Hot on the Trail Learn three easy ways to track your advertising results, and find out if you're really getting the most for your money.

If you're running a comprehensive marketing program, with asolid combination of advertising media plus direct mail and e-mail,chances are you've got leads and responses coming in from justabout everywhere. So how can you tell which of your marketingtactics are stellar performers and which need to be replaced?Tracking your marketing responses is easier than you think, andit's the smartest way to save marketing dollars by cutting thefat and eliminating any nonperforming media and tactics.

The best way to track your advertising responses is to key eachad with a unique code, so every sale or lead can be identifiedaccording to its original source. Here are three ways to make everylead identifiable:

1. Apply keycodes. Key codes are used in print advertising and directmail. Suppose you were running an ad campaign in a group ofmagazines. In order to track the responses from individualpublications and issues, you would need to include a different keycode in each of the response mechanisms. Your direct-response printad in the January issue of Builder magazine could be coded"BL-1," while another ad in the February issue ofRemodeling magazine might be coded "RE-2." Thesecodes would appear in the "reply to" section of the ads,so when responses were generated, you could immediately determinethe source of each lead.