Trusted Canada Blog | Trusted share's absolute proof that being Trusted is the best online choice for reputable local businesses

So does your marketing work? How do YOU measure the effectiveness of the medium and the company that you choose to advertise with ?

Many business owners expect their customers or the public to tell them where they got their names from and how they ended up calling/ visiting them .

The hard fact is, is that it is simply NOT THE CUSTOMERS JOB to remember or even care where they found you or heard about you....so if this is the main way you measure, you need to re think your position!

Of course we understand the need to know what works and what doesn't work, especially for the small- medium businesses with limited marketing $'s to invest, local businesses like the ones we promote and partner with on www.trustedsaskatoon.com and www.trustedregina.com directories.

Sara the Trusted Online Directories founder sold advertising in the past, everything from Yellow Pages to Radio and was frequently asked about measurability from clients. She always said if you get busier and the only difference is that you have bought something new, chances are that is why you are busier! This was true especially of long term consistent branding radio campaigns , as lets face it, customers rarely walk into a retail store and say " Hi, I heard your ad on the radio on Wed morning and decided to come in and see what you had " .

Yellow Pages was a different beast, as much of time customers were calling businesses like plumbers etc..with the book in front of them, so when asked on the phone where they got the companies number from they said immediately Yellow Pages , even though lots of times they were searching specifically for that business because they had heard their ad on the radio, or they had seen their van at a neighbors house and that company was ' top of mind' in that category for them at that moment- which should be what every company strives to be!

Now lets talk about the internet - the ultimate tool of measurability we are told, yet many businesses still don't have a website, nor do they understand how measurable, measurable really is and most don't know what to do with the data, or what it means.

The Trusted websites are local directories with local resource libraries attached and as such people go there for a SPECIFIC NEED not just a read like other local websites that carry news, weather , traffic reports and other entertainment.

When we sell the product we make sure to explain to the partners that we do not sell CLICK through's, as it is not an accurate measurement of the Trusted product. You see our directories have very comprehensive listings with a lot of information to help the consumer to make their decision, and the consumer can contact the business right there- we make it easy and this mostly means the consumer doesn't click through to the businesses site unless they are super interested and want even more info than what has been provided. We would expect other online directories that just list the basic details- name, number, www, category and a sentence or 2 about the business to have a much higher ' CTR ' ( Click Through Rate) as people look for more info to base their decision on. You see people in Canada spend 75% of their total shopping time online these days- research is key ( and if you can't be found you will LOSE the chance of getting the sale completely !!)

So we were pretty interested ( and a wee bit surprised) to see the analytic data from 2 of our partners on www.trustedsaskatoon.com. We are sharing the source traffic data - that shows how visitors to their website actually got there and I think you will agree we have just proved our worth...

Case Number 1- company listed in Kitchen and Renovation Categories on the Saskatoon directory

www.trustedsaskatoon.com is the 1st referring source after Google.
The most time spent on the website is from visitors from www.trustedsaskatoon.com( this indicates quality and engagement)
Trusted team helped this company set up their Facebook page and help them manage the content to get the best results from social - clearly it had helped.

Case Number 2- company listed in Auto Repair and Tire Categories on the Saskatoon directory

Number 1 referring source after Google
Way ahead of any other online directory ( this company advertises in Yellow Pages)
Great level of engagement
Currently doesn't do much with Facebook and what has been done has not been that effective - we are helping them to implement a new plan and expect to see this have an immediate effect on the numbers.