The company: I Need Links
I Need Links is a new link building and SEO consultancy, based in Manchester. The business was founded in 2012 by rising SEO star, Matthew Platt, after the 27-year-old entrepreneur spotted a gap in the market for the provision of fresh and effective, no-nonsense SEO.
The company offers agencies and in-house marketers, a range of tools to be used as stand-alone products, or as part of a wider optimisation campaign. These include: SEO auditing, article marketing, and blogger outreach, as well as brand protection and reputation management. Employing over 140 link building professionals, I Need Links specialises in bespoke link building services – never utilising spam links or automated programmes of any kind.
The challenge: The new kids on the block
The biggest challenge for the fledgling business was to build a presence for the brand in the crowded Manchester digital marketplace. The team identified five key objectives:
- To announce the launch of I Need Links and establish contact with local marketers.
- To cement the credibility of I Need Links’ range of link building services from the outset.
- To develop a personal face for the business and encourage conversations around the brand.
- To engage with potential customers in a fun and friendly way.
- To generate new business leads.
The solution: Edible freebies hit the spot
The team designed an I Need Links branded doughnut gift box – each containing 12 mouth-watering Krispy Kremes, which were carefully packaged in a colourful box carrying personalised messages, images of the team and the all-important marketing literature.To kick things off, and to make an immediate impact within its target market, the team decided that they needed a simple, yet effective direct mail campaign. A top priority for the campaign was to communicate I Need Links’ distinctive personality, differentiate the company from its competitors and engender positive feelings towards the brand.
After compiling a hit list of 60 key agencies and in-house departments in and around Manchester, the I Need Links social media team took to Twitter to help begin interacting with target businesses, pinpointing key individuals with high follower numbers to create the greatest buzz possible. To build further hype and anticipation ahead of the giveaway, the B2B brand then issued a series of ‘teaser’ tweets. The team wanted the direct mail to be a surprise, but it was important that followers knew to expect a delivery!
The team took to the road, delivering the mailer to 20 agencies each day, over a period of three days. To demonstrate the company’s particular culture and to highlight its range of services, each delivery team included a senior account manager and sales team member to talk through how I Need Links could support each agency. No detail was overlooked, with the timings of the deliveries scheduled to coincide with the 11am and 3pm sugar slumps, thus generating more goodwill from recipients.
To give the campaign added longevity, and to help generate new business leads, each of the emailer recipients was offered the chance to win more treats, as well as a discounted trial of I Need Links’ services. They simply had to interact with I Need Links via Twitter, by tweeting pictures of themselves enjoying their doughnuts.
Results: Food wins friends
I Need Links was able to make the most of its employee’s creative skills-set, employing its in-house graphic designer to produce the creative branding on the doughnut boxes and marketing inserts. This helped to keep costs low, and ensure a worthwhile return on investment (ROI) for the campaign.
Overall, the mailer generated:
- £31 of revenue for every £1 spent.
- Five Twitpics and 39 tweets of thanks from recipients.
- Traffic to the I Need Links website doubled during the week of the giveaway.
- The company secured a 12-month agency contract, worth £60,000, within just 24 hours of the doughnut delivery.
- As the campaign ended, I Need Links had secured a further four sub-contracts (each valued at £12,000) and generated 17 new business leads.
Matthew Platt, founder and director of I Need Links, said: “The doughnut mailer was a simple idea, but one I think we executed well. It’s too easy to ignore an email or palm-off a cold call, but who can ignore the guy standing in their office with free food? As well as getting I Need Links’ team out into the community and helping to build brand awareness, the main advantage of the campaign was that it gave us the all-important ‘in’ with key-decision makers in our target audience – therefore, resulting in direct sales.”
Building on the success: Yogberries partnership
After causing a stir with their first round of flash food giveaways, I Need Links capitalised on the success by partnering with cult frozen yoghurt brand, Yogberries. The result was theI Need Links ice-cream van. The van has already been featured at high-profile international trade shows, Brighton SEO and ION Search, and will be hitting the road again this summer as the I Need Links team attends a roster of key industry events.