CLIENT
Michael Rothman, Esq., is a lawyer and the principal of Rothman Consulting - a leading provider of high end investigative due diligence services (e.g., background investigations) to the financial and investment management industries.
CHALLENGE
Michael wished to develop and execute a broad advertising campaign in offline and online trade publications targeting hedge fund and private equity fund managers for the purpose of (i) strengthening his firm's "brand" (i.e., a reputation for discrete, reliable, comprehensive investigative due diligence) with the desired target audiences, and (ii) generating leads for the firm's due diligence services.
SOLUTION
We conceived of a campaign featuring multiple components and steps that were tied together seamlessly for a smooth and successful execution. Specifically, we:
- Identified appropriate trade print publications and email newsletters with readerships matching the client's target audience
- Developed a single advertising theme to carry through all the advertisements dubbed "Spot the Red Flag" (intended to highlight Rothman Consulting's ability to spot "red flags" (e.g., criminal records, fabricated credentials) on behalf of its clients before potential deals or executive hires are consummated, and thereby protect such clients against doing business with third parties with problematic backgrounds)
- Designed print ads for the offline publications
- Designed banner ads and composed text ads for the email newsletters
- Designed and wrote a professional white paper entitled "The Dangers of Web Due Diligence" to offer for free to visitors clicking through from ads
- Designed an award-winning landing page to convert visitors from ads into leads using the free white paper offer and and featuring a fulfillment form linked to a lead management database
- Registered multiple custom domains (e.g., www.spottheredflags.com [1] and www.spottheredflag.com [2]), and assigned each to an individual ad for purposes of tracking individual ad performance
- Redirected custom domains to multiple modified copies of the master landing page hosted at unique URL's to track ad performance and conversion rates
- Monitored ad and landing page performance using Google Analytics and other tracking tools, and tweaked landing page layout and copy to boost results.
OUTCOME
Rothman Consulting was extremely pleased with the outcome of the campaign. Stated principal Michael Rothman:
"It was a pleasure working with you on the white paper project. The writer you recommended did a superb job. I was also quite pleased with the design and performance of the landing page through which we provided access to the white paper, and it now serves as an important lead generation tool for our firm. The analytics you set up for the white paper landing page also helped us monitor performance so we knew what promotional tactics were working, and which were not."
In terms of specific measurable results, Rothman Consulting:
- Received extremely positive feedback from both existing and prospective clients who saw the ads in various publications
- Received extremely positive feedback concerning the quality and utility of the white paper
- Identified the most effective advertising media and ad formats for future campaigns from a cost/benefit standpoint
- Experienced a high conversion rate on its landing pages
- Generated promising leads from the white paper downloads
