Advertising Effectivness Study Focusing on:
Use of Company Name, Size of Ad, Response Mechanism
Sandra Kay Neal, Ph.D. 

January 1999 Ad Sampling Period

In the three week sampling period done during January 1999, 892 companies 
advertised for 1163 different jobs in 1090 advertisements. Fifty-eight percent provided their 
company name; 42% did not. 

The research question: Does using the company name increase likelihood of response to ad? 
The answer is that there was no relationship between use of company name and general response rate. 

There were, however, three types of jobs for which use of the company name 
appeared to have adverse effects: Janitorial, Food Service, and Sales. 

Caveat to companies wishing to advertise anonymously: Ten companies who chose that route were unable to receive any applicants due to incorrect phone numbers
(8), closed post office boxes (1) and undeliverable addresses (1). It is 
recommended that companies who choose not to use their name use a "mailbox" 
provided by the newspaper in which they advertise to prevent these 
problems. 

Statistical Results
 

Job Category	Average # of Responses	Cost Per Response	Job Category	Average # of Responses	Cost per Response
Nurses	6	$49.08	Technical	9	$18.63
Managerial	15	$18.01	Med/Dental Tech	14	$16.53
Professional	12	$13.94	Sales	25	$7.49
Food Service	14	$7.35	Semi-Skilled	28	$5.75
Telemarketers	34	$5.45	Drivers	18	$5.01
Clerical	25	$3.57	Janitorial	22	$3.33
Construction	19	$2.64

Analytical Results

Companies are probably wasting money on large ads for clerical and driving 
positions, since they generate a large response rate regardless of ad size. 

Companies are definitely wasting money on large ads for technical jobs 
because they do not generate any more response than smaller ads. 

Including email address increased response rate for managerial and 
professional jobs. Providing a fax number for resumes increased response rate 
for nursing and clerical jobs. 

Implications for Businesses

The labor market for most highly-skilled jobs, especially technical jobs, is tight. 
Companies would make better use of their recruiting budget if they do a better 
job developing job descriptions and screening applicants, followed by a better 
training/socializing process for new hires. 

With such a tight labor market, there are two other options companies have to 
maintain a quality workforce: 

1) Train or motivate existing employees to meet your standards. 

2) Reduce turnover.(See Archived Articles for suggestions on implementing these tactics.)