Costs
What is usually the most effective and cost effective form of advertising?
In my experience, the advertising vehicle should be matched to the area being covered. In other words, we have found it necessary to research the distance and number of each one (i.e. newspaper circulation, number of households for direct mail [average income, housing costs, median education, etc.], market coverage of TV stations, etc.). Our most efficient vehicle has been the newspaper when the ad is located in or near the classified section.
Almost across the board right now Internet leads are the lowest CPL and CPS lead source. There can be a wide difference in the conversion rate depending on the source. As a catagory though it is consistently the most efficient we are seeing.
In Dallas we have a very competitive market. We have found when it comes to advertising, the internet and local freebie papers are the most economical source of leads. However you cannot beat referrals of all kinds and personally developed leads obtained during the initial phone conversation or during the interview. We convert almost 40% of those leads.
Referrals and PDLs are one of the best sources of leads and converting 40% of them is fantastic! Do you also remarket to your leads that have not enrolled? That is another cost effective, higher converting lead source.
Absolutely, we redistribute all leads after 40 days and all leads if not enrolled become part of our permanant data base, until either the address and phone # are no longer good. We currently work three years worth of leads.
We are finding that in Detroit we must specifically gear the marketing structure for the area. Advertising in Flint and Lansing is completely different from that in Detroit. This is due to demographic chnages in age, education, and monetary means.
Refferals, PDL's, "word of mouth" have always been the best way to obtain SOLID leads.
Email newsletters and any other kind of direct contact marketing.
In my opinion, before answering this question, I think you would first have to ask yourself this question: Who is your target audience? The most effective and cost effective form of advertising depends on who's attention you are trying to get.
Naturally, before asking who your target audience is, I would say that the most effective and cost effective form of advertising is the internet. Internet is one of the lowest cost of advertising since everything is done online as opposed to externally.
Also, there is SEO (search engine optimization) and other advantages of online advertising because you can specifically advertise to others based on there search, there search history, and so forth.
Grass Roots Marketing and/or Advertising
Investing in your students and the surrounding neighbothood is the most cost effective form of advertising. It also ensures positive imaging of business locally and ensures results when implemented effectively for a long time.
We are a small school. Most of our students come from word of mouth. We handle all our advertising in-house with mail-outs and mass emails. We don't have a large advertising budget so I don't believe this course benefits us a whole lot. Should we be doing more?
