How to Stay Alive in the Advertising Business

The best kind of advertising is the kind that sells a great product and pays for itself (and then some).
Let’s look at the second part: The ads need to cover their cost.
If you are selling advertising in the Internet age, you need to prove in dollars and cents that it is actually worthwhile. Fortunately this is incredibly easy and inexpensive thanks to Google Analytics.
Woman analyzing advertising results
By putting a bit of code on your shopping cart confirmation page and other important pages, you can track everything:

  1. Exact sales dollars from that particular ad
  2. Visits from that ad
  3. Visits/sales from people who were referred from that ad.

There is no reason to buy advertising from a company based merely on optimism and promises. The advertising company should now be able to show concrete stats or be able to send you to other advertisers who have proven results. If an ad doesn’t pay for itself, stop using it. For four years of my life, I sold “air” — radio air time for thousands of dollars per month. Contrary to conventional wisdom, radio advertising can be tracked quite well and its effect can be seen quickly. Today’s Internet marketing is a slam dunk for track-ability.
If your ads have proven success, you will stay alive as an ad sales person. Otherwise, it is time to find another kind of advertising to sell. In this day and age, the old things don’t work well anymore. Be creative and test some new ideas.
Are you tracking your ads down to the penny?
How do you track it?
If you sell advertising, are you absolutely sure your ad make money for your clients or are you too afraid to ask?

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