Track How Effective Your Online Marketing Efforts are Offline

Tracking offline conversions has been a challenge for businesses for years. As long as the Internet has been widely used to drive business, tracking online marketing efforts to offline purchases has been no easy feat, but while there is no silver bullet approach, rest assured, there are ways to make it easier.

For brick and mortar businesses, obviously a large percentage of their conversions take place offline, despite an amplified online presence and rigorous online marketing tactics. As local search continues to sprout new innovations, one can only assume that the web will continue to drive offline purchases better and better. With some consumers going to their smartphones more than their PCs for online shopping research, businesses are seeing more mobile customers who may be more apt to swing by a physical location while they're on the go.

KeyRelevance President Christine Churchill once wrote, "Measuring offline conversions and proving on paper that the online marketing triggered the offline conversion is difficult, because you can’t often directly measure the process from start to conversion." Therein lies the problem. Out in San Diego at the Online Marketing Summit this week, WebProNews spoke with Salesforce's Global Head of Search, Lauren Vaccarello about this subject.

Google and comScore once conducted a study, which showed that 63% of consumers who conduct product searches online buy the same items offline. It's been a while, and that number may have changed by now, but what hasn't changed is the fact that people are still finding products online and buying them offline.

At an SMX Advanced conference, she recommended in-store surveys to find out the ways people are arriving at their purchases. In addition, online coupons and offer codes can be tracked offline. At that same conference, Ryan Gibson of the Rimm-Kaufman Group suggested introducing "actions of value" on a site, such as allowing people to order a catalog or sign up for emails.  Specifically, ad-spend, return on ad spend return on investment, and cost per order/acquisition) are all things to consider tracking. Rich Devine, ZAAZ's director of search also recommended assigning dollar values to things other than the main conversion. 

When it comes down to it, without a way to track an offline sale, it's going to be difficult to tell how effective your online marketing efforts are.

Driving Traffic with MapQuest and its New Search Engine

Local business search is becoming more of an area of great focus by search providers as time goes on. Google, especially, has been working overtime on providing new features that can help users find local businesses of interest. AOL's MapQuest has been working on improving its own business search functionality, which we talked to the company a little about.

What kind of traffic do you get from MapQuest? Comment here.

MapQuest recently launched a new geosearch engine to power location search, and plans to do more with business listings before the year is over. Businesses should pay attention, as this is another place where users look for information about businesses related to specific places.

"Many of our users search for specific businesses or business categories in order to obtain maps and directions," a spokesperson for MapQuest tells WebProNews. "In addition, many of our users search for types of businesses nearby another location. For example, if a user obtains a map of the hotel where they are staying for a meeting, the user may then search for restaurants nearby. MapQuest’s extensive database of business listings provides consumers with relevant business listings based upon the user’s search query."

"MapQuest also provides consumers with the business name, address, phone, website as well as additional details such as hours of operation, user ratings and reviews, photos and more," she continues. "As a result, businesses benefit from leads several different ways, including people driving to and visiting the physical location, making a phone call or visiting the website."

MapQuest might not be the first thing businesses think of in terms of driving traffic, but it is an option that should perhaps not be ignored. According to the latest data from Compete, MapQuest.com gets nearly 40 million unique monthly visitors in the U.S. By comparison, Bing only gets over 50 million according to the same data set.

Benefits of the new MapQuest search engine include more accurate, relevant results based upon the user's query, according to the company. A feedback link is also provided, where users may submit comments and feedback related to their search experience.

"We also have nearly 1 million City Search listings that provide a wealth of information and has the ability to drive traffic to the business web site," the spokesperon says. "Businesses can offer very helpful information including menus, coupons, and more on their CitySearch listing.  Businesses should contact CitySearch to become part of the information feed."

MapQuest obtains business listing information from multiple data sources. Businesses may report business listing changes such as additions, edits and deletions. They can change phone and FAX, business name, location address, city, state, and ZIP code, contact information, primary line of business and web site information.

MapQuest has 16+ million "Points of Interest", with the majority being businesses through its InfoUSA database."At MapQuest, we're consistently looking at ways to enhance our data for users," she says. "We will be offering ways to work directly with us for a business listing later this year."

The company would not get specific about what its plans are, but regardless of the rise in popularity of Maps from places like Google, Yahoo, and Bing, MapQuest is still worth recognizing, and may provide additional traffic.

Do you consider MapQuest an important part of your strategy? Talk to ArisYulianta and Friends....

Watch out for MLM business opportunities

Any MLM business opportunity worth considering will either have a track record that you can investigate and evaluate or it will have a clear statement of the plan, the potential, and the up-front costs.

Before investing any time or money in a specific MLM business opportunity, there are some questions you should consider first.

How long has the business opportunity been in business? Before investing time and money in marketing an MLM business opportunity, it is important to determine how long it has been operating.

If it is a new concept that has not been proven in the marketplace, you have no assurance that it will even work.

Does the company have a fixed address and phone number? This may seem obvious to you, but the fact is, thousands of companies operate with nothing more than a website and an email address.

Many of them are here today and gone tomorrow. Make sure the business you intend to deal with has a fixed address, physical location, and established phone number.

Does the MLM business opportunity have some successful members you can talk to? Most business opportunities will show you testimonials. But these are often untrustworthy.

They could even be completely fabricated. Ask the owner of the business for names of real people you can talk to. Call them on the telephone and ask them to share their experiences with the program.

This will not only provide you with valuable first-hand information about the program, but it will give you a list of advisors who might be willing to help you along the way.

How much initial investment is required? In many cases a proven MLM business opportunity with a successful track record will involve some kind of initial investment.

You should not assume that a business opportunity that is free to join is a better investment. Usually a free-to-join business will involve other costs such as marketing and advertising fees. Just keep in mind that nobody gives away “opportunities” for free.

What you have to determine is whether a specific MLM business opportunity has a successful track record, is managed by honest people and offers you a realistic chance of actually making some money.These are the things you must weigh against the entry costs.

What is the realistic income potential of the business? Have a careful look at the numbers and projections provided by the business opportunity. Then talk with actual members who are using the program to determine if they have been able to turn those numbers into reality.

Are there extra fees such as yearly or monthly subscription fees, shipping costs, or minimum purchase requirements? Make sure to get a detailed list of all the fees involved in operating the new business. These things may not seem significant now, but they can easily eat into your profits later.

How much control of your new business will you have? Be clear on who owns the business, and who controls the way it is developed and marketed. You may want to diversify your product offerings in order to avoid being at the mercy of a “head office.

The MLM business opportunity should require low initial investment and have high profit potential both in the short term and in the long term. It should allow you to build a profitable business of your own that will be a source of income far into the future.