Many companies use coupons, presumable counting the number of coupons presented from each type of media to judge their effectiveness (not sure how you do this with radio unless you have a special deal if you "tell them that DoDo the DJ sent you!).

When new clients call...I always ask them where they got my name. It's very hard to track otherwise. Just this week I had a new customer call. When I asked, she said " I met you a year ago at your garden show booth." I've had other clients clip out my newspaper ad ( which I run only a few times a year), hang on to it for a few YEARS...then call me! Most of my referrals are word of mouth and if I get an especially good one from a former client or fellow designer, I send them a card or a small thank-you gift.

I use the coupon method in newspapers and when I send a mailing I put in something about bringing the postcard for a discount or gift or something along that line. Best advertising I receive is word of mouth, it is great to have a new customer tell me that they saw a beautiful plant in someone's yard or someone recommended my farm to them. Advertising is so expensive, I feel you really need to track it to see if it is worthwhile.

Thanks for the replies. The coupon idea may be the best method that we can use for hardcopy advertising. Radio needs to be included in the evaluation because one of the things we need to determine is whether radio is as effective as newspaper for the same expenditure. We have been spending thousands on one particular radio station which isn't even in the top 10 Arbitron rated stations for our area and yet we keep spending on a "Hunch" that it is reaching our customers better. Any ideas on getting radio feedback?

I used to work in radio, and spent years in public relations and mass communicatsion after that.

My experience has been that radio is too ephemeral to make an impact on listeners, especially on the mass-market conglomerate stations that play the same stuff (with local news plopped in) in different cities.

Small local radio stations, where they still survive, are the exception. They usually have relatively small but loyal audiences, largely of older listeners, who value relationships with local businesses. It would be worth trying you small local broadcaster if you have one, but I would avoid the big city stations. Also, I'd stick with "general interest" stations that mix music, news, variety and local color -- as opposed to talk radio (avoid like the plague), sports, religious content radio and other narrow-interest stations.

If you follow Cad's advice, you may want one of the familiar radio personalities to be the voice. I know my mother always views the local talk guy's recommendations as if it were her best friend sharing a good business experience with her. Sometimes they believe the personality is speaking from the heart rather than a script.

Maybe Cady has a more experienced view of this notion that might support or dismiss it.

Laag, that's right on the money. Local stations with local personalities have loyal listeners who feel a connection to the personalities, and by association, the businesses that sponsor them. They really do look at the radio hosts as personal friends and trust their recommendations.

If you are fortunate enough to still have this kind of station in your area, that would be the place to experiment with advertising. If you do, you will need to do enough radio "spots" (ads) to make an impact on listeners. For example, have two 30-second spots daily on a popular personality's program. Do this for at least a month (minimum) so your business name sticks in people's heads. Then do follow-up ads throughout the season if you can afford it. If you have weekly specials, that's a good gimmick to make each week's ads fresh and give people and incentive to visit you. Make sure you give an address in the ad, and if possible, a landmark so folks can find you (eg: "You'll find Moser's Nursery at 100 Jackson-Perkins Avenue, across from the Old Fire Tower. Open daily from 8 to 5...")

A caution: Many people try radio ads briefly, buying maybe a week's worth once-a-day spots. The key to successful radio advertising is frequency of repetition - people have to hear an ad a minimum of 6 times before the message really sinks in (including getting all the info about product, the business address and hours, etc.). Keep in mind that in print advertising, you can clip out the ad and refer to it whenever you want. Radio, again, is ephemeral. It's easy to miss snippets of important info when you're listening, and you can't go back and retrieve it. Too many businesses are reluctant or unable to spend the money it takes to make radio advertising pay off.

I noticed recently that our local movie theater is showing local ads on the big screen before the movie begins. The companies I've seen advertising are small and local, so my guess is it can't be terribly expensive, They are repeated several times and run for at least 30 seconds each time...plenty of time to jot down a name and number and, with nothing else to do at that time, the audiences seems to reading them all. Most people go to the movies at least once in a while...so to me this may have possibilities to target local business.

Movie goers are such a varied audience, so you'd want to choose films that tend to attract horticulturally minded people to get the most bang for your advertising buck. Like, run an ad when The Constant Gardener is playing.

Just kidding. Couldn't resist. :-D

A lot of us movie goers resent paying to watch those ads on the screen. More than once, I've told myself I would never patronize the businesses advertized there.

I recently heard about a garden center who wanted to measure the impact of their radio advertising. (Forgive blurry details.) On a weekday afternoon, their radio spot said that anyone who comes to the garden center between 11am and 12pm could have as much free bagged topsoil as they could load into their own car in 15 seconds. I think they went through about 9 pallets. Cheap solution? Not necessarily, though an immediate call to action is a GREAT idea that you could tailor to your own budget or resources. The one time investment of whatever product/service you choose to give away could be worth the expense if saving thousands thrown away in the future on an advertising schedule/medium that isn't working.