Traditional marketers used to eye content marketers askance because digital marketing was so easy to track. Good news for traditional marketers- now we have call tracking numbers. A tracking number refers to different toll-free numbers on different marketing avenues to see which does best. A good call tracking company, like www.calltrackingmetrics.com or www.callrail.com, provides the software-as-a-service for a nominal fee. That’s all well and good, but what does that mean for the business owner?
Plenty. In a multimedia campaign, different phone numbers are put on different advertising media, i.e. direct mail, billboards, PPC (pay-per-click), radio. The calls are then tracked and cataloged based on any information that you need, including:
- What advertising medium was the source of the call
- What was bought or discussed during the call
- The amount of product/service purchased during the call
This data allows us to see how each advertising medium is doing individually. If the number associated with your direct mail campaign is receiving more conversions than the one on your radio ads, it would be a good idea to continue investing in direct mail. You can also use this principle for your website and PPC ads. ComScore was commissioned by Google to do a special study wherein they found that 63% of website purchases were completed offline (source: comScore.com). By using tracking numbers on different ads and landing pages of your site, you can track where each customer finds your site and how they get there.
Tracking numbers are yet another tool in the marketers’ arsenal for learning and understanding the customer. When used with other marketing tools offered by sites like www.hubspot.com and www.kissmetrics.com, the insight into your customer is priceless.
