Continuous Tracking: Are You Being Followed? (Chapter 13)

The latest software for continious ad tracking (Like we don't have enough to keep track of)

Advertisers use different methods of research to determine whether or not their ads are effective.  One of the most cost effective methods is continuous monitoring.  This method is also very effective for tracking their competitor’s activities as well.   Continuous monitoring is achieved by conducting weekly surveys, which provide advertisers with information about consumer behavior.  This information can also reveal what ads weren’t effective and give advertisers insight as to why the ads didn’t work.

Most of the tracking surveys are performed weekly and various methods such as Internet (the most effective), telephone, in-person and direct mail are used to accumulate as much information as possible about a particular ad or product.  This information can also let an advertiser know if their competitors ads were more successful and give them an opportunity to react rather quickly instead of waiting until the next quarter’s financial results are released.

The main purpose of continuous tracking for advertisers is to determine what works and what doesn’t work, so that they can direct their money and efforts in the right direction.  The objective then becomes to do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.  The main reason continuous tracking works is because it provides a “time dimension” in other words it allows advertisers to see when exactly behavior changed and they can attribute those changes to real time events.

There are several products on the market that can help advertisers with continuous tracking if they are unable to perform this function in-house: http://www.maintrax.com/ and   http://www.adtrackingsoftware.com/ are two examples. 

 Chapter Highlights:

• Continuous tracking can play a pivotal role as an early warning system to let advertisers know when their efforts have failed or if their competitors are winning
• Continuous tracking reveals changing patterns in consumer behavior
• Continuous tracking allows advertisers to encapsulate consumer information into a useful database
• Continuous tracking via the web is easier, quicker and can provide even better information