Marketing Without Tracking… Is Not Marketing

Posted by Nathan

March 4, 2007

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a conference in Orlando. One of the tradeshow booths represented a local marketing company. By the end of the afternoon a friend and I determined that because of their marketing “techniques” at this conference we’d advise others to NOT work this company.

It has nothing to do with the people exactly, they were friendly (all smiles). They even knew my first name because I visited their booth exactly four times. Why? Because they were giving away free money. Literally.

I “won” $70 by entering a plexiglass booth where Monopoly money was flying around with a few real dollar bills… all I had to do was catch the real ones… and I did.

So, why would I never approach this company to do my marketing? Because in exchange for $70 they got NOTHING from me. Not my last name, my email address, my phone number, my company name… nothing.

I’m curious how many other “marketing companies” are this stupid, but then I’m reminded about Institutional Advertising in general. We see it all over the place: billboards, magazines, business cards, the Yellow Pages… everywhere. Advertising that doesn’t make an effort to track if it’s working or not.

Don’t throw your advertising dollars away… and don’t give them away while expecting nothing in return. Track everything you do. Offer a free bonus in exchange for the tracking code at the bottom of your next ad. Get an exclusive phone number for the next campaign. Just do something that tells how people found out about your business. It’s the only real way to know if you’re getting your money’s worth.