Use magazine promotional codes to track magazine ads.
When advertising a promotion, such as a special sale or coupon in a magazine, you must create magazine promotion codes to track advertising success. Promotional codes enable you to track which media sources bring in the most customers and which advertisement copy produces the most sales. Include the code on magazine coupons, so that when customers purchase products using the coupons, you can track where the coupon originated from. Use this data to optimize your marketing efforts and produce effective advertising.
Promotional codes consist of a series of letters and numbers, each representing a different ad component. For example, a promotional code of "X0810" may represent an advertisement in the August 2010 issue of Magazine X.
Instructions
1. Create a list of important advertising variables that you intend to track. For example, if you advertise in several magazines, then the magazine name is a variable to track. Common variables to track include magazine name, publication date, product advertised and type of promotion.
2. Decide how many characters you need to represent each variable within the promotional code. Following the example in Step 1, you will need to decide on the number of characters to represent the magazine name, publication date, product and promotion.
Each variable option will need its own unique code, so the number of characters needed to represent the variable depends on the number of options for the given variable. For example, if you only advertise in five magazines, then one character for magazine name will suffice since you can easily think of a single unique character for each magazine. If you advertise in 50 magazines, you will want 2 characters for magazine name so that each magazine can have a unique code.
3. Make a list of variables along with the number of code characters representing the variable, using the following format:
Magazine name = 2 characters
Publication date = 4 characters
Product = 2 characters
Promotion = 2 characters
4. Add up the total number of characters in Step 3 in order to come out with a the total number of characters within the promotional code. In this example, the total number of characters would be ten (two + four + two + two).
5. Set up a standard for the order in which you list variables within the promotional code. Do not mix up the order of characters since this will make tracking results difficult. Using the example in Step 3 the first two characters will always represent magazine, the next four characters will always represent publication date, the next two will always represent product and the last two will always represent promotion.
6. Think of a unique code for each variable option. For example, think of a unique code for each magazine name. For a magazine named "Advanced Equipment," you can use initials "AE" as the unique code. For a magazine named "Sunday Reading," choose "SR" as the unique code.
For publication date and other numerical fields, you do not need to think of a code for each number, but think of a standard technique you will always use to decide on the unique code. In the example of publication date, you can decide that the unique code would always consist of two digits representing the month and two digits representing the year. If the publication date is March 2010, then the unique code would be 0310.
7. Compile a list of all unique codes to use as a reference guide. Each time you advertise in a magazine, refer to the list of codes to come up with a promotional code for that magazine advertisement. Select the appropriate code for each advertising variable and then combine them together to come out with the full promotional code.
For example, if you advertise 25% off widgets in the April 2010 edition of "Sunday Reading," and your magazine code for "Sunday Reading" is "SR"; your publication date standard code for April 2010 is "0410;" your product code for widgets is "WI"; and your promotion code for 25% off is "25," then your complete promotional code would be "SR0410WI25."
Tags: unique code, promotional code, publication date, number characters, will always, always represent