As most of you know, Dog Star Media loves measurable strategies. You can take for example our insistence on using tracking telephone numbers to measure where calls specifically originate. And, although nothing is better than the certainty of knowing facts like that, the truth is that it is a cocktail of efforts that create a critical mass of exposure and call to action that ultimately results in contacts being generated. And, with that, it is important to understand the value of each part of the cocktail.
A common situation that has arisen over the summer is good evidence of this. A large handful of clients (both cosmetic surgeons and cosmetic dentists) decided to run ads on Facebook this summer. The cost was low at $10/day and the click rates were very high. Some clients experienced more than 300 web site visits in a month from those ads. After seeing this, we redirected the Facebook ads to proxy web sites with tracking telephone numbers to isolate the calls that were originating from the Facebook ads. (A proxy site is a replica of a web site hosted at a unique URL so you can track responses specifically). And, the same result showed up across the board.... almost no calls came from those clicks.
However, all but one client has opted to keep their Facebook ads running. The reason is that the low cost of the traffic had other benefits. In some cases, the added traffic greatly improved the organic rankings and improved our ability to optimize their site. In other cases, the added traffic correlated with sustained increases in emails and calls that did not come from the proxy site, but rather from their regular web site. In other cases, they just liked the additional low-cost exposure.
This reinforces the idea of the marketing cocktail: a blend of strategies that create a critical mass. Every case is different but one thing is consistent. By knowing your benchmarks for web stats, for incoming calls, for conversions, etc. you can better see where you productivity is improved by making changes to the elements in your marketing cocktail. This opens you up to the possibilities of buying exposure simply for awareness like these clients did. And, when you experiment responsibly, every now and then you find a real gem that pays off directly (which we know from the metrics we put on it.) If you are interested in tracking numbers, Facebook ads, or coaching to help you develop a better understanding of the marketing cocktail that is right for you, please email me at donald@dogstarmedia.com.
