Tracking Offline Media Online
I'm not a big fan of conflict. It makes me nervous and I get all butterfly-y; it's not a pretty scene, trust me.So I'm going to attempt to be a peacemaker.
It seems there is a bit of a disturbance in the Force. My buddy Sage over at WebMarketingWatch.com has said some things that seem to have lit a fire in the hearts of print fanatics.
Sage said something about print being "so yesterday," and while that is a great Hillary Duff song, I don't know if it's really all that true. Sage is a passionate man, I'm sure he doesn't think all print is done for. I just think he wants people to know that there is a new media that needs to be embraced as well.
So as a peace offering, I'd like to show you where these two worlds collide. I'd like to show you how print and online media can work hand-in-hand and how you can track it. Offline campaigns can be a great way to drive traffic to your site, now you just need to understand what they're doing.
Vanity domains. The very phrase causes pangs of sadness among SEO people everywhere. But from a tracking point of view, I think they're killer, especially for tracking, billboards, tv commercials, fliers, and print ads.
You've worked hard creating an offline campaign to drive traffic, you've created new landing pages, and now you're ready to watch the sales of your Grumble Cakes shoot through the roof! Many times you'll see websites advertised in ads with URLs like www.mydomain.com/TypeInThisURL. That's great and all, but I mean, c'mon? Does anybody actually type in all of the URL? Use a vanity domain instead! Go out and drop $10 on a fun little domain and put this in your offline campaigns.
Alright, now let's get down to the actual implementation.
As print and web fight over the same marketing budget at many companies, we need to keep in mind that print and web are not mutually exclusive. They can, in fact, work together to give you a wonderful picture of your audience and your offers. While we're not creatures who like to embrace change, we have to. So in the infamous words of Rodney King, "People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?"
It seems there is a bit of a disturbance in the Force. My buddy Sage over at WebMarketingWatch.com has said some things that seem to have lit a fire in the hearts of print fanatics.
Sage said something about print being "so yesterday," and while that is a great Hillary Duff song, I don't know if it's really all that true. Sage is a passionate man, I'm sure he doesn't think all print is done for. I just think he wants people to know that there is a new media that needs to be embraced as well.
So as a peace offering, I'd like to show you where these two worlds collide. I'd like to show you how print and online media can work hand-in-hand and how you can track it. Offline campaigns can be a great way to drive traffic to your site, now you just need to understand what they're doing.
Vanity domains. The very phrase causes pangs of sadness among SEO people everywhere. But from a tracking point of view, I think they're killer, especially for tracking, billboards, tv commercials, fliers, and print ads.
You've worked hard creating an offline campaign to drive traffic, you've created new landing pages, and now you're ready to watch the sales of your Grumble Cakes shoot through the roof! Many times you'll see websites advertised in ads with URLs like www.mydomain.com/TypeInThisURL. That's great and all, but I mean, c'mon? Does anybody actually type in all of the URL? Use a vanity domain instead! Go out and drop $10 on a fun little domain and put this in your offline campaigns.
Alright, now let's get down to the actual implementation.
- Create a new campaign in your analytics account (I know this can be a pain, but hey, it's no harder then tracking a new PPC engine.)
- Append the URL of your landing page with the new tags that are needed to track a campaign.
- Create a 301 redirect from your new vanity URL to your original landing page with the new tag.
- Watch the data roll in!
As print and web fight over the same marketing budget at many companies, we need to keep in mind that print and web are not mutually exclusive. They can, in fact, work together to give you a wonderful picture of your audience and your offers. While we're not creatures who like to embrace change, we have to. So in the infamous words of Rodney King, "People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?"
Labels: Cross Channel, Set Up
