Recently in Call Tracking Category

From Dealer Marketing Magazine's recent issue...

Quality and value...two words that many people are focused on right now, no matter what their position on the business food chain, whether they're a consumer or a business owner. As we forge ahead through 2010, quality and value are two key messages you will want to convey in your marketing and advertising campaigns: not only from a product standpoint, but also from a service standpoint.

 

Think of all the business services you use to make your operation run smoothly--communications, customer management tools, the phone system, and so many others. Are they the best?

Do they deliver the quality and value that you expect?

Do they allow you to effectively talk to your audience?

 

Let's take your marketing and advertising communications as an example and look at the business services you deploy to deliver quality and value to your customers.

 

Quality leads to credibility:

A quality ad campaign is one that is appealing to, and resonates with, consumers. It should leave them with a favorable opinion of your business and a perception of credibility--a dealer they would want to buy a vehicle from. Quality advertising always includes an easy way for customers to get in touch with you. If you offer a local or toll-free numeric phone number, like 866-432-6897, it is going to be hard for people to remember. If you advertise with a vanity number, like 1-800-NEW-HYBRID, however, you make it easier for people to remember you when they want to call.

 

Make sure you work with a phone service and number provider that best fits your needs: a quality provider that offers flexibility with their services and delivers value.

 

Value drives response:

Value-added (along with quality) advertising campaigns generate a surge of consumer response and deliver leads. When a campaign brings customers into your dealership (with phone calls, web leads, or walk-ins) your ROI for the campaign improves, the cost-per-lead goes down, and the value of your advertising campaign, in relation to the business strategy goes up!

 

Also, the call data that your telecommunications provider delivers should be easy to access, understand, and manipulate for various reporting needs. Robust call data is valuable because it can show trends, including your busiest business hours and what campaigns are driving the most inquiries. Armed with this important data, you can plan staffing and marketing resources according to when you'll be busiest, where your leads are coming from and which marketing sources deliver the best ROI.

 

As part of your team, your service partners should help you deliver these key emotional and financial aspects--quality and value to your customers.

Here is a snippet about vanity numbers from an article on eHow.com, by a contributing writer. 

"Vanity numbers spell out words or suggest words. 1-800-FLOWERS is one of the most widely known vanity numbers and is easily remembered on Mother's Day and Valentine's Day. Vanity numbers are a marketing tool that can encourage brand switching. Even if consumers have a favorite restaurant with a local number, they're more likely to call the number they remember first. Vanity numbers are in short supply, and a broker may be required to negotiate a deal with the person who owns a specific number." Read the full article.

We realize it's not a new concept - tracking ad response rates, but we wanted to reiterate the power and level of knowledge that ad tracking, and specifically phone call tracking, brings to you and your business.

Imagine spending thousands on your ad campaigns with no way of measuring the results.  (Yes, a closed sale is a measurement, but you also need to measure in terms of leads generated.)  Knowing how many leads a campaign generates empowers you to make decisions on future ad campaigns and media buys.

Real-time tracking and recording features provide you with the knowledge you need to make strategic decisions when it comes to advertising campaigns; whether it be decisions on creative elements, your offer, the call to action, and the media outlets you advertise with.

With a call tracking service you can hone in on the fine details of who is calling your business, what their average household income is, their average home value, as well as when they are most likely to call your business.  How?  With detailed tracking reports that capture data on each incoming call.  Call tracking reports like:

• Addresses & Demographics will build your lead database.
• Zip Code Summary shows you the hot spots, where your callers are calling from; home, work.
• Repeat Callers Detail reveals who is calling you often, or more than once for information or to hire you.
• Missed Calls is a huge eye-opener for many businesses, they can monitor how many leads they are losing with a report like this.
• Hourly and Daily Call Summary reports show when your business lines are most active so you can determine the necessary staffing levels and monitor response to radio campaigns, TV ads, etc.
• Top Cities and Top Area Codes reports also drill down on where your callers are located.

 

With all of this data at your fingertips, you'll be able to more accurately plan out marketing and advertising campaigns, and get more return for your advertising investment.

 

Find more information about call tracking, call recording, and vanity toll-free numbers here.

Background: Neat Feet and Elkins Retail Advertising have put together a unique advertising approach, bringing together multiple podiatry practices to share advertising costs, increase incoming leads, and reduce their cost-per-lead.

Client: 1-800-NEW-TOES Laser Centers
A collaboration of five podiatry centers, including Neat Feet, offers a new laser treatment for nail fungus. Locations are throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Elkins Retail Advertising
Elkins has 20 years of experience using vanity 800 numbers in their clients' advertising campaigns. The agency continually appears on the San Jose/Silicon Valley Business Journal list of the 25 largest agencies in Santa Clara County, CA.

Challenge: Neat Feet was looking for a way to advertise on radio stations with the largest reach in the Bay Area, but it was cost prohibitive.

Strategy: Join forces with other podiatry centers in surrounding markets to form "1-800-NEW-TOES Laser Centers", a group initiative. Develop a radio campaign and share advertising expenses and incoming leads among the five locations.

Results: With Neat Feet, Elkins pulled together four other podiatry centers in the Bay Area to collaborate on a radio campaign aimed at generating leads for each location. The radio spots run on the largest stations in the Bay Area and prominently feature the group's vanity number as the response tool.

Hunter Elkins has 20 years of experience recommending and using vanity 800 numbers in his clients' advertising campaigns.  "I've had success using vanity numbers in the past, and knew that this strategy of radio ads with 1-800-NEW-TOES would be successful for Neat Feet and the other centers," says Elkins.

"As a result of the radio campaign, each center now receives more incoming calls because the 1-800-NEW-TOES vanity number and the matching co-op company name are so easy to remember," says Elkins. The campaign drives listeners to call the vanity 800 number or visit the vanity URL, 800newtoes.com, which also lists the vanity number prominently on the splash page of the site. "The average close rate of incoming calls among the group is 55%," says Elkins, which is higher than the average conversion of Web visits.

"We use the tracking site to monitor the number of incoming calls and clicks they receive each week, and the resulting cost-per-lead. Call data is easily sorted by each location so we can keep a tight watch on the performance of our radio campaign, monitor the traffic to each center, and make adjustments to the campaign if necessary," says Elkins.

According to Elkins, "The collaboration would not have been possible without 1-800-NEW-TOES. The vanity number allowed us to brand the group with a unified name, share advertising costs, and generate more business for each center."

Toll-free call tracking numbers are powerful 10-digit numbers that allow businesses to monitor and track every lead down to the source.  This is a must for any marketing/advertising manager, director, or executive who is responsible for reporting on their strategy's performance at the end of the day.

Numeric call tracking numbers are perfect for advertising and marketing campaigns that include visual media types, but only if they have a "shelf-life."  This includes newspaper advertising, Yellow Pages ads, online ads, and some direct mail.  Advertisers can effectively track pay-per-click and SEO ad campaigns, test one direct mail postcard against another, and tracking online conversions from their websites, all with these numeric toll-free numbers.

What these numeric tools cannot do is brand.  Only a vanity 800 number can brand your business, like 1-800-NEW-ROOF for a roofer, or 1-800-NEW-RATE for a bank or lending institution.

So, advertising businesses that execute multi-media campaigns need both of these tools.  Don't balk, because it is possible to get them at an affordable price.  Some vanity service providers offer free call tracking numbers with their service so that businesses can maintain a complete lead-tracking system and monitor every advertisement in their campaigns.

For an effective advertising and marketing strategy, incorporate both of these toll-free options - vanity 800 numbers and call tracking numbers - and you'll capture every incoming lead and be able to source it back to the specific advertisement/media buy that generated that lead.  These direct-response tools allow for complete lead-tracking, accurate measurement of ROI, and budget accountability.

Great customer service is often the key to improving and growing a business. Real-time Call Recording will let you listen to recordings of the incoming calls. With a quality-assurance, call recording tool, you can archive calls for playback using an online interface.

 

You should activate and use call recordings to:

 

1. Enhance Sales Training -- Call recordings can be used as training tools to illustrate common sales scenarios and to demonstrate how to overcome customer objections. Information gleaned from recordings can be used to refine sales pitches and identify techniques that increase close rates.

2. Improve Customer Service -- Knowing that calls are being monitored motivates staff to provide a consistently high level of service to your customers. Recordings can also reveal areas in which your sales and customer service staffs require more information about particular products or services to handle customer inquiries better.

3. Increase Efficiency -- Listen to the recordings to assess how long and how often customers are being placed on hold. Get an idea of how many times customers are transferred before being connected to the appropriate person within your organization.

4. Confirm Information -- After a call is complete, you can go back through the recording to verify that you wrote down the customer's correct address or credit card number. This allows you to confirm that the information you took down matches what the customer provided during the call. It saves your next call for constructive follow-up.

 

And, real-time call recording lets you listen to your calls within seconds after the caller hangs up.  Read up on more benefits of having real-time call data, call recording, and advanced routing products that will make sure you're communications system is running efficiently!

There are five levels of engagement to meet with the components of the advertising strategies you develop:

1. Awareness: A vanity 800 number will help foster awareness by enhancing the branding component of your ad campaigns. For example, using a number like 1-800-NEW-ROOF reinforces the type of services a roofing contractor provides, and will build awareness of the company over time if used consistently in advertising and promotions.

2. Consideration: Many consumers are more likely to consider a purchase from a company who offers a toll-free phone number, and a vanity one at that. Research studies show that 60% of respondents who are presented with the option of dialing a local phone number from the Yellow Pages, or a vanity 800 number, will choose the company who advertises the vanity 800 number.

3. Purchase Intent: Getting a prospect to call an easy-to-remember phone number brings you that much closer to having a solid conversation, and building a relationship.

4. Purchase: Strong relationships and a level of comfort are two major factors consumers take into account when they decide which business they want to purchase from.

5. Loyalty: With a branding vanity 800 number, your customers will easily remember how to contact you, and will call your business in the future when they need to re-purchase or schedule a service.

Get More out of Your Ad Budgets...7 Ideas for Stronger Ads:

 

1. Commit to an advertising campaign that integrates several media formats, but maintains the same call-to-action throughout all pieces of the campaign.

 

2. Clearly state the call-to-action - what it is that you want people to do. For instance, "Call 1-800-NEW-SKILLS to learn more about our accelerated culinary programs."

 

3. Use a direct-response tool in all pieces of the campaign that is easy for buyers to remember and easy to track, like a toll-free vanity 800 number.

 

4. Analyze the response rates to your overall advertising efforts by monitoring your campaigns with a call-tracking platform.

 

5. Track the Cost-Per-Lead of your campaigns based on the cost of the overall campaign versus the number of leads the campaign generates. This is easy with a call-tracking system. Most vanity 800 number and call-tracking providers offer a campaign summary tool.

 

6. Build a strong lead database, learn more about your prospects, and market directly to these contacts. A toll-free service with a call tracking system will capture each incoming caller's name, address, and demographic profile, including average home value and household income based on the caller's location.

 

7. Stay top-of-mind. Develop campaigns that keep your name in the market place, and in front of people on a regular basis. If you have to cut back somewhere, buy smaller newspaper ads, mail post cards instead of letters, run shorter radio and television spots during non-peak hours. Smaller ads and shorter spots allow you to stretch budgets and maintain a presence in the media for a longer period of time.

And, repetition is the key to retention!

Advertising and media channels are ever-changing. This makes finding the right advertising mix a moving target. All the while, many businesses still rely on their sales teams, gatekeepers and receptionists to track where their leads are coming from - not the best way to accurately measure advertising response in an increasingly complex advertising environment.

 

To effectively track response rates your advertising needs to include a response measuring tool. There are several out there, and some are easier to implement than others.

 

Here are five tricks to easily ensure that you will be able to track your ad response, and hone your marketing efforts to generate more leads and sales.

 

1. Include a Timely Offer and Strong Call to Action

 

Give people a reason to call you and get them to act fast! Include an offer that will make prospects and customers call you right away. Put a deadline on a current promotion, or tell them what they will get right now from your service. For example: "Call 1-800-NEW-FLOOR to receive $100 off your first order."

 

2. Use a Phone Number as the Direct Response Tool

 

It is imperative to the success of your business to give people an easy way to contact you at once after hearing a commercial, viewing a billboard, or watching TV. The best way to do this is with your phone number. Getting someone to call means you are one step closer to making a deal. By offering a phone number, you are offering a one-on-one customer experience - giving prospects a direct route to your selling team.

 

3. Feature a Vanity 800 Number as the Direct Response Tool in all Ads

 

The phone number will not be much help if folks cannot remember it (really, who has a pen handy when hearing a radio ad, or seeing a billboard?). Get a vanity 800 number, and make it memorable, like 1-800-NEXT-HOME. A vanity 800 number that relates to your business, in this case real estate, will assist in reinforcing your brand, delivering a consistent message, and will always give consumers the ability to contact you immediately (and is also great for word-of-mouth referrals). Plus, someone who hears your radio ad featuring 1-800-NEW-HOME may be looking for a house three months down the road. They will recall your vanity 800 number from the radio ad and call you before they call your competition!

 

4. Prominent Placement of your Direct Response Tool

 

Feature your vanity 800 number prominently on the screen, and leave it there throughout a television commercial. Mention it at least three times in a radio ad, and make it the focal point of a print ad. Make sure it is easily heard and understood - visible and easy to read - and your ads will pull higher response rates.

 

5. More Impressions will Pull More Responses

 

One-off ads will not work. Make sure you (or your agency if you use one) have a moderate to heavy ad schedule, whether it be radio, television, print, outdoor, or a combination of many of these channels. Buying more time or space will decrease the cost per ad, and your vanity 800 number will increase your ability to generate leads and sales. Delivering a consistent message multiple times will ensure consumers remember you.

 

Finally, if you can find a vanity 800 number that correlates with your business type, for example a real estate agency and 1-800-NEW-HOME, or an auto dealership and 1-800-NEW-AUTO, then snatch it up quickly! These numbers are rare - and hard to come by. They can cost your business as little as a few hundred dollars a month, and they can increase your incoming call volume two or three-fold. And, we all know that more calls equals more opportunities for sales.

 

Laura Noonan has 16 years of experience in the vanity 800 number and telecommunications services industry. She coaches hundreds of clients each year on using toll-free vanity 800 phone numbers as direct marketing tools to increase advertising response rates. Laura can be reached at lnoonan@800response.com or by calling 800-NEW-SALES.

 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Laura_Noonan

Advertising On The Radio - Keep It Simple

By M. Bruce Abbott

Let's say you spent good money on a brochure. Several pages filled with features, benefits, facts, figures, call to action, contact info...oh yeah, paragraphs about who you are, what you do....the different services you provide, your product offerings...and the list goes on and on. Everything you believe a potential client would need or want to know about your business. Now you are interested in advertising on the radio.

 

Here's a great radio advertising tip -

 

Don't let your radio commercials end up like your brochure.

 

Advertising on the radio works best when it is simple and effective.

 

First...a given. If you are going to advertise on the radio, make sure you have a product that has demand. In another article we discuss the topic of Direct Response Radio Advertising Mistakes: A Product No One Wants. With that said, lets move on to advertising on the radio assuming there is demand for your product or service.

 

Simplicity is the key to effective direct response radio advertising. Face it, when you are buying fifteen, thirty, even sixty seconds worth of radio advertising, you don't have the time to create an audio brochure. Radio advertising is a powerful advertising medium, but can it work for you?

 

Yes it can. You just need to make sure your direct response radio advertising campaign is just that...DIRECT. When advertising on the radio, get right to the point. What is the problem your potential customers face? What is the solution? (Hopefully this is where you have inserted your company name). What benefit does your company provide that solves the problem? And most important of all...what would make me choose your company? Here is where the irresistible offer comes in. Direct response radio advertising is rooted in a foundation of "what's in it for me". Give me reason to call. A free offer...free sample...free estimate...deep discount...money back guarantee...whatever your feel is important to your potential customer. This offer helps "grease the skids" and provides a strong incentive to call or click.

 

And speaking of calls and clicks - If you are advertising on the radio, you must make your call to action clear, concise and memorable. In other words, if you are driving to a toll free number, make sure you are not advertising some random ten digits that are difficult to remember. Use vanity phone numbers. Vanity phone numbers provide sticking power in the listeners mind. What will you remember more - 1-800-I-ATE-A-BUG or 1-800-428-3228 (plus the extra useless digit)? You can use a combination of vanity numbers or words and number for tracking purposes. If you are directing your radio advertising campaign to a URL. Make sure it's a simple domain name. No long URL's with dashes and slashes and long strings of weird variables. Simple works better. And again, you can use a variety of simple domains for tracking. And make sure you mention your number or URL at least a couple of times throughout the radio commercial.

 

So what have you learned here?

 

When advertising on the radio, keep it simple. Get directly to the problem, the solution, the benefit, the irresistible offer, and the clear call to action. Keep this simple structure in mind, and your chances of success when advertising on the radio dramatically increase.