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"Since we began working with Schwartz Communications in October of 2007, we've seen our daily traffic grow fourfold and our brand recognition increase dramatically in the US. Our Schwartz team understands how to plan and execute consumer PR campaigns that drive traffic and help us grow our business, giving us a significant return on our PR investment." -Guy King, co-founder, RetailMeNot.com |
RetailMeNot.com, a division of Melbourne-based Stateless Systems, was created to help consumers save money and enjoy a hassle-free shopping discount shopping experience online. The site launched in late 2006 amidst the cluttered coupon website market with a new model: coupon sharing. The creators developed a platform that leveraged the power of the crowd by enabling shoppers to contribute coupons and then rate their usability. In the first year, RetailMeNot.com experienced steady, organic growth without any investment in marketing. In late 2007 RetailMeNot.com came to Schwartz Communication’s Consumer PR Practice with the sole goal of increasing website traffic. Through aggressive, creative and consistent public relations targeting traditional broadcast, print and online media, along with blogs and social networks, Schwartz helped RetailMeNot.com increase traffic by more than 300% and increase revenue tenfold by the end of 2008.Schwartz PR StrategyHaving worked with other consumer destination sites and online services in the past, including eBay, Staples.com, BillMeLater, Tabblo and Healthline.com, Schwartz understood that there would be seasonal fluctuations in site traffic. The key would be driving enough visibility of RetailMeNot.com to increase non-holiday baseline traffic and grow the number of users using the site on a consistent basis.
The only way to achieve this goal was through aggressive and creative media relations to drive ongoing and frequent impressions of the site’s brand with consumers, including the site’s most important demographic—woman ages 18-45. Through constant contact with national consumer media and prominent blogs, leveraging creative campaigns and macro-economic trends, like the softening economy, Schwartz believed it could generate the publicity necessary to help the site’s founders dramatically grow traffic.
Other strategies included:
- Rising Tide Lifts all Ships—Schwartz worked to increase overall awareness of coupon use and coupon websites as a trend in the down economy.
- Differentiate—Schwartz highlighted RetailMeNot.com’s loyal and active user community as a major differentiator from other coupon websites.
- Competitive Warfare—Schwartz contacted every journalist who had previously covered a competitor of RetailMeNot.com to ensure RetailMeNot.com would be included in every article about coupon websites.
- Relentless Measurement—Schwartz carefully monitored RetailMeNot.com’s analytics to track media placements and blog postings that generated significant amounts of site traffic. The ongoing measurement allowed the team to focus on targets that were having real business impact.
ResultsSchwartz’s consumer PR campaign on behalf of RetailMeNot.com exceeded its objectives and was a resounding success. Metrics include:
- Traffic—RetailMeNot.com’s traffic grew from an average of 50,000 visitors per day to an average of 400,000 visitors per day, with a peak of more than 13 million visitors in December 2008.
- Rank—RetailMeNot.com’s traffic rank, according to Compete.com, rose from 2000 to 220 in the US.
- Revenue—RetailMeNot.com’s revenue has increased more than 10 times since the start of it’s engagement with Schwartz.
- Coverage—RetailMeNot.com has been featured or mentioned in more than 1000 articles or blog posts over the past 18 months. Coverage highlights included:
o Newspapers: The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal
o Magazines: O: The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, People, Glamour, InStyle
o Blogs: TechCrunch, Lifehacker, Mashable, Wired, CNET’s Webware, Consumerist
o Online: MSNBC.com, ABCNews.com, CNNMoney.com
o Broadcast: The Today Show, CBS Early Show, Fox & Friends, CNN Newsroom
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