While we may live in a digital world, offline sales still drive the bulk of the consumer economy. To be successful in today’s hyper-saturated world of search, marketers must optimize not only for what happens online, but also for those highly valuable online to offline conversions.
Here are some tips on how to drive more high-quality calls and in-store visits that result in sales
- Create an ideal online-to-offline customer experience
You can use your customers’ behaviors and preferences to personalize their purchase journeys. Many retailers are starting to combine online and offline experiences, in that you can order a product and check if it’s available at a store near you for pickup. Similarly, online retailers are also toying with the idea of opening up physical stores at select locations for their customers who prefer to pick up the products themselves.
2. Incorporate social media
Social media is a great way to generate awareness about your company’s products or services. expand your marketing efforts across other channels, and attract new buyers. Sharing images, posts, promotions, and other giveaways are great ways to garner more interest. By responding to your customers’ concerns and asking for their opinions, you can enhance satisfaction while getting more traffic for your site, which further promotes in-store traffic for your brick-and-mortar business.
3. Localize your branded content
Location data gives advertisers the ability to tailor ads to respond to people’s unique experiences and behaviors—where they are and what’s happening in their world. Highly targeted audiences result in better ROI and more personalized ad experiences that make people feel like a business is speaking directly to them.
Location data isn’t just about delivering highly targeted ad experiences. It can also help retailers figure out how to better attribute revenue to the right marketing channel. After pushing an ad to a mobile device, advertisers can track whether a person actually visits a store by using location data that their mobile app provides.
Some tips on how to localize your branded content include:
- Mention specific locations in metadata, headlines, and body content.
- Write unique, targeted content that provides information relevant to each location.
- Use images specific to locations.
4. Remember that mobile’s influence on offline sales continues to grow
In many cases, we find that while most consumers make purchases on desktop, most of the in-store visits come from people who first engaged from a mobile device. Search engines are making it easier for mobile users to quickly access the kind of information they’re typically looking for, from store locations and coupons to comparing prices and looking up product information. Because of this, it’s important to make both your website and content mobile-friendly.
Learn More
Marketers have many opportunities to drive more, higher quality offline leads from their search marketing campaigns. For more extensive guidance on Online-to-Offline conversions, along with real-world examples, download our guide, The Online-to-Offline Search Marketing Playbook.
Our aim is to help companies with both large and brick-and-mortar footprints understand:
- How Search Marketing Influences Offline Sales
- Tactics for Growing Online-to-Offline Conversions
- Store Visit Tracking
- The Benefits of Tracking Calls for Marketing Campaigns
- Leveraging Phone Conversations to Gain Insight for Smarter Marketing
- Effective Inbound Call Strategies
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