CASE

S T U D Y

Online PR Agency for theNon-Windows VistaSocial Club (aka Squiz)

I thought I’d share the machinationso a recent uber-hot campaign withyou – just to give you a sense o howwe do ourOnline PR agency mojo.This one’s in the technology space,with our good riends at Squiz, andit’s agreat example o really specifc‘BootStart’ style gig. We were in andout in two days, with results deliveredand a new business lead or the clienton the aternoon o day three.Here’s what happened…

Roger Warner, Managing Director, C&M

September 2009

Case Study:

Online PR Agency for the Non-Windows Vista Social Club (aka Squiz) //

C&M

//September 2009

Squiz. Developer o one o the world’s leadingOpen Source CMS’s. They do ab work with olkslike The Royal Society or Arts, Oxord University,Boots and others. All o whom use their product, MySource Matrix, to runtheir web sites.Squiz recently developed a very slick (andunctionally comprehensive) Open Sourceversion o a Social Networking Platorm.Like FaceBook, but one that a companycan build and run themselves in orderto mantain their own social networks – or community orums, eventsmanagement, that kind o thing…Having done the hard development work to create it, theirimmediate goal was basically to sell it hard: to put it in ronto a select bunch o people and win some development andimplementation projects beore Xmas.Which is where we came in……also involved some good oldashioned oine tactics.Firstly, the no-brainer sellingopportunity was to take it toexisting customers, or those in their current pipeline. Like, ‘Hi, gotMatrix? Wow! Have you seen what you can do with our new Open SourceSocial Networking Platorm…?’So, we suggested working together on an exclusive breakast seminar intown where they could invite their sales targets in to hear all about whythe new product is so great, and why it’s a must-have item.So ar so good – once the venue was booked the sales teams hit thephones and started the invitation process.In addition, we supported this direct selling eort with a two-prongedOnline PR campaign, as ollows:

SEO: get the product some high-profile traction on GoogleBuzz: get the product out across the web via somestandard network distribution

Here’s how we approached it:

AM: we took the client briefPM: we made our recommendationsPM: we delivered our keyword strategy and stated ourgoals, as follows…

Strategy:

optimise our online push around the terms ‘Open SourceSocial Networking’ and ‘Open Source Social Networking Platorm’, whichwe knew – combined – would attract around 2,000 searches per month.

goal:

frst page presence on Google or the product on this term(and variants o it)

the ClienttheBootStart gigour online prreCoMMendationSour online prproCeSS anddeliveraBleS

Case Study:

Online PR Agency for the Non-Windows Vista Social Club (aka Squiz) //

C&M

//September 2009

We researched, created, delivered and implemented on site theollowing

heavily optiMiZed

content:

A new product page (see:MySource Matrix Open SourceSocial Networking Platform Software)A press release (see:New Open Source Social NetworkingPlatform Software from Squiz: MySource Gets Plugged intothe Social Matrix!)A blog post to position the offering (see:Open Source Social Networking Software: Platforms & Integration!) A seminar registration page (see:MySource Matrix OpenSource Social Networking Platform Software Seminar)

We then applied some extreme motion to the above by pushing it outinto the interweb with the express aim o raising awareness, generatingbacklinkage and such…Late in the day, wealso developed thehome page creativewhich you see to thelet (‘The Non-Windows Vista Social Club’)….to add a little bit o unto the proceedings atMicrosot’s expense.

(Note: the sales prospects are technical – the ‘Vista’ joke was or their beneft exclusively!)

Once we’d done all this stu we had a good liedown – day two was a long old day!The next thing to do was wait…. and wait, until theGoogle God had indexed the new content. (We knew this would be astbecause o how we’d seeded the content on other external platorms.)

12pM…

New pages were indexed by around midday….Top right is page 1 o Google on our broadest (ietoughest!) search term – note, our press releaseappears at #2, the target page appears at #4

(click the thumbnail for an enlarged view)

Bottom right is page 1 o Google on ‘SocialNetworking Platorm’ (Note – no ‘open source’, just straight to the meat on a broader term)…This draws an audience o approximately1,000 searchers per month. We’re #1 or ourpress release, and #3 or the target page –sandwiching the good old BBC…

(click the thumbnail for an enlarged view)

Hmmm… Looks like all the bases arecovered then!

2pM…

Lo and behold, a product SALES INQUIRY roma large central London organisation appears in the sales team’s inbox.This led to a meeting being set up or a demo and a chat.

4pM…

The seminar sign ups begin (aided by the sales teams phone eorts).

6pM…

A beer or fve.

our onlinepr reSultS