In the 1800s, there was a very successful merchant, religious leader, and political figure by the name of John Wanamaker.
John was also considered to be a ‘pioneer in marketing’, paving the way for advertisers who would come after him. He was “the first retailer to place a half-page newspaper ad (1874) and the first full-page ad (1879)”, and was the first business to hire a full-time copywriter!
He also innovated in other ways, such as creating the price tag and the money-back guarantee that remains a staple in marketing campaigns over 100 years after his death.
Despite all these accomplishments, John Wanamaker is most famous in the world of sales and marketing for a timeless quote of his:
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half”.
Before digital marketing, tracking campaigns and gathering data was nearly impossible. Millions were spent – and lost – on advertising, since there was simply no way to know exactly where each dollar was going and the amount of money in sales it was producing.
Most advertisers went by the ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’ mentality. If the campaign was making money overall, what did it matter that only half of the ads were profitable?
Advertising Budgets Remain Wasted
A 2016 Forbes article discussed a “Philadelphia Wharton marketing professor Peter Fader”, who found that a “very small proportion of your current and potential customers account for a very large proportion of your profitability”.
The solution?
Focus only on those customers that produce the majority of your profits from advertising.
Why Campaign Tracking Is Essential
It is likely that your business may be spending money on advertising that isn’t bringing returns.
This is why rigorous tracking is absolutely necessary. After all, digital marketing makes it easier than ever to see exactly where your customers are coming from and from which of your marketing efforts.
So, campaign tracking is the only way to eliminate the issue John Wanamaker experienced over a century ago… knowing which half of your marketing budget is producing results, and which is wasting your business’s precious ad spend.
Track Campaigns With New Dashboard From Digital Marketing Agency Adelaide
Marketing Catalyst has released a brand new Bespoke Dashboard for Traffic & Leads.
The dashboard helps businesses figure out where each dollar of their as spend is going and provides helpful insights to help you ‘double down’ on what’s working.
The recording system makes lead tracking automatic, minimizing the labor involved with tracking, and makes it easier than ever before to get a comprehensive ‘birds-eye’ view of your marketing campaigns.
Working with Marketing Catalyst- advertising agency Adelaide, gives you access to this reporting dashboard, so you can see where your ad spend is going and how it’s performing.
Learn more about Marketing Catalyst and the reporting dashboard here.
