When I got the call from TheStreet.com, they were not sure what to do.
Sales were going down. Competition was increasing. It was the middle of a recession/down market.
Plus, TheStreet.com saw existing ad revenue drop when the market dropped…and that’s what happens in a recession.
Marketers cut back on advertising – and TheStreet.com felt it big time.
So, I was asked to help increase their revenue and growth. After careful analysis, I recommended that they:
- Reposition their products according to new market and economic changes.
- Reboot all copy to reflect market reality and perception changes.
- Launch new products based on new market realities.
Instead of retreating, retracting, and being paralyzed, they moved forward with a new, fresh approach I recommended.
An approach that recognized the need to be careful about spending…an accountable, scientific marketing strategy.
The paralysis, retreating, and failure of the competition to respond to the new conditions allowed TheStreet.com to gain new market share and dominate their market. Here is what we did:
- Website redesign. CDMG redesigned TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com to follow direct marketing rules.
- RealMoney.com was positioned as a premium website. We had to overcome the objections of all the free information on TheStreet.com. CDMG created a perceived value that encouraged investors to pay for quality, valuable information. Response was huge and exceeded the client’s expectations by 200%.
- New product launches. We identified The Street’s most popular columnists and launched four successful premium investment services, exceeding projections by 350%. The response was great for all new products.
- Cross-selling and up-selling. For each product, CDMG created:
- Powerful email campaigns using direct response copy
- Money making banner ads for home and internal pages
- A shopping cart strategy using direct marketing principles to lower the abandonment rate
And the results?
RealMoney.com became one of the largest premium websites in America, and TheStreet.com now has successfully launched premium products to up-sell and cross-sell.
The company generated badly-needed new revenue. The company also developed a highly profitable model that would not only bring back, but exceed, past profitability.
This type of bold initiative is often needed to turn things around … or to bring things to a higher level.
Can I help you in your recovery, to grow and dominate your market? Call me at (310) 212-5727 or email me at [email protected].
