Seattle-based marketing company Marchex has had a rough past year. The company’s CEO and board chairman departed last fall after a series of layoffs, and, in January, it laid off about 10 percent of its workforce.
On Thursday, however, shares of Marchex saw a much-needed boost after the company announced a cloud-based partnership with Facebook. Marchex Omnichannel Analytics Cloud offers companies insight into which ads on different platforms drove customers to make phone calls.
In the past, the connection between Facebook ads and calls to a company has been difficult to track. By partnering with the social media giant, Marchex is able to tap into one of the largest advertising platforms to eliminate that blind spot.
The cloud will integrate call analytics from all paid media channels, including search, display, video, social and sites, and display them on a single platform.
“While the influence of mobile phones and reach of digital channels like Facebook is undeniable, we also know that a large portion of sales are still closed in the physical world of phone calls and stores,” Nikhil Kolar, Marchex VP of Product, said in a statement. “Marchex Omnichannel Analytics Cloud connects that critical moment where online influence and offline transactions meet, and in turn activates those insights inside a marketer’s dashboard-of-choice at enterprise scale.”
Eliminating the blind spot between advertising reach on Facebook and actual offline interactions with a company could help Marchex turn a new leaf. This information is highly sought after, with a recent study from BIA/Kelsey suggesting phone calls to businesses via smartphones will grow to more than 100 billion in 2017.
In addition to Facebook, Marchex is partnering with Google to connect offline calls to display and video impressions on the platform.
