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How I Learned to Track Foot Traffic Like a Digital Marketer (Without Fancy Tools)
I’ve been marketing for Rockaway Recycling — my family’s scrap yard in North Jersey — since 2012.
But the business? It’s been around since 1977 when my dad started it.
We’ve always had two kinds of customers:
- The ones we go to — construction and industrial clients who need roll-off dumpsters
- And the ones who come to us — everyday folks walking in with scrap to sell
The first group is easy to track. Jobs get scheduled. Receipts get logged.
But the second group — the walk-ins — that’s where things used to get fuzzy.
For years, I hated not knowing if the money we spent on Google Ads, emails, and SMS marketing was actually driving people through the door.
So we changed that.
The Wake-Up Call: What Good Is Marketing If You Can’t Track It?
Let’s rewind to the early days when I started doing marketing full-time.
We had solid branding. We were on Google. We sent emails.
But when someone showed up at our front gate, we could not tell if they had come because of our efforts or just stumbled in.
That didn’t sit right with me.
Especially in a business where compliance is strict, like the scrap industry, we’re required by law to take a copy of each seller’s driver’s license. Every time. That’s the moment I realized...
Wait. We already have a built-in touchpoint. We’re just not using it smartly.
How We Fixed It (With a Clipboard, Seriously)
We didn’t roll out fancy tech or hire a data scientist.
Here’s what we did — and it changed everything:
- We trained our team: Any time a new customer showed up (confirmed during license entry), our crew would mark it down — name, what material they brought, and a quick “new” note.
- We used a clipboard. Simple. Old-school. But it worked.
- Every week, our yard foreman enters those notes into our Monday.com board, tracking new foot traffic by category.
- We match that to our campaigns, comparing ad messaging, SMS pushes, or email topics with the types of customers who came in that week.
Now, I don’t know if our marketing is working. I can point to a list of first-time customers who said, “Yes. These ads worked.”
Working With...
Slick Text: #1 SMS Marketing Service
Take back your marketing control.
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The Real Test: Our New Campaign Proved the System
Recently, we launched a campaign targeting a very specific material — the kind only certain companies generate. I won’t say what (industry advantage 😉), but we ran:
- A national mail-in campaign for out-of-state sellers
- And a hyperlocal campaign to hit nearby businesses
Mail-in was easy to track — shipments show up, names get logged.
But for walk-ins? We leaned hard into our system.
And guess what?
Within the first few weeks, we had multiple new foot traffic customers from the exact industry we targeted — people who had never heard of us before.
That was our proof.
And it was a win.
Here’s What I’d Recommend to Any Local Business
If your business depends on people walking through the door, you can’t afford not to track them.
You don’t need a CRM or a complex POS integration. Here’s how to start:
✅ Action Steps for Service-Based Businesses
- Find your “trigger” - What required interaction do you already have with new customers? (Payment, check-in, paperwork?)
- Train your team - Teach staff to flag first-time customers with a simple note or log.
- Use a simple tracking method - Clipboard, Google Form, or project board — whatever fits your style. Just start.
- Review weekly - Compare your campaign themes to the new leads you’re seeing. Look for patterns. Improve over time.
Know What’s Working
There’s nothing more frustrating than spending time and money on marketing and not knowing if it’s working.
But when you combine simple tracking with consistent effort, you stop guessing and start growing.
If I can track scrap customers with a clipboard, you can track foot traffic in your business, too.
