Over the past 20 years, digital marketing has grown with the ever-increasing amount of time that people are spending on the internet and the ability marketers have to analyze their marketing efforts. However, the best marketing strategies often still have a well-rounded tangible marketing mix that includes traditional marketing strategies. Analyzing the performance of traditional marketing is equally as important as tracking digital campaigns so that you have a more complete understanding of how your marketing strategies are performing as a whole, to increase your future return on investment. In this blog, we will cover three ways you can better track your traditional marketing tactics to make informed decisions and adjustments in future media planning.

1. Include vanity URLs in your ads

A vanity URL is a shorter URL or web address that automatically goes to your website when typed. Vanity URLs should be easy to remember so that users can recall later.

When someone enters the vanity URL they will be redirected back to your website, and you can track this redirect in Google Analytics. Consider creating a new vanity URL for each offline medium you advertise on so that you can track the performance of each ad individually.

2. Track phone calls with call tracking phone numbers

No matter what advertising medium you are using, your ads should always include a call-to-action (CTA). CTA’s such as listing your website or phone number are great ways for prospective clients to reach you if they’re interested in your product or service.

Call tracking is one way to track your offline ad’s effectiveness. All you need to do after you have signed up for a call tracker service is to include a unique phone number in each ad. When someone calls the number in the ad, the call tracker will record it in a call log and redirect the call to your actual business phone without the customer even knowing this happened.

It can also be beneficial to track calls from your digital efforts with the same tracking service so that you can be sure you’re measuring all events in the same place. If you set up a specific phone number for each medium.

Let’s say that you have decided to run a 15-second ad spot on a radio station. In the script of the ad, you insert the phone number that has been set up and associated with your radio ad. Once the ad is on-air, you can track its success by seeing how many calls that specific phone number received and calculate an actual ROI of your traditional marketing strategies.

3. Use QR codes to make print ads come to life

Recently QR codes have become more and more prevalent in print advertising. By adding a QR code to a print ad, you make it easier for users to go directly to your desired landing page. Users simply snap a picture of the QR code on their smartphone with an app and they are taken to the assigned landing page.

Tracking QR codes is easy as most QR code generators have reporting data included with the free and paid subscriptions. If you want to track the QR codes on Google Analytics, you should consider using a Vanity URL or a UTM code at the end of the landing page web address. When using a UTM make sure that it is easy to recognize in Google Analytics, for example, you can use the name of the publication in which the advertisement is published to know which ad sent the traffic from to the landing page.

QR codes can be used in print ads or on signage to drive web traffic and new leads. All ads are trackable in Google Analytics with the use of UTM codes, this enables you to make more informed decisions about advertising strategy for our clients as we continue as their marketing partner.

Another great reason to use QR codes is that they are fully customizable, so you can incorporate your company’s branding in them to make them stand out on the page.

The only issue with using QR codes in your print ads is that it requires users to have access to a smartphone to scan the code. For that reason, we recommend also adding the vanity URL mentioned earlier to the copy of your ad in case the person seeing the ad happens to not have a smartphone.

Track your traditional marketing tactics digitally

As mentioned earlier, the use of digital marketing has made tracking campaign performance so much easier with all of the great tools and resources like Google Analytics. Measuring traditional marketing campaigns digitally should be just as easy to track so that you can make informed decisions in the future about how you spend your marketing investment.

If you are interested in using any of the tips listed in this blog but are unsure of where to start, reach out to us today at pparsells@bouvierkelly.com.

To generate a good user experience (UX) and ensure you communicate effectively with your audience, start by following a user-focused design approach. User Experience is most often talked about in reference to websites, but a user-focused approach can help refine all of your marketing efforts and materials. The more you take your customers’ needs and preferences into account, the better your response will be.

1) Understand Your Users

Each type of user (or customer) that you have, whether they’re brand new or a returning customer, is going to have slightly different needs. You should start by understanding their goals, needs, behavior, and what motivates them. This research can be done once for general use and then tweaked for specific marketing pieces.

It can be time-consuming, but we recommend getting real feedback from real users. And you don’t need to delay your launch until you have this feedback. You can also gather data and use it to develop new iterations or make small improvements over time.

2) Start with Function, Not Form

Determine first how the piece needs to function and outline the pathway. On a website, for example, create a journey map to lead the different types of visitors to the information they want and the information you want them to see. If you start with design, it’s harder to fit functionality in on top.

On the other hand, it’s important to remember as well that UX isn’t UI. Your user experience is more than just the user interface and functionality. Experience encompasses UI as well as the emotional response to the design and messaging. So, while you should start with function, you can’t afford to forget the form.

3) Don’t Confuse Yourselves with Your Users

Typically, your team is not going to be a perfect match with the target user, and it’s important to separate what you like from what works better for them. When it comes to an internal debate with your team, circling back to your user data from Tip 1 can help settle the discussion quickly and get you closer to the right solution.

Some of these steps may seem obvious, but it’s easy to get caught up in the turmoil of internal discussions and multiple revisions. Before you know it, you’ve lost sight of your customer and their needs. If you can refocus on their perspective, you’ll communicate more effectively and make a better overall impression.

Read more about UX and Accessibility or check out more tips on developing a great website.