Search engine marketing (SEM) is a powerful way to reach potential customers online, but did you know that it can also help you drive offline sales? SEM can boost your brand awareness, generate leads, and influence purchase decisions for people who prefer to shop in physical stores. In this article, we'll show you how to use SEM to boost offline sales with four effective strategies.
One of the first steps to attract offline buyers is to target location-based keywords in your SEM campaigns. These are keywords that include geographic terms, such as city names, zip codes, or landmarks. For example, if you sell shoes in New York, you might bid on keywords like "shoe store near Central Park" or "best shoes in NYC". Location-based keywords can help you rank higher for local searches, which are often done by people who are ready to visit a store nearby.
To fully utilise SEM for offline business: Step 1- First create fully optimised landing pages having good lead forms & then design them using your keyword themes. Focus on improving Quality score. In Step 2 - Now, Tailor your keywords and ad copy to be location-specific. Include the name of the city or region where your physical stores are located. This helps in capturing local intent and attracting users interested in making purchases offline.
To maximize your efforts, ensure you incorporate SEM (Search Engine Marketing) into the equation. One of the initial steps in attracting offline buyers is to define your desired purchasing process for your brand. If your business is service-oriented, deals with high-ticket items, or involves price points necessitating discussions, walk-ins, or other in-person interactions, it's crucial to grasp the influence of keywords, especially through SEM, on your sales cycle. Specific location-based keywords can target local foot traffic, while queries related to product information, following the ROPO (Research Online, Purchase Offline) model, can trigger SEM-driven phone conversations that ultimately lead to successful sales.
Targeting location-based keywords in SEM is a strategic move to boost offline sales. Here's a personalized take: Geographic Precision: Incorporate specific location terms in keywords, like city names, neighborhoods, or landmarks related to your business. Localized Ad Copy: Craft ad copies that speak directly to your local audience. Mentioning nearby attractions or referencing the city creates a sense of relevance. Pinpointing Offers: Tailor your ads with location-specific promotions or incentives. Highlighting deals specific to certain areas can drive foot traffic. Enhanced Visibility: Optimize for local search by using location extensions in your ads. This provides users with immediate info about your business's physical proximity.
Use location-based keywords: Incorporating location-based keywords into your SEM campaigns allows you to target potential customers in specific geographical areas. For example, if you have a physical store, you can bid on keywords like "near me" or "[near places/cities]" to attract nearby consumers actively searching for your products or services. This strategy helps increase foot traffic and drives offline sales.
Assurez-vous que vos annonces Google Ads reflètent votre emplacement et mettent en avant des offres spécifiques à votre magasin physique. Cela incitera davantage les utilisateurs à vous rendre visite en personne. La fonction {LOCATION(ville)} est précieuse dans une stratégie d'acquisition offline car elle personnalise les annonces en incluant le nom de la ville de l'utilisateur, améliorant ainsi la pertinence de l'annonce et incitant les utilisateurs à interagir davantage.
Another important step is to optimize your landing pages for offline conversions. Your landing pages are the web pages that people see after clicking on your SEM ads. They should provide relevant and engaging information about your products or services, as well as clear calls to action that encourage people to visit your store. For example, you might include a map, directions, store hours, contact details, or a coupon code on your landing pages. You can also use landing page tools like Google Optimize or Unbounce to test different elements and see what works best.
Elevate your landing page with vital information at your audience's fingertips: event specifics, directions, hours, contact details, and exclusive coupons. Harmonize your SEM strategy with precise conversion objectives—phone calls, route inquiries, and coupon redemptions—all tracked for real-world impact. Harness the power of A/B testing to supercharge your offline conversion ambitions. Unlock actionable insights by calculating your offline conversion-to-sales ratio. For instance, picture this: 10 test drive conversions stemming from a $200 ad investment resulting in 1 sale. It's more than numbers; it's the Delta Variant, driving foot traffic and sales victories.
Give some information that makes your users want to know more. Dont just copy paste your website content in your landing pages as well (specially for lead gen businesses)
Optimizing landing pages is key for conversion. Clarity is King: Ensure your message is clear and matches the ad. Visitors should instantly know they're in the right place. Compelling Headline: Grab attention with a concise, compelling headline that aligns with user intent. Engaging Content: Keep it concise, relevant, and benefit-focused. Use bullet points, visuals, and compelling language. Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): Guide visitors with a clear, actionable CTA. Make it stand out and align with the desired action. Mobile-Friendly Design: With mobile users on the rise, ensure your landing pages are responsive for a seamless experience. Loading Speed: Optimize images and minimize unnecessary elements to ensure fast loading times.
Optimize your landing pages: Ensure that your landing pages are not only well-optimized for relevant keywords but also designed for mobile users. Mobile optimization is crucial because many consumers search for local businesses on their smartphones. Provide clear and concise information about your offline location, store hours, contact details, and any special promotions to encourage visits.
To measure the effectiveness of your SEM campaigns, you need to track your offline conversions, which are the actions people take after seeing your online ads, such as calling your store, requesting a quote, or making a purchase. To do this, you can use Google Ads offline conversion tracking to upload data from your CRM or sales system and match it with your online clicks. Additionally, you can employ call tracking with unique phone numbers or extensions for each campaign or use specific coupon codes to track redemptions. Tracking offline conversions will help you get an accurate picture of how successful your SEM campaigns are.
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Proper integration of both GMB listings of the organisations and Google Ads account is mandatory. Location targeting - Essential in the case of multiple offline locations within the same city or across multiple cities. Define areas where majority sales happen. Goal selection - While store visits is a great goal to optimise for, store sales could give you a much more accurate representation of business. Call optimisation is better if your lead pipeline is well defined. Data upload - When you upload POS data (including identifiers) back to Google Ads to reconcile the sales supposedly driven by online campaigns, understand the influence and proportion of sales driven. Additionally use custom flags to understand new / return customers.
Use these strategies: Google Ads Offline Conversion Tracking: Upload CRM data via Google Ads to correlate online clicks with offline actions. Call Tracking: Assign unique numbers for each campaign, linking online engagement to phone inquiries or store visits. Coupon Code Redemptions: Unique codes tie online exposure directly to in-store conversions when customers redeem them. Request for Quote Tracking: Monitor online-generated quote requests and connect them to subsequent offline actions. POS Integration: Integrate Point of Sale data with online information for seamless tracking of online-initiated in-store sales. CRM Data Matching: Match online customer data with in-store purchases through CRM systems for a holistic perspective.
To nurture both Marketing and Sales objectives effectively, I focus on aligning demand generation with SEM keyword intent. When measuring offline conversions, sync them with Sales' timeline, capturing crucial data through enhanced click tracking and CRM integration. This approach helps identify which keywords drive offline conversions, their value, and per-lead worth. Additionally, consider multichannel conversions and leverage tools like Google Analytics. A comprehensive SEM campaign measurement facilitates tracking offline conversions, providing valuable insights for your career
Track your offline conversions: Implement tools and strategies to track the impact of your online advertising efforts on offline sales. This can include using unique coupon codes, QR codes, or tracking phone calls generated from online ads. By measuring these offline conversions, you can assess the effectiveness of your SEM campaigns in driving real-world sales.
An example I've seen is, I get conversions from direct sources and when the users visit the branch they say they've seen my ad and come here. So this is 100% right that your offline conversions are influenced by SEM in some cases
Finally, you need to align your online and offline marketing efforts to create a consistent and seamless customer experience. This means that you should use the same branding, messaging, and offers across your SEM ads, landing pages, and in-store promotions. You should also coordinate your online and offline campaigns to match your inventory, seasonality, and customer demand. For example, if you have a clearance sale in your store, you should also run a SEM campaign to promote it online.
By following these four strategies, you can use SEM to boost offline sales and grow your business. SEM can help you reach more customers, increase your visibility, and drive more traffic to your store. How do you use SEM to boost offline sales? Share your tips and tricks with us!
To wield maximum influence, harmonize your online and offline marketing endeavors, consistency is key here. This entails employing consistent branding, messaging and offers across SEM ads, landing pages, and in-store promotions. Further, synchronization between your online and offline campaigns is essential, aligning with factors like inventory, seasonality, and customer demand. For instance, if an in-store clearance sale is on the horizon, complement it with a targeted SEM campaign online. By adopting such strategies, you'll harness SEM's potential to drive offline sales and propel business growth. SEM becomes your gateway to expanding your customer base, enhancing visibility, and channeling increased foot traffic to your physical store.
Align your online and offline marketing: Create a cohesive marketing strategy that seamlessly integrates your online and offline efforts. Ensure consistent branding, messaging, and promotions across all channels, from your website and social media to in-store signage and promotions. Encourage online users to visit your physical location by highlighting in-store exclusive offers or events in your SEM ads.
If you want to promote your business offline you can use Google My Business Pages for this. In case you have a physical address but no online page - Google gives you the opportunity to promote your business name, phone and email on Google maps. And on top of that, you have the option of local positioning and sharing news about your business with your customers.
1) Offline conversions within Google Ads is available once a relative volume of conversion is met. 2) Call tracking using Delacon, JET or Google Call Tracking. 3) Provide a call to action that can be tracked in voucher code 4) In Analysis compare campaign search volume with in store traffic 5) Review and align ATL activity such as TV, Radio, OOH.