Ad Traffic Mistake #3

Happy Tuesday! 

I saved the best for last. 

In my experience, this is probably one of the most costly mistakes made when running ad traffic… 

It’s also one of the easiest to rectify.

Results and performance management is often overlooked when it comes to ALL marketing (not just running ads). 

There are either NO tracking mechanisms or processes in place, or the ones that are set up, aren’t reliable and report inaccurate data. 

Those that have NO tracking systems in place live in continual flux… Think of it like going to a casino every day, and feeding a slot machine dollar after dollar, just hoping it’ll pay out. 

I don’t know about you, but I could find so many other ways to invest marketing dollars other than gambling it away. 

I’m sure you’ve heard of the phrase, “Everything measured improves,” right? 

If you can’t measure something to determine the results, you can’t possibly get better at it. 

I like to give the example of someone trying to lose weight.  Have you ever tried to lose weight without stepping on a scale to measure your results? 

How about trying to improve your golf game. How hard would this be to accomplish if you didn’t keep score?

Marketing is NO different. 

If you can’t measure your results, you never know how effective your efforts really are. 

You’ll also never improve. 

  

Running ads is like any other marketing strategy…

Without accurate tracking, you don’t know what is producing results and what isn’t. When you don’t know what’s working, and what’s NOT working, how are you supposed to know what to stop, what to continue, what to refine, etc?

Here’s the kicker. Not only could you be losing money running ads that aren’t working; the ads that ARE working are not getting optimized. 

I ask clients all the time…

“Would you allow this to happen with any other marketing strategy or campaign? Not knowing your ROI?” 

Let’s say you did a postcard mailing. You know exactly how much you spent on creative, print material, postage, list, etc. Let’s say that was $4500 in total, out the door. 

Let’s say your CTA was to call the office, give this code [YPT340] and clients get 25% off their order. Eight clients call in with this code and their purchases total $28,000. What do you know? 

Your return on that campaign was $23,500 or a 622% ROI. Was it successful? Absolutely. Would you run it again? Absolutely–and maybe the next time on a much grander scale. 

Getting these exact figures and stats on your ads is just as attainable. 

Here’s what you see when you’ve set up tracking codes on your website (in this case Google Analytics) and have also set up a tool to report all of the metrics and conversion goals that need to be tracked. 

In this example, you can see the breakdown of your sales page visitors based on their age groups. This is just ONE of the many in-depth reports your tracking tool can provide if it is set up correctly. 

Another compounded issue that occurs from ineffective or incorrect tracking is when your ads are directly tied to sales in the form of commission.  

Many business owners I talk to hire an ad agency to place their ads for them and in addition to a monthly fee, they collect a certain percentage of sales made. 

I hope you see where I’m going here…

If your tracking is not set up properly, what if the incorrect tracking for your ads is reporting more sales than there really were… and you’re paying a commission on sales that were never made to this third party? 

Bottom line…

Data drives decisions. Remember this. 

In fact, write it down on a post-it and stick it to your computer if you need to…

If you don’t have a dedicated team member or a third party that can help you set up your tracking (or you don’t know if it’s set up correctly), I highly recommend investing in a traffic audit (having a team of ad experts put your stats, ads, and strategies under a microscope and audit every moving part of your ad account). 

My senior ad team performs Premier Traffic Audits here at Business Nitrogen. It’s a 30+ point comprehensive audit process that identifies any and all areas that can decrease your CPL, increase your conversion rate, and optimize your ad spend overall. We’ll also do a deep dive on your stats and reporting mechanisms. 

Sometimes just one discovery and alteration can pay dividends in the end. 

You can get more information here: Premier Traffic Audit. 

To your success, 

David

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