Tony Attwood’s Blog

Note: the examples in this story are drawn from the education market, but as the references later on show, this approach can be used with all markets.

In September 2009 I started posting advertisements from Hamilton House customers on www.blog.schools.co.uk I did this for free, as part of our preparation for setting up www.ukeducationnews.co.uk - which picked up these items.

To my surprise the readership of www.blog.schools.co.uk went up and up, despite the fact that we were not advertising the site, linking to the site or anything. All we had was content. Here are the monthly individual readership figures - each person counted read at least two articles - but each individual is only counted once, irrespective of the number of times they came back to the site.

September 8,172

October 12,988

November 19,111

December 24,149

So where did these people come from? My guess was they found the site through searches using Google etc, and because they were using Google Alerts.

But I had no way to prove it. Until now.

Here is a note from Marketing Vox (link at the end). It refers to a study by Post Release. They refer to a “sponsored forum” which is their name for a site like www.blog.schools.co.uk

If you want to get your post onto www.blog.schools.co.uk or one of our similar sites, it is free - just book a listing on www.ukeducationnews.co.uk or use one of our email lists or shared or solo mailing lists. Call me on 01536 399 013.

Here’s the Marketing Vox article

The study also showed that 60 days after a typical sponsored forum post’s appearance, the total number of click-throughs increase by an average of 40%. After 180 days they increase by an average of 77%.

The reason for this effectiveness, according to PostRelease president Justin Choi, is that the posts remain in place for the life of the forum and contain content that can be discovered in search engine results long after the campaign is over. This enables the post to continue driving traffic to the ad not only from the audience of the forum in which it appears, but also directly from organic search listings.

“Consumers don’t have to be browsing a particular forum to discover an advertiser’s message there,” said Choi. “If a post offers useful content, it’s likely to show up when it is relevant to a consumer’s search for information - boosting traffic to the ad and to the forum. The click-through rates increase over time because posts are discovered by people who are actively searching for that content, and therefore are highly motivated to click through.”

Specific findings about reads and click-throughs of sponsored forum posts:

After 60 days the reads increased 28.8%

After 60 days the click-throughs increased 40.7%

After 180 days the reads increased 49.2%

After 180 days the click-throughs increased 77.1%

After 360 days the reads increased 60.6%

After 360 days the click-throughs increased 103.6%

In commenting on the increased effectiveness of sponsored posts, Choi also noted their durability vis a vis traditional display and search ads. “This is traffic they receive after the campaign has ended - for free. Whereas display and search ads turn ‘off’ as soon as the media buy ends, sponsored posts can play a powerful role in helping companies build a repository of online content that is available to be found by consumers searching relevant topics for weeks, months, even years to come.”

About the analysis: The company analyzed all PostRelease campaigns - which enable companies to insert clearly labeled, sponsored posts into targeted online forum discussions - that have at least six months of historical data, to see what residual traffic they were receiving after the campaigns had officially ended. Posts can include text, pictures, hyperlinks and links to video. A “click-through” is defined as when someone clicks one of the advertiser links that is embedded within the post. A “read” is when someone goes into the post - either from the forum discussion page or from a search engine. Overall, PostRelease click-through rates average 33%, with highs reaching nearly 90%.

http://www.marketingvox.com/sponsored-forum-posts-increase-response-by-more-than-100-046025/?utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_source=mv&utm_medium=textlink

Two years ago I read a detailed study by MarketingExperiments.com where they compared the hiring an employee to blog, create content, and in general work to drive traffic to sites, with the much simpler approach of using Google Adwords to drive targeted traffic to the web site.

The research took place over 12 months and in summary the research showed that the blogs / text / discussion approach yielded more than 93,000 visits to the site.

This was compared with a 30-day test of Google Adwords, bidding up to 75 cents per click on a variety of keywords related to the test websites which drove 2,047 users to the site at a cost of $1,250, So this compares with the “word-of-mouth” efforts which yielded 93,207 unique visitors at a cost of $3600.

Thus as Marketing Experiments.com points out, the word of mouth approach yielded a 1427% greater return on investment than the GoogleAd approach.

As the report says, however, pay-per-click advertising was a much easier to run and was much quicker, but it was much more expensive and gave a much lower return on investment.

I’ve just done a survey of my own. As with my previous surveys of this nature I have chosen an area of work away from my company, so that we can see the results without any sort of interference from other advertising.

What I did was to seek out any references to the phrase “Woolwich Arsenal” via Google Alerts.

Of course many of these were irrelevant to me because they related to property in the area, or events concerning the Docklands Light Railway, which has a station of that name. Today I read the awful news of a terrible murder in the area.

But each day I also got hits relevant to my interest (which was the football club of that name that existed until 1913), and I was able to reply to these blogs and articles with a message answering or expanding on their point or question, and then going on to say there was a book “Making the Arsenal” which dealt with the topic in more detail - leading the reader to a web site www.woolwicharsenal.co.uk where the book is described.

In terms of hits on the site it has been very successful - and of course what one does get is some of these replies of mine being picked up and printed on other web sites.

It is slower than Google Adwords, but much more effective I have proved to my own satisfaction that word of mouth advertising in this way really does work. If you would like to talk about it, or explore it in relation to your work, please do email me or phone 01536 399 013.

And indeed if you have any experiences yourself of successful word of mouth advertising, please do write in and share. Tony@hamilton-house.com

Tony Attwood

Hamilton House Mailings Ltd reg number 2444392 VAT 354907535GB. Phone 01536 399 000.

Let’s imagine that you are looking afresh at your marketing campaigns, or maybe wanting to try something new. Or even coming to direct marketing for the first time.

Where to start?

I want to make two suggestions.

First, take a list that is likely to do well and mail just a small percentage of that list to see how many replies you get. How many you need to mail depends on the profit you make per sale, but if you want me to go through the calculations with you, I am happy to - just give me a call.

Second, I would take the email list of past clients, and email them with an offer.

My point here is that if these promotions don’t work, then there is no point running the campaign, and one needs to re-think the advert. You are using the best responding approaches (straight direct mail to potential new customers, and email to existing customers).

This may seem fairly obvious, and yet most firms don’t use either of these approaches, and so if any campaign fails to make the grade they don’t really know what to do next.

If you don’t have your own list of customers and interested parties’ email addresses, or you don’t have a mechanism for emailing them, then please do give me a call on 01536 399 013. No obligation, I am happy to have a chat through with any of the issues.

If you would like to see costs relating to building your own email list from those people who click on your emails to go onto your web site, as well as those who call and enquire, please do take a look at http://www.emails.gs/ownlists.html

Tony Attwood

I wrote yesterday about how my stories of the Toppled Bollard gained attention. So much so that one reader, wrote in with his own Bollard story. It just shows what a great approach this is to developing customer relations.

A traveller’s tale

Half way through a recent sales trip through Northamptonshire, I was initially dismayed when my old VW finally gave up the ghost somewhere in the environs of Corby. Casting around for the nearest source of succour, the loom of a disreputable looking hovel caught my eye. Any port in a storm, I thought and, leaving the car with a few well directed kicks, I crossed the cratered tarmac of a car park and blundered in through the back door of the shabby hostelry.

The effect of my entrance, somewhat spoiled as I tripped lightly over a disused trouser press, could not have been more marked. The strident discussion I’d heard as I approached, stopped as if choked in the collective windpipe of the crowd who, as one, now regarded the intruder with an equal mix of suspicion and loathing. My dismay increased as a threatening figure stooped over me. “You’ve broken our darts trophy” it snarled, “that’ll be a fiver.” Glancing at the object of my downfall, I noticed, with a shiver of recognition, that it bore a small chrome plaque emblazoned with the words “Corby Finals - 1992 - Fecund Place - The Toppled Bollard”

As I proffered an apologetic twenty pound note, the lowering visage softened and a hand, extended by its owner, helped me to my feet. I retrieved my brief case and, picking up the contents liberally strewn about by my maladroit entrance, sat heavily upon a bar stool. “Any change?” I asked hopefully, ” or maybe a pint or two? - I won’t be driving anywhere for a while.” With a look of supreme unconcern, the barman, for such he was, slid a consolingly foaming pot across the bar. “Salesman?” he asked suspiciously.

“What?” I spluttered, inadvertently spraying him with foam, “Oh, the leaflets? Yes, sort of. I sell toilet cubicles and washroom vanities to Schools and Colleges.” Unfazed by the sniggers from the nearest of his customers and snide remarks about U-Tube, he brushed the spray over most of his sweatshirt and leaned forward confidentially. “Lucky you dropped in,” he said, “we know a bit about selling to schools here.”

“Really?” I said, my doubt evidenced by more flying foam.

“Really” came the assured reply.

“Fantastic!” I said, “I’m desperate.”

“So are most of this lot.” my interlocutor opined with a jerk of his head towards his clientele.

“No,” I protested, sliding the bit more firmly between my teeth, “What I mean is, our lot produce some damn good products but not enough of the school and college decision makers know about us. You’ll have heard of BSF?” I continued, “PFI, Public - Private partnership, consultation between local authorities,architects and main contractors, that sort of thing? Well, getting in front of those decision makers at the right time is a serious problem, let me tell you!”

Shaking the increasingly glazed look from his face with a considerable effort, he leaned suddenly closer - any nearer and I would have suffered from his shaving rash. “Bit difficult for me perhaps if I’m honest,” he breathed, “but there’s a bloke comes in here from time to time. likes a beer, tells a good story, does a lot of ‘mailings’, he calls ‘em.”

As he stared insistently into my eyes, I realised he was pressing something into my hand. I looked down at a comprehensively soiled piece of pasteboard. “Tell him Billy “The Dog” sent you.”

Simon Rosser
Decra Ltd