Track Your Promotions for Success
ByDo you know if your promotion was truly a success? How do you track what you did and what you want to change next time? A promotions binder will do just that! And as a year end thank you to all my subscribers, I have included a free template that I use to record my promotional success on.
While I was working on call script about specials and promotional ideas for the F2.8 Protégé Club, I was perusing my old three ring binders for the promotions that I wanted to talk about. It is such a valuable tool, so I wanted to share the concept with you.
My promotions binders have also become a business history and a scrap book of sorts. I found it interesting and mildly entertaining to go back to the very beginning of my studio and see what I did. It brought back a lot of memories and makes me appreciate how far I have come as well.
- I use a basic three ring binder with sheet protectors to keep all of the following information in:
- I keep a hard copy of each brochure, postcard, price list, and sales letter of every thing I have ever done in this binder.
- I record how many pieces I print, the number I mail out, the number I handed out or left at other businesses. I recorded how much money I spent on the piece and how much the postage was if I did a mailing.
- I also recorded the expenses, the income, the results, and the referrals that came doing the promotion.
- I made notes of what I learned. Some of my older notes were hand written and quite entertained me sixteen years later. The things I know and understand now seem so easy, but were really big revelations at the time I was discovering them. I even had notes what the current popular movies were at the time that were the conversation topics with the children.
- I made notes about what I would change next time I did the promotion.
- One promotion I did, I even kept a 5×7 fiber based image I printed myself. The little boy in the photo is still a client today!
- I have a photo of the final display board that was on display in the sponsor’s locations.
- A copy of the follow up thank you letters to sponsors and judges of the event.
I also find it interesting to see how, with the improvements in technology and my skills, the look of the pieces have changed over the years.
I suggest you keep records similar to this. It does not have to be fancy; it is for your eyes only. It may prove to be valuable to you in more than one way.
