google campaign that allowed you to kick the ass of much bigger competitors, or the sweat equity stuff, like the carpet cleaner in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) who built a thriving business by visiting every major carpet retailer in Toronto and captured their loyalty by giving them some free coffee and donuts. Now most of those retailers is a megacustomer -- someone who refers tons of business to the carpet cleaner. Total marketing cost: a few hundred bucks. So there you have it. Advertising by walking around (and giving away donuts). And you thought advertising was complicated.

Let's get talking. I await, breathlessly, for your response.