Do you check your marketing spend?
“Half my advertising budget is wasted – the trouble is I don’t know which half.”
This quote has been attributed to more than one famous name, but it’s most likely by Lord Leverhulme, founder of Lever Brothers.
It’s a common problem, but one that’s solvable with no great expense. Conducting a little survey research with your customers will allow you to discover how they found you. You’ll then be able to decide which media channels to spend your budget on, and how you should split your budget between them.
Going one little step further will also tell you how to reach your target audience in the most cost-effective way, minimising your cost of acquisition and wasted spending.
Survey research helps to prevent wasted budget
It’s a sensible idea to conduct research – as far as possible – to ensure your advertising message is understood by your potential buyers. One of the first things I learnt in research was that many of those in your target audience will misunderstand you. Before investing in print, airtime or social media, a quick test of your creative will let you know if the right message is being received.
Survey research can also identify that your message may not be the only thing that’s unclear. I was bemused a couple of weeks ago to hear a radio advert for an exciting new service. It was an interesting ad, but the brand name was unintelligible. I eventually managed to work out who the advertiser was and duly informed them – they were grateful for me pointing it out (or maybe they were just being polite to a busybody).
It reminded me of a time, many years ago, when a company I worked for decided to start advertising one of its brands on radio. They borrowed the soundtrack from the brand’s TV advert, but two weeks had gone by before anyone realised the brand name wasn’t mentioned in the soundtrack at all!
Always keep a small proportion of your marketing budget for survey research
I can’t stress enough how important survey research can be. A quick survey, created within a few hours using Survey Mechanics, can help you to head down the correct advertising track, and avoid all the trial and error of spending on the wrong media and delivering the wrong message.
What value should you put on research? The truth is, it’s priceless!
Further information
If you’d like to find out more about Survey Mechanics, visit our Survey Mechanics page, or contact us on one of the following:
- Tel: +44 (0)1992 661244
- Email: enquiries@avrion.co.uk
- Web form here
- Subscribe to our YouTube channel
