Integrated Marketing Kicks It Up a Notch

Case Study: Grasshopper.com (formerly GotVMail Communications)

BACKGROUND

GotVMail Communications was founded in 2003 as a virtual business phone (PBX / VOIP) telecommunications product/service company to help smaller businesses give the appearance of being much larger than they really were. They were a strong, smaller company looking to grow.

CHALLENGE

In May 2009, the executive team decided to go through a re-branding initiative to help explain to the world their new mix of advanced services and position themselves as a universal resource committed to the advancement of entrepreneurs.

OPPORTUNITY

The company founders realized that they could leverage the re-branding process and use it as an opportunity to create large scale awareness through a national, viral plan.

CAMPAIGN

The integrated print+online marketing campaign consisted of the following elements:

1. Branding, Design & Programming

Naming, design, print, programming and social media elements were all universally aligned around the company’s new core values of inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs. The name “Grasshopper” was chosen to exemplify the forward motion and leap ahead advantage that the company aims to provide for its emerging entrepreneur target audience.

2. Video & YouTube

Creating a public service-like animated motion graphic video rather than a traditional corporate promotion ensured that the commitment to entrepreneurial excellence was clearly demonstrated and felt prior to revealing the source of the video. The final screen read: “See how Grasshopper empowers entrepreneurs to succeed.” The video was launched May 4, 2009 and timed to match the official re-branding announcement (PR) with placement on YouTube and the company’s new website.

3. Direct Mail Design, Printing & Fulfillment

Knowing that most standard direct mail pieces get stuck at the gatekeeper, Grasshopper took several precautionary tactics to ensure the right person got the right promotion at the right time. First, they carefully identified a list of the right reporters, journalists, TV anchors, bloggers, celebrities, politicians, entrepreneurs and CEOs. After three months of very careful list scrubbing, they culled their list down to the perfect group of 5,000 key influentials. Second, they created a compelling piece consisting of: a box, minimal branding consisting of their logo and url, chocolate-covered grasshoppers and a message of: “You’re a risk-taker, a dream-realizer. What’s left to do that you haven’t already done? Eat a grasshopper.” The bag of grasshoppers had a tag with a final call to action, “ Entrepreneurs Can Change the World. Join the Movement Now!” with the URL for the video posted on the company’s website. Finally, the target audience received the piece via FedEx (not USPS) to ensure the true recipient actually received it in time…not the gatekeeper.

4. Sales Follow Up & Social Media Interaction

Employees from the company followed up with every blogger and key influential to make sure they received the package safely and that it had indeed been opened. Next, they began responding to online questions posted on blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social media networks. Conversations were not aimed at promoting the company brand, but rather encouraging recipients to create and submit their own photos or videos for placement on the Grasshopper.com website.

RESULTS

Video

In the first month after the campaign launched, the video on their website received over 47,000 unique page views with their video on YouTube generating around 130,000 views with 400+ 5-star ratings and over 160 comments.

Twitter

The most successful channel of all the social media tools, the campaign was mentioned in 1,461 tweets by key influentials including: Guy Kawasaki, Alltop Founder; Kevin Rose, Digg Founder, and Jason Calacanis, Mahalo, CEO – influencers with a reach of more than one million followers.

Blog/PR

The campaign was also mentioned within 119 blog posts and news articles, with features appearing on seven major tv network broadcasts.

Website

Traffic to their website increased significantly in the first month, with a 93% conversion of viewers clicking on the “How it works” section to learn more about their services. In addition, the company has seen a 4,911% increase in visitors from Twitter and a 3,286% increase in visitors from Facebook plus 30,000 referrals from StumbleUpon alone.

REVERSE ENGINEER THE CAMPAIGN

Crafting a buzz-worthy campaign is no small feat and several key components were integral to ensuring a viral campaign that generated more buzz than the company had received in the previous 6 years of business combined.

Curiosity

Grasshopper.com’s well-designed direct mail piece was unexpected, non-traditional and unique. Minimal branding combined with a unique leave behind and a well-scrubbed list ensured that 95% of recipients went to the URL and almost unheard-of response compared to the traditional 2-5% standard direct mail response rate of a basic postcard.

Inspiration

The animated motion graphic video was focused squarely on celebrating the potential of entrepreneurs to change the world and celebrating them as an important, exciting part of our lives. By de-emphasizing their branding relationship to the video, the founders ensured the viral-ability of the video and it has now been seen at many entrepreneurial-focused conferences ensuring it continues to have longevity long after the initial campaign is over.

Integration

By integrating multiple print+online marketing components in a careful and well-thought out manner ensured that each tool performed at its highest potential and leveraged one another for optimal success. Careful list scrubbing, direct mail design, website/video + social media integration guaranteed a viral, unparalleled result that to date has been unmatched.

By,
Angela Hill
President

Incitrio
http://www.incitrio.com
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Add comment July 14th, 2010

Social Media: What’s the Rush???

Under Pressure

I keep hearing that old song by David Bowie, or Vanilla Ice for you younger folks. Man, are marketing directors under some serious pressure these days! With all the hype going on around social media, CEOs are pushing harder than ever for marketing departments to implement online marketing strategies. Here’s what I keep hearing: “Everybody’s doing it.” “I just went to a (blank) industry conference and the keynote said it’s critical to my sales growth.” “Let’s make sure we’re not the last one on the bandwagon.” “Just throw something up there.” “I want it done within the month, no excuses.” “I don’t care if it’s a Facebook Group, a corporate Twitter personality or if we start blogging…just get it done!”

The Problem is…

Once again, like website design , email marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC or Google Adwords), we have key decision makers and well-meaning marketing managers being pushed into new technology and strategies they don’t completely understand. I mean if Twitter is free and takes less than 5 minutes to setup, why can’t I have my corporate Twitter account within a month? Or, if Facebook is free and I could use the Causes page to raise money for my non-profit, why can’t you get it done right away?

And the Answer is…

You can. You can get it done in 15 minutes or less. But…if you don’t do the work to assess your in-house resources for a disciplined, rigorous maintenance routine or train your staff regarding online etiquette or analyze your customer base to see if they even want (or will use) the dang social media strategy – then, it’s a complete and total WASTE OF TIME.

The Gobbledy-Gook Factor

I know I’m being harsh here, but seriously, you can’t just throw something up and expect it to perform. Think about your corporate brochure, if you just put gobbledy-gook for the content would someone actually call you and hire you? What if you designed a gorgeous tradeshow booth but went to a tradeshow where none of the attendees were interested or had the budget to purchase your product/services? Would that be the best use of your company’s marketing budget and monetary resources? Would it produce the requisite ROI demanded by your CFO? Nope, it would be a complete and total WASTE OF TIME.

What Should You Do?

Well, first of all, pat yourself on the back that your entrepreneurial and cutting edge enough to consider a social media strategy. Way to go, you are a frontrunner and innovator. Seriously, that’s awesome. So, now let’s roll up our sleeves and figure out if social media makes sense for you.

How Do You Know if You’re On the Right Path?

Well, cricket… One: Do you have anything interesting to talk about? Product updates, new technology, new service offerings, demonstrating expertise in an area, resources your competitors don’t have, etc. As in, what makes your organization so darn special? We’re talking Point of Differentiation here. Two: What problem are you trying to solve? Increase customers, increase sales, increase average sale, increase sales from existing customers, establish presence as industry leader, reposition brand, demonstrate expertise, share unique resources, etc. As in, what is your metric for measuring success? It’s all about ROI, baby. Three: Who cares? Your C-suite, your marketing department, your outsourced vendors, your distribution channel, your customers, etc. As in, if you write it will they come? Everyone has to be fully vested or it won’t work, really it can’t be a one man or one woman initiative. (Funny side note: I had a vendor give me a quote for “man hours.” I thanked him and asked him what would the project cost if it was “woman hours?” He said: Oh, a lot more. That was the right response!)

If You Answered Yes, Then Social Media is for You!

Sensei says: Congratulations!! Now, you’re ready to start thinking about People, Objective, Strategy, Technology (POST per the Forrester folks who came up with this great methodology) and your Process, Implementation, Discipline and Measurement (PIDM per me, I made it up but when you think about it really makes sense to ensure successful implementation).

Th-th-that’s All Folks!

Well, that’s all for today. In my next post, we’ll talk about what you need to do next in your never-ending quest for Social Media enlightenment to ensure your efforts are not a complete and total WASTE OF TIME. Be sure to sign up for our RSS feed (top right orange button thingy on our blog), so you can get notified when we post next and stay update with the latest industry content. Good night and good luck.

By,
Angela Hill
President

Incitrio
http://www.incitrio.com
Visit Incitrio on Facebook
Follow on Twitter
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Add comment July 13th, 2010