Online Adwords Campaign vs. Offline Marketing

I am still a novice when it comes to Google Adwords advertising, but I have been learning for various projects. One such project is DogWalker.com, and I have been actively spending money on keyword buys. I got some solid traffic as a result, although the cost was relatively high – somewhere between $.31 – $1.00 per visitor.Overall, the cost per click I am paying is $0.39.

This morning, I tried a more traditional approach, using offline marketing. I posted an advertisement on Craigslist asking for someone to hand out magnets in Central Park for an hour, from 8am – 9am, as dog owners can have their dogs off leash until 9am.  I know people keep this type of magnet, as I have very few things on my refrigerator, but there’s a 24/7 veterinarian magnet on it. She wished the dog owners a good morning and said something to the affect of “if you ever need a dog walker, please visit DogWalker.com.”

During this hour, the person I hired handed out around 100 magnets or so. The total cost was $15, which was probably generous, since I had about 30 responses. I think I got what I paid for though because her personality was more than I expected. Anyhow, the total cost per interaction was $0.15 – over 50% less than the cost per click on Adwords.

The big differences are:

• Adwords targets people when they need a dog walker
• My Adwords campaign has not simply targeted cities where there are listings, although they should.
• Magnets have more of a lifetime when they’re put on a fridge, and the interaction lets the person know about the site.

What this means to me is that I am going to be doing more magnet hand outs in parks across the city, and I may lower my rate to $10/hour. I am also going to change my targeting on Adwords and focus on dog owners in cities where I have listings. I will also target people looking to find dog walking jobs/work in a separate campaign.

As much as we spend a lot of time online, we can’t forget traditional marketing tactics.

On a separate note, Bruce Marler had a good post about drinking and driving today… be safe this holiday season.