85: Where Should You Advertise?

Last year about this time, the National Auctioneers Association (NAA) asked me to fill in for Mark Stevens, author of “Your Marketing Sucks,” for two seminars at their International Conference & Show.  That was an honor, as I agree with much of Stevens’ evangelism for advertising that pays for itself—advertising measured by return on investment (ROI).

So, it makes sense that this year the NAA asked me to develop a new talk for the auction industry on advertising measurement.  I responded, “Sure, but I’d need less than 10 minutes of the hour and a half you’re giving me.”

See, the only metric that should inform your future advertising is the collective answer to one question: “How do my bidders hear about my auctions?”

It doesn’t matter how big the circulation of a newspaper is, if nobody comes to your auction from newsprint.  It doesn’t matter how many people are on your mailing list, email list, or Facebook fan list—if they don’t become bidders.  The same holds true for websites, TV & radio outlets, etc.

I’ve witnessed what quite possibly could have been flukes in auction advertising—like 75% of the bidders from one auction coming from 4% of the budget or 88% of bidders at another auction having seen the direct mail piece.  So, before you take drastic measures, know that you should be polling every auction.

First, polling every auction will give you a constantly-expanding sample size.  Second, it will show trends that affect media categories, not just specific newspapers, mailing lists, websites, etc.  Third, it will give you empirical data to show your sellers, when media choices need to be made—especially on tight budgets.  Fourth, your experiments with new media—and there will always be new media—will be often waisted unless they are measured.

All media are not created equal, but few are worth nothing.  The results of your polling won’t necessarily show you media to replace as much as ratios of spending.  It’s wise to cover as many applicable media as possible in your advertising campaign, just not to throw money after bad.  Maybe it’s adjusting newsprint to line ads or only asset-based publications—or placing bigger ads in the newspapers that generate the most bidders.  Maybe it’s segmenting your mailing list into smaller target groups or moving your direct mail from brochures to postcards—or conversely, spending more money on more indelible impressions.  Most websites are built on a “freemium” model with varying levels of listing emphasis or banner placement; polling can tell you which sites earn the costly upgrades and which are just bases covered.  Even if nobody comes from seeing signs on our properties, that doesn’t mean we don’t put any signs on our subject properties—just less-expensive signs.

Some media will be in the budget simply to show the breadth of your campaign—to assuage sellers.  But the majority of your sellers’ advertising dollars need to be going to higher ROI media, and you need to be able to sell and defend your suggested advertising outlays.

At my seminars, I’ve met auction marketers who bought into this idea before they heard it from me.  They had spreadsheets showing medium-by-medium comparison for each of their auctions.  The insight gained from these proves a competitive advantage for them.  They aren’t operating on hunches or anecdotal feedback.  They can prove they spend money wisely and efficiently.  Tell me that confidence and reality wouldn’t help you at your next proposal presentation.

It’s not difficult to gather this information.  You should already have an advertising budget with each medium listed.  As each bidder registers, hand them a simple (required) checklist of these media under the simple question, “How did you hear about this auction?” It will get you results to load into an Excel or Access file.  Some auction reporting software and website administration areas have the capacity to store and query this or you.  Your office server/computer or cloud storage area definitely does.

It’s not intrusive to ask this question.  Lots of businesses ask this question on their websites when you order products or services.  And they’re smart to do so.  It’s one of those questions that can make or break your business.  How often are you asking it?
[tip]

I’ve heard pastors claim God’s presence in their churches due to their congregation sizes.  Ironically enough, I’ve heard both ends of the spectrum.  (1) How small their assembly is: “Narrow is the way.” (2) How large their audience is: “It’s obvious that God is doing something big here.”  I’ve been a weekly attender of churches with fewer than 40 attendees and those with more than 4,000—and various sizes in between.  The spiritual temperature amongst those assembled varied as much as the number of chairs.

Both of these contradictory metrics of God’s approval and presence cannot be exclusively right.  Maybe neither of them are right.

Quantity doesn’t show God’s presence, even though life requires growth at some level.  The barometer I’ve grown to prefer is life change.  That’s less concrete than number of raised hands or baptized bodies or funds raised or decision cards filed.  It’s people saying yes to God and surrendering things they previously held.  That’s reclamation, restoration—new life.  And that doesn’t fit in a spreadsheet or Gallup poll.  It makes comparison with other churches difficult, if not impossible.

On the personal level, it doesn’t matter how many verses you’ve memorized or how many straight Sundays you’ve walked through church doors.  For the Christ-follower, the ROI of the Holy Spirit’s investment in our lives is measured in part by a few non-exhaustive questions:
“When God speaks to me, what do you do with it?”
“How long does it take me to do it?”
“When was the last time I felt prompted by him?”

You can’t copy those answers from someone else.  You can’t even use your own answers from last year or a decade ago.  It’s a real-time metric—and that’s one of the things that makes the spiritual journey such a challenge: it’s a constantly-upward hike.

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