You may have read about the recent Borrell report that found high turnover with small businesses who try out an online local search ad buy. If you haven’t, this Wall Street Street Journal blog gave a good synopsis of the report.
Today’s media environment provides small businesses with a large number of metrics that are both overwhelming and confusing. Reach, frequency, and gross ratings points are all metrics that advertisers have relied upon in the past to help measure the effectiveness of their advertising. For many businesses, these metrics have given way to clicks and calls which are more measureable and can be directly tied to lead generation.
However, even clicks and calls can be misleading. Generating qualified leads can be a moving target and that’s why you see such a high turnover rate reported in the Borrell report.
Targeted marketing has been the holy grail for many years and is the primary reason why direct mail is the No. 1 medium in terms of revenue. However, true targeted marketing can only be achieved when it is driven by the consumer, not by the medium. So media such as the Internet, Yellow Pages, Craig’s list, and classified Newspaper advertising are examples of buyers looking for sellers, not sellers seeking out buyers.
But if these searchers do not find what they are looking for, a qualified lead is wasted. That’s why today’s media need to provide relevant results that solve an immediate need-quality over quantity will help the consumer save time and will result in a transaction. Small businesses need to keep this in mind when developing their marketing strategies. This will result in informed buying decisions which will mean lower advertiser turnover.
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