On the topic of advertising, I'm often asked how can you determine if an ad in a particular magazine or newspaper will work for your business?

Here are my top tips to help you determine if an ad is likely to give you a good return on investment.

1. Who is your target audience? (c'mon – be specific!)

It often surprises me the number of business owners who don't really know who their "perfect client" is. Your target audience is your perfect client – your "A" client. The one you wish all your clients were.

Your perfect client is not everybody. It's not anybody, and it's not somebody. If you define your target audience by beginning with these statements (for example, an IT consultant who says "anybody with a computer" or a Chiropractor who says "everybody with a sore back"), then you haven't done enough digging to determine who your target audience really is.

Without knowing your target audience, you'll have a hard time determining if your advertisement will be in front of people who want your product or service, and who you will benefit from working with.

For our IT consultant a good start to describing their ideal client might be: "Home computer users who keep getting viruses infecting their computer", and for our Chiropractor: "People who sit at their desks all day and often rub the back of their neck because it feels stiff and sore".

2. Who actually reads the magazine or newspaper (or other media) you want to advertise in?

Often an advertising sales person will offer a really great price on an ad because they need to fill the space. But just because it sounds like a great price doesn't mean it's a great opportunity for your business.

I recently had a client who was offered a full page advertisement for the price of a half page in a local "free" magazine delivered to homes around Brisbane. But my client's business was selling high-end properties to professional investors. Yes, it's very possible that a proportion of the readership were wealthy, professional people who would flick through the magazine while watching TV after long day at the office, on the off-chance of finding the perfect next addition to their property portfolio. But would these people be the majority of readers?

Even though the price is great, the advertising sales person doesn't necessarily know or understand your target audience – and it's entirely possible they just need to sell the space they have available and will call around their contacts until they do.

You need to really consider if the people who see your advertisement will actually be inclined to purchase your product or service. You may even decide you'd be better off spending that money in a different publication (although you might have to pay full price, the return on investment will be greater if you're in front of the right readers).

;3. What do you want your ad to achieve?

For your ad to be effective, you need to be clear about what you want the ad to do for your business.

• Do you want enquiries?
• Do you want people to call and order, or book an appointment?
• Do you want people to get more information from your website?
• Are you announcing a brand new product or service?
• Have you just won an award that you want people to know about?
• Are you having a sale or are you offering a great discount?
• Do you just want people to know you're there?

The reason behind your ad will determine what your headline will be, the wording and information you should include and most importantly – the call to action.

If you haven't clearly identified what you want people who see your ad to do once they've seen it, then it's highly likely you'll be disappointed in the outcome.

Don't assume that people will just "know" what to do – you need to tell them specifically what to do next. The only way you'll be able to do this is to be clear in the first place about the action that needs to be taken.

4. Response versus investment

Ultimately, the whole point of advertising (and indeed marketing) is to generate business for you.

How many enquiries/orders/bookings/conversions do you need for your ad to pay for itself, and generate a profit? Do you think the ad will be able to generate the desired return?

If the estimated number of people who will see your ad is 500, and you need 100 enquiries in order to recoup the money you spend on the ad, is it likely that 20% of the people who see your ad will want your product or service, take action on it and be in a position to buy?

Regardless of the cost of your ad, you need to ensure the return on investment is worth the cost of the ad – none of us are bottomless pits of money that we can spend willy-nilly, right?!

5. Can you afford your ad?

If you've already spent your advertising budget (or you don't have one full-stop) then you need to seriously consider if you can afford your ad.

This goes hand-in-hand with Tip 4 above. If you truly anticipate your ad will do more than pay for itself then it could be a great opportunity, but when you're on-the-spot with a great price for an ad it's easy to be swayed to spend money you simply don't have. It's important to consider all the options and make an informed decision that's true to your business, so don't be afraid to have a quick think before giving an answer.

To be honest, I'm a cautious type, and believe that if you can't afford to pay upfront for your ad and you're not sure if your response will be exceptional, then perhaps it's worth keeping your money in your pocket for another, better opportunity.

6. One Message – do you hear me – one message!

We can easily be tempted to squeeze as much information into one ad, in an effort to get more "bang for buck".

Unfortunately all this ends up doing is making it hard for people to read the information – or worse, they completely overlook it because it's too confusing.

Ads in newspapers and magazines can be quite expensive compared to other marketing activities, and the comparative size can be pretty small. You can also be competing with a number of ads on the same page (even ads from your competitors!).

This is one instance where less can certainly be more. Pay attention to ads that grab your attention. What is it about them that you notice? Large image, strong headline, clear call to action and I'll bet: one clear message.

Take the time to consider what the people who see your ad will be most interested in and focus only on that: your ad will have more cut-through (and hopefully more response) than other ads in the same publication or media that are cluttered and confusing.

7. Track how your ad goes

Finally, in order to work out if an ad works (and therefore might be worth doing again) you need to have a way to track the response.

Advertising and marketing is all about calculating risk vs return, but how do you know the return if you can't account for it?

One of my favourite sayings:

"The good news is 50% of my advertising is working, the problem is I don't know which 50% it is".

Simple response tracking methods include:

• Setting up a special email address for enquiries from different ads
• Featuring different codes on each ad that must be quoted to receive a discount or offer
• Directing people to a different page on your website (instead of the home page) and seeing how many hits that page receives when your ad runs
• Or, you could simply ask each and every enquiry where they heard about you when they call or email you. Just make sure that you keep a tally or record so you can compare different ads, different days of the week and different times of year.

This information will help you discover what advertising works for your business and what doesn't.

Armed with real figures, you will quickly be able to work out if an advertising opportunity is likely to be a good investment, and you'll also ensure your the money you spend on advertising is money well spent.