If you are advertising and not using call tracking to monitor your success, you are missing a valuable tool to manage the success and effectiveness of your investment.

Most small businesses place ads, and have no idea if they are working, they just have a "hope" and "sense" that the ad is pulling or not.  

Call tracking brings reality into the equation and numbers don't lie.  

So why isn't everyone using call tracking?  It's something Hollywood Gazette offers with a minimum of a 3 month commitment for a quarter page color.   Other publications charge upwards of $350 / month for the service.   But most advertisers are leary of placing a number in their ad that is not theirs.  

I see it month after month, we offer it and explain the benefits and they decline.    Call tracking is just purchasing a unique phone number that forawards to your number so that you can get a report of who called from the ad, how long the call lasted, and even record the calls.

If the fear is that a third party (like Hollywood Gazette) will own the number and manage it's exisitence, that is understandable.  But it shouldn't limit you from managing it on your own.  There are a number of great sites that offer this service.  And it's less expensive than one would think.  The one we use is http://callfire.com.  

I encourage every advertiser to use a call tracking number because I am confident in the effectiveness of our circulation and distribution.  Advertisers get great results when they are offering a product or service that our audience is interested in and have an effective ad.

I've seen a small black and white ad get more calls on it's first insertion than a full page color ad.   So while size does matter, it's also what you are offering and how the offer is presented.  

And the only way to know if your ad is really working is by tracking the calls.   I know, I know -- your office knows to ask "how did you hear of us" and they are all trained to track those notes with each new client and call.  That's truly what you think is happening.

I can tell you my friends, after listening to thousands of recorded calls over the years for many different businesses, I have been shocked to hear how many calls slip through the cracks from voice mail to a rude receptionist.    And contrary to what you think -- most of them are not asking, "How did you hear of us?," unless you are standing over their sholder when the call comes in.

My point is, embrace call tracking.  Repeat what works, eliminate what doesn't so that you are not throwing your money away on advertising that is not effective.