Promote your URL: Put it on everything

Because your customers can come from anywhere at anytime — and because a web address is easier to remember than a phone number — it’s important to put your URL on everything. After all, the Internet never closes. Letterhead, invoices, hold messages, bus benches, packaging, shipping labels, signage and, of course, ads are all opportunities to promote your URL and drive business to your site.

On the other hand, you want to make sure not to cannibalize your other marketing efforts. Here’s a cautionary tale: One of my clients promoted its website and inbound “sales” call center phone number on their TV and radio spots. They had the best of intentions. However, they lost the immediacy of the “call now” call-to-action as consumers visited the website at their leisure. As a result, the company had a 10% drop in calls, but only a 2% rise in website visits. What we figured happened was that people were planning on visiting the web site “later,” but then would not do so. The urgency was lost.

This illustrates the absolute importance, once again, of tracking results to see which channels are working best for your marketing needs – and to ensure that your channels are working together.