There are many marketing options out there, and it can be overwhelming to sift through the information and determine the best fit for your company. There are several key factors to consider that will help you compare apples to apples and identify the most appropriate and effective marketing vehicle for your company and the outcome you are looking to achieve.
1) Define Your Goal Are you looking to generate brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, gain “likes” on Facebook, promote a new product, maximize your trade show investment—or all of the above? Who is your target market? Are you looking to target specific business types or geographic areas? Outlining short- and long-term initiatives will help set the scope for your marketing plan and allow you to evaluate options more effectively.
2) For Print Circulation: Is It Audited? It’s important that your media partner is able to guarantee that your message is reaching the intended audience. The best way to ensure you are connecting with the most qualified, engaged prospects in the industry is to look at a publisher’s audit statement. The auditing process is done through a third party and verifies each reader is a qualified industry professional who is a decision-maker in their company and has requested the publication. View WFB's recent Publisher's Statement and check out the graphic below to see the Wood Floor Business audience breakdown for our printed publication.
3) For a Digital Audience: Evaluate Integrity In today’s world, your prospects are consuming information on many different platforms, from email to websites to social media. To ensure you’re connecting with your best prospects, you must evaluate the integrity of the audience you are paying to reach. Some important questions to ask:
How many visitors and/or page views does a website receive?
How many monthly impressions are your ads guaranteed?
How many qualified industry professionals are on an email list?
How are those lists cultivated and managed?
Have recipients opted in to receive the emails?
What open rate can you expect to receive?
4) Seek Proven Statistics One of the wonderful things about digital advertising is that it is trackable. By asking the questions outlined above, you will have a good idea what to expect going into a campaign. If a media partner is unable to provide you with proven average statistics over a period of time, that should be a red flag. A reputable media partner will often partner with a third party to track the analytics of your campaign and should provide a stat report on a regular basis. Click here to view WFB’s digital stats.
Want to learn more about how Wood Floor Business can help with your marketing needs? Contact:
National Account Manager
(608) 467-1084
Kendra has been dedicated to Wood Floor Business since August of 2010 and worked for our sister publication, Athletic Business, prior to joining the WFB team. A graduate of the University of Minnesota with a B.S. in marketing and a double minor in retail merchandising and business management, she now helps companies recognize opportunities to exceed their sales and marketing objectives. Her passion is helping companies determine a strategic marketing plan to drive sales and help grow their business. In her free time Kendra enjoys being active, traveling, cooking and spending time outdoors with her husband and Harper, their Golden Retriever.