post

“Half my advertising works, I just don’t know which half?”

But times have on and it is now a phrase than can only be used by uninformed business owners.

For the rest of us, we can get a pretty good handle on most, if not all, of our advertising with a little tool call Tracking Numbers..

What’s it all About?

Tracking numbers is simply a telephone call tracking service that allows you to track and monitor how many calls you received from each individual advert or piece of marketing that you do.

How’s it work?

You acquire a set of new, different phone numbers- and you point them all at your existing phone line. It’s really easy to do.

Don’t panic. YOU DON’T HAVE TO CHANGE YOUR PHOE LINE,OR YOUR PHONE PROVIDER AND YOUR EXISTING NUMBER STILL WORKS AS WELL.

Everything stays the same. Your existing phone rings in just the same way. You answer it in the same way. The only difference is that now you know which advert or piece of marketing generated each call- because you can go online and see, instantly, at any time of day or night, how many calls you’ve received on which numbers.

Let me give you an example. Let’s say I run a catering business. I have an advert in the Yellow Pages, I also have ads in three other local magazines, I have a website that I drive traffic to via Pay Per Click, I have a brochure and also cards that I leave at all my events.

That’s 7 separate pieces of marketing:

1. Yellow Pages
2. Chamber Of Commerce Diary
3. Website
4. Magazine A
5. Magazine B
6. Brochure

With Tracking Number, I’ll buy 7 separate phone numbers- all with STD numbers and I’ll allocate one phone number to each stream of marketing. Then I’ll know for sure, over time, exactly which bits of marketing are working best for me. I’ll keep my existing number as well, so any existing customers can still call me on that and all these new numbers will ring on my existing phone line (I don’t have seven phones!).

Simples!

Seriously, it works like a dream- and it’s one of the most under-used tools available to businesses in the UK.

Other Benefits

For instance, when you log on to check your stats it will also tell you how many calls you failed to answer. Imagine that. You’ve placed an ad, a potential customer has seen it, called you up.. But no one picked up the phone. You’ll know exactly how many calls you’re not answering.

What phone numbers are tracking numbers available on?

Three different types of numbers are available:

1. Normal UK 01 and 02 Numbers- These numbers can be pointed to any existing landlines or Mobil and are perfect if you want to keep your local image. ( they’re also great to help you appear local in another area…if you’re looking to expand!!)
2. 0800 Free Phone Numbers- These numbers are free to call ( although most mobile networks in the UK charge to make calls to 0800 numbers).
3. 0845 Local Rate Numbers- These numbers are classed as local rate number but it does cost around 3.5p per minute to the caller from most landlines.

How Much will it cost?

The table below highlights all the costs associated with every number range- and the savings you’ll get as a Chamber Member compared to the standard rates:

How do I order Tracking Numbers?

Get in touch with One Source Communications on 0800 1244421

Or, If you prefer email info@onesourcecommunications.co.uk