At the absolute minimum, you want to see what kind of inquiries come in from the different marketing vehicles. For example, if you have a seminar, how many registrants were from a chamber flyer? How many were from a small newspaper ad? How many were from doing some outbound telemarketing yourself?

Measuring Response is very important. Here are some ways to do it:

1. Drive them to a specific URL so that you know how many people went to the website.

2. Ask them when you talk to them on the phone where they heard of you.

3. Have them call a specific phone number with a request.

4. Use different response vehicles with different marketing vehicles. For example, the postcards offer a reduced price IT audit and the newspaper ad offers a free seminar.

IT Marketing: Some Real Numbers

So let's say for argument's sake we're mailing 1,000 postcards to 1,000 law offices in the area with some kind of offer like attending a seminar, getting a free report, getting a free needs analysis. I want to know out of those 1,000 postcards how many resulted in an inquiry.

Let's say for argument's sake we got almost a two percent response on inquiry, which would be fantastic. We had a 1.7 percent response rate on inquiries, and out of those 17 inquiries, one materialized into a nice-size account and one materialized into a one-shot deal. So, for 1,000 postcards mailed to attorneys in this area, we got 17 inquiries and we got two business opportunities that equated to $19,500 in the first year.

That's a fantastic return even with list rental, even with printing, even with having it professionally graphic designed, professionally copy written, postage, and everything else that went along with that. For that $500 to $700 investment, you were able to identify a one-shot deal that probably almost covered the cost of your mailing and you found one huge account that paid for the mailing many times over.

The Bottom Line on IT Marketing

Measuring the response rate of your IT marketing is very important. You need to track where and how you spent your IT marketing money and how your ROI was.

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