Case Study: Online PR Agency for the Non-Windows Vista Social Club (aka Squiz)
C&M Case Study Online PR Agency
I thought I’d share the machinations of a recent uber-hot campaign with you – just to give you a sense of how we do our Online PR agency mojo.
This one’s in the technology space, with our good friends at Squiz, and it’s a great example of really specific ‘BootStart’ style gig. We were in and out in two days, with results delivered and a new business lead for the client on the afternoon of day three.
Here’s what happened….
The Client
Squiz. Developer of one of the world’s leading Open Source CMS’s. They do fab work with folks like The Royal Society for Arts, Oxford University, Boots and others. All of whom use their product, MySource Matrix, to run their web sites.
The BootStart Gig
Squiz recently developed a very slick (and functionally comprehensive) Open Source version of a Social Networking Platform. Like FaceBook, but one that a company can build and run themselves in order to mantain their own social networks – for community forums, events management, that kind of thing…
Having done the hard development work to create it, their immediate goal was basically to sell it hard: to put it in front of a select bunch of people and win some development and implementation projects before Xmas.
Which is where we came in…
Our Online PR Recommendations
…also involved some good old fashioned offline tactics.
Firstly, the no-brainer selling opportunity was to take it to existing customers, or those in their current pipeline. Like, ‘Hi, got Matrix? Wow! Have you seen what you can do with our new Open Source Social Networking Platform…?’
So, we suggested working together on an exclusive breakfast seminar in town where they could invite their sales targets in to hear all about why the new product is so great, and why it’s a must-have item.
So far so good – once the venue was booked the sales teams hit the phones and started the invitation process,
In addition, we supported this direct selling effort with a two-pronged Online PR campaign, as follows:
- SEO: get the product some high-profile traction on Google
- Buzz: get the product out across the web via some standard network distribution
Our Online PR Process and Deliverables
Here’s how we approached it:
Day 1…
- AM: we took the client brief
- PM: we made our recommendations
- PM: we delivered our keyword strategy and stated our goals, as follows…
Strategy: optimise our online push around the terms ‘Open Source Social Networking’ and ‘Open Source Social Networking Platform’, which we knew – combined – would attract around 2,000 searches per month.
Goal: first page presence on Google for the product on this term (and variants of it)
Day 2…
We researched, created, delivered and implemented on site the following HEAVILY OPTIMIZED content:
- A new product page (see: MySource Matrix Open Source Social Networking Platform Software)
- A press release (see: New Open Source Social Networking Platform Software from Squiz: MySource Gets Plugged into the Social Matrix!)
- A blog post to position the offering (see: Open Source Social Networking Software: Platforms & Integration!)
- A seminar registration page (see: MySource Matrix Open Source Social Networking Platform Software Seminar)
We then applied some extreme motion to the above by pushing it out into the interweb with the express aim of raising awareness, generating backlinkage and such…
Late in the day, we also developed the home page creative which you see above (‘The Non-Windows Vista Social Club’)…. to add a little bit of fun to the proceedings at Microsoft’s expense. (Note: the sales prospects are technical – the ‘Vista’ joke was for their benefit exclusively!)
Our Online PR Results
Once we’d done all this stuff we had a good lie down – day two was a long old day!
The next thing to do was wait…. and wait, until the Google God had indexed the new content. (We knew this would be fast because of how we’d seeded the content on other external platforms.)
Day 3….
12pm…
New pages were indexed by around midday…. Here’s page 1 of Google on our broadest (ie toughest!) search term – note, our press release appears at #2, the target page appears at #4 (click the thumbnail for an enlarged view of the results page):
And here’s page 1 of Google on ‘Social Networking Platform’ (Note – no ‘open source’, just straight to the meat on a broader term)… This draws an audience of approximately 1,000 searchers per month. We’re #1 for our press release, and #3 for the target page – sandwiching the good old BBC…
Hmmm…. Looks like all the bases are covered then!
2pm…
Lo and behold, a product SALES INQUIRY from a large central London organisation appears in the sales team’s inbox. This led to a meeting being set up for a demo and a chat.
4pm…
The seminar sign ups begin (aided by the sales teams phone efforts).
6pm…
A beer or five.
The Net: What Online PR Can Do For You
Given a tight brief, a close working relationship, and some good source material, our Online PR tweakery can help you kick butt in the SERP’s (search engine results pages), get you and your products in front of the right people, and generate leads and sales.
Easy as day 1, 2, 3….
Meantime, here’s what Squiz has been up to lately…
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Roger Warner
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David Prior
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