Department store tycoon John Wanamaker, who died in 1922, once said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.”

Of course he didn’t. Unlike you and me, Mr Wanamaker didn’t have the benefit of online marketing.

But before we get too smug, let’s remember one important point. While online marketing is far more measurable than the methods Mr Wanamaker had at his disposal, it still has its limits.

For example, if someone makes a purchase after first spotting a service online, it’s difficult – if not sometimes impossible – to attribute that sale to online marketing.

Said another way, measurement systems fail when the sale occurs face-to-face rather than browser-to-web page.  And face to face is how most service businesses operate.

So what’s a service-oriented business owner to do?

They could do worse than talk to us. Ark Advance now offers new tracking technology that solves this age-old problem and finally closes the loop between online activity and actual sales.

For the first time, we can link your advertising activity directly to your CRM system and allow the two to talk to each other.

For example, let’s say we create a sales lead for you on Day 1. As per normal, this enters your CRM system telling you what campaign it came from and the search terms that were used.

For 30 days, that information sits within your CRM, waiting patiently like an heir to the throne for its day to come.

On Day 30 the lead picks up the phone and does business with you. You pop a bottle of champagne (this step is optional). Then you update your CRM system to record an accepted quote and the revenue involved.

Then our technology kicks in, linking the sale back to your Google Analytics account so you can attribute the revenue directly to the campaign that created the lead in the first place.

You don’t have to do a thing. It’s all technology driven.

And now, for the first time, you can automatically measure the effectiveness of your online marketing in driving face-to-face sales. Even when days, weeks or months have lapsed between the online lead and the face-to-face sale.

And, unlike poor Mr Wanamaker*, you can then tweak your advertising spend so that any wastage is minimal.

To find out how you can close the loop on your marketing, get in touch and we’ll be thrilled to talk you through it.

* Don’t feel too sorry for “poor” Mr Wanamaker. He died with a personal fortune of $1.5 billion in today’s money.