Marketing in the Age of Google: Your Online Strategy IS Your Business Strategy, Revised and Updated

WHAT ABOUT OFFLINE ATTRIBUTION?

Of course, ideally, attribution tracking would include offline channels as well (both for bringing in customers and for the conversion). How can you track a billboard that leads to a search that leads to a sale, such as the case of the movie 2012? What about a search that leads to a phone call that leads to a sale? We know that television advertising triggers search12 and we know that searches are often the first step to offline purchases,13 but can we track that?

A number of at least partial solutions exist for offline attribution, but the key is understanding that a relationship exists, sharing data between departments, and devoting resources to learning how these relationships work for your customer base.

For instance, dynamic number insertion14 can help track phone calls based on different search ads. You can use a different phone number online than in printed materials so that you can track online and offline channels. You can provide online coupons to be used for offline purchases. You can even display different coupons based on what search led the visitor to the page. At a more basic level, you can track the change in offline purchases as your site becomes more visible in organic search (noting other factors, such as advertising and seasonal fluctuations that may impact this).

Companies are working to both provide better offline metrics and integrate offline and online data into a comprehensive customer picture. Euclid Elements, for instance, ...