All marketing must be measured! Most online marketing comes already well-equipped with tools to track your results, but with traditional advertising channels it can sometimes be harder to tell what’s working and what isn’t… but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use them!
Physical media is shown to produce a greater emotional response and brand-recall with consumers. Also, with most companies focusing their efforts on digital marketing, you have an opportunity to outshine your competitors in the offline arena. Direct mail, magazine, flyer, billboard, radio, and other non-digital forms of advertising can be tracked if the campaign is set up with a proper tracking strategy. Here are some of our favorite methods for tracking offline marketing results:
Landing Pages
Landing pages are like basic, miniature websites that are separate from a business’ main website and dedicated to a specific marketing campaign. They are single-page and contain information about a specific service or promotion, and usually include a lead form to fill out. They can also be used to get event registrations.
Example
You own a landscaping company that does all kinds of jobs, but you want to run a promotion for snow removal services, right at the start of winter. You decide to send out flyers advertising that specific service. Instead of including a link to your main website on the flyer, you can include a link to a custom landing page where leads can fill out a form to request your snow removal services. That way, you know that every lead coming from the landing page is a result of your flyer campaign.
Tracked Phone Lines
If the goal of your physical advertising campaign is to get phone calls from interested prospects, you should use a separate phone line dedicated to that campaign. There are companies that offer tracked phone lines, sometimes with a 24-hour automated answering service.
Example
You are a lawyer who deals with personal injury cases, among other types of cases. You decide to purchase a billboard on the side of the highway advertising a free phone consultation to people who have been injured. Rather than put your main phone number on the billboard, you can include a separate, tracked phone line. That way, you know that every call made to that phone number is a result of your billboard.
Promo Codes or Coupons
Promo codes are great for tracking offline marketing that includes an offer, such as a discount. Assign a special promo code to your campaign and require prospects to redeem it in order to get their discount (they could redeem it in-store, online, or over the phone- it’s up to you).
Example
You own a gym. You send out a postcard direct mail campaign telling people that they can sign up for a membership online and receive 2 free sessions with a personal trainer. You also broadcast a radio advertisement selling the same deal. You should use a different promo code for each marketing channel. That way, when people start signing up online, you know who came there from the radio ad and who came from the postcard campaign.
Ask Your Customers
One of the easiest ways of tracking offline marketing efforts is to simply ask new customers how they heard about you. Include a “how did you hear about us?” field in your online lead forms, have your salespeople ask when they get calls from new prospects, or send customers a post-purchase email survey and include that question.
