Expert: Peter Gabany - 7/5/2004

Question
If I a mgoing to advertise in the magazine, how are we going to know the advertisement is effective, any method to measure?

Thanks

Answer
Jensen,

This is where advertising gets expensive because no one wants to take the time to do it. Measurement of magazine advertising has taken a real turn since 1998 and the rapid adoption of the internet. We were mid campaign with a B2B client and found our numbers of inquiry drop from an average of 60 leads to 8 leads in general.

The client wanted answers and felt we needed to alter publications… IMMEDIATELY! Publications that proved as regular as the sun rising. But we were stumped. I spoke with a media rep out of New York and she stated that this trend was happening all over and the onlyh thing that they could advise was that people were doing their inquiry through the web.

The client requested (we believe this was a wrong approach) that we remove the web address on the next set of ads seemingly to see if phone inquiry would rise. Well they did - about 18 calls per publication. But this was nowhere near the 60-average that we enjoyed months earlier.

We then offered to set up Internet measurement. Luckily we were able to obtain the web logs of approximately 1-year prior. When we ran the logs through the measurement tools we became VERY surprised.

Each month we ran print advertising the site traffic escalated – sharply. We looked at site traffic that went from roughly 170 visits per month to well over 800.

Why am I telling you all of this?

1./ Every company that believes that they are not getting bang for their buck have another anomaly to consider – before it was either the publication (media) choice or the creative that had to be adjusted to increase bang for the buck. Now when we have other channels of inquiry we need to watch these for month-to-month change. You need to adopt a system to measure this.

2./ The internet is NOT the answer to all prayers. People are reading publications more and more. The number of publications has increased considerably in just two years. Magazine advertising is STILL relevant and viable.

3./ The internet is a VERY important tool. It is NOW very integrated to all channels of marketing. Assuming that you have a website, it is important that you have measurement tools applied to your site and that people are monitoring this intel for signs of increased inquiry.

4./ CRM – Customer Relationship Management – is all the rage in today's business circles. But most CRM is directed from the organization out and from the customer in gets ignored. Systems must be put in place to direct all sales inquiry to determine the source of the first touch point from your prospect.

To ignore these steps and determine that print advertising should be tossed out in the scheme of marketing efforts can cause tremendous damage. To not be in a publication, where you have been often can broadcast the wrong message – you are out of business! It can be the same when you decide that a trade show should be abandoned.

Now, is there any other way to measure print advertising? Rates and sales are based on impressions made through the amount of circulation, reach, frequency, readers per copy and centers of influence… (i.e.: Official publication for the Pipe Fitters of America). These numbers are achieved by registered publications by Auditing bodies. There numbers are accurate, but how they are interpreted are the media persons magic and this is what you pay a commission for – Media planning.

They, if they are doing their job, will look at Brand Development Indices, market Development Indices to determine if you products/service have a place in specific publications. They will marry this intel with available publications (and other media) to deliver bang for buck objectives.

This is a topic that comes up everyday in agencies across the nation. It is complex, it is NOT independent of external influence. All measurement must be turned from the notion of the cost of doing business to delivering measurable results. But rest assured print advertising is far from dead.

If I can be of further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact me again. We make these decisions daily for our clients. If you would like, we could look deeper into your specific situation.

Pete Gabany