Track Your Marketing For $80 a Year - Or Less

By Scott A Gardner

Landing pages are great.  You can - and should - set one up for each different ad or content marketing effort you put out on the 'net.  Landing (or squeeze) pages are the Holy Grail when it comes to automatically adding contacts to your marketing & sales funnel.  But sometimes, the content just doesn't lend itself to a simple "give me your lead magnet" email exchange.  Sometimes, the prospect just has to call you.

But how do you know which ad the prospect is responding to?

Add One Number
Let's say you've put out two different ads - one that offers to remove a prospects pain with your solution, and one that promises to add pleasure with the same solution.  You ARE offering you target market prospects those two choices, aren't you?  Sure, you've got two landing pages, but what if you want a hot prospect to actually call you?

For one ad, you can use your business phone number.  Many folks are using some flavor of Android phone, or maybe an iPhone, for their business.  You could ask your provider for a 2nd phone and line, but that's probably at least $10/month, plus the cost of the 2nd phone.  And carrying one phone, and keeping it charged, is enough of a hassle.  Why would you want to juggle two phones?

One very inexpensive solution is to add a Google Voice number.  You can download the app to your iPhone or Android smartphone from the app store.  Setting up a number is free and easy, provided you have a Google account (a gmail address, for instance).  Then, you publish your "real" number on one landing page or ad, and the second, virtual number on the other ad.  Depending on which number rings on your phone, you'll know which ad they're responding to.

And don't worry if you're using a landline for your business phone - you can set up the Google Voice number to ring through an Internet-connected computer!

Adding Five Numbers
Okay, let's say you want to keep your main business number to yourself.  Or maybe you've got several ads in rotation, but you still want to track phone response.  Then pick a service that will let you add multiple incoming - and outgoing - lines to your cell phone.  (You could also use one of these apps to run multiple small businesses with one smartphone, but that's another article.)

My favorite is Flyp.  For $7.99 a month in the US, or $79 annually, you can get up to five different phone numbers for your smart phone, in addition to your "real" number.  That way, you can truly dedicate a single number to each marketing effort, and track how well they pull in calls.  List one number on the Add Pleasure landing page, and a totally different number at the end of the Remove Pain copy.  Flyp works with both Android and iPhones.  Get the app from you phone's app store.

Make A Mark
Someone once said, "Marketing is measuring."  While I agree up to a point, I'd say that before you can measure, you have to track.  Landing pages and automated list building really help you do that on-line, but when you set up different phone numbers for each ad, make sure you track the quantity of incoming calls to each number.  That way at the end of the month, or at the end of the promotion, you can tell which set of content drew in the most calls.

Offering a "mailing code," or a special discount coupon code, is a tried and true method to help direct mailers track the results of their marketing efforts.  It beats remembering to ask, "So where did you find us?"  Having a different number assigned to each ad will help you track those results as well.  You can keep a small notepad tucked into a pocket and put a check mark next to the appropriate number after each call, or keep track in a text file or spreadsheet on your smartphone.

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Scott Gardner is the founder of boutique firm Agile' Marketing Services, LLC. They specialize in working with their clients to become Recognized Experts, and using that status to leverage the clients' marketing efforts. For more information, please visit http://www.AgileMarketingServices.com.