A few years ago, a new client asked me to help identify the most effective advertising and marketing channel for their event. The channels included both online and traditional media.
At the time, the client did not have any tracking systems setup. Not even the basics. No promo codes, nothing. They didn't even have Google Analytics installed on their event website. Thus, any type of tracking analysis was complicated, to say the least.
During my initial advertising and marketing audit, I found one advertising channel where the client was spending almost USD 30,000 cash. That cash expenditure was a huge slice of their marketing budget. After some digging, I made the following recommendation to the client, "don't renew your $30K contract."
I believe one of the easiest ways to track marketing and advertising effectiveness is through elimination. Here's a straightforward question to ask, "Can we prove that this piece of advertising/marketing is working?"
If you or your team cannot respond with a resounding "yes!" and hard supporting data, drop it! My rationale was simple. Neither I, nor the client, could attribute a single ticket sale to the $30K of cash the client was investing.
Based on my recommendation, the client re-invested their $30K into another marketing channel. That new channel returned to the client over seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Furthermore, the client's event increased ticket sales by 40%. All while eliminating advertising.
Make sure you're always challenging your marketing and advertising spend! It's something I encourage you to do after every event.
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