Charles Stanley Direct PPC

Charles Stanley Direct PPC

Digital Marketing:

Charles Stanley Direct PPC  

Introduction

Charles Stanley Direct is a popular direct investment service for the savvy investor looking to manage their own investments. The platform provides a first-class service to implement your investment decisions, through a secure website and app.

Brief

Charles Stanley set us the challenge of delivering improved performance from their PPC campaigns. In a highly regulated industry, with multiple stakeholders to govern marketing activities and an everchanging market, the breif called for exceptionally high levels of service, reporting and flexibility.

    Approach

    We restructured the PPC account to open up opportunities to attract new customers, and applied a creative and intelligent data driven approach to deliver improved results in this highly competitive market. With thousands of investment funds, trusts and shares available to trade, deciding which ones to promote with PPC required some smart thinking and detailed data analysis.

    By keeping a close eye on trading trends and using our market leading reports, we adjusted budgets and bids for hundreds of campaigns as different funds, trusts and shares constantly go in and out of favour with the direct investor. This deep dive into the workings of the market and inventive use of trading data is typical of our approach and part of the way we get better results.

    Result

    Strong numbers of new users opening accounts and transferring investments and a continued focus on high efficiency by closely monitoring CPA.

    The success of the PPC campaigns has allowed us to collaborate with Charles Stanley on a wide range of projects including a strategic review of their digital offering, radio adverts, Google Local optimisation for their branch network, Google analytics audit and sponsored Tweet campaigns.

    Testimonial

    We kissed an awful lot of frogs in the digital marketing space before finding our prince in Strange. From the moment they approached Charles Stanley Direct we knew that their level of detail, technical ability and knowledge of our sector was exactly what we required. They have been first class in their execution, delivery and ongoing optimisation of our account and we have been impressed by the continual striving to deliver for us. The team is highly personable, pragmatic and honest and we recommend them highly.

    Magnus Wheatley  
    Head of Digital Marketing & Communications, Charles Stanley

    Avery WePrint – Content Strategy

    Avery WePrint – Content Strategy

    Digital Marketing:

    Avery WePrint Content Strategy

    Introduction

    We’ve always admired Avery’s passion for innovation and their commitment to offering a great service. Their custom printing service Avery WePrint encompasses just that. The website allows you to design or upload custom artwork for labels, business cards and other stationery products, and it’s then professionally printed and delivered by Avery.

    Brief

    As a long standing client we have a sound insight into their service and customer, along with lots of ideas about how to enhance their website performance. One key opportunity was to increase revenue from new and returning customers through adopting a content strategy with objectives to improve SEO for article pages and produce engaging content to link to from their emails..

      Approach

      Our approach was to routinely compile and publish articles aligned to the two core users intended for the content; small business owners looking for custom printing options and existing customers who would benefit from and be interested in broader small business insight.

      To ensure topics were aligned to the sectors and seasonality of the audiences we reviewed user order patterns, explored keyword volumes and undertook research into core sectors to better plan topic timings. This meant we had a pretty good idea of what users were interested in and when.

      Next came the fun part: writing a range of purposeful articles, incorporating relevant and useful links, information and advice. By adopting an authoritative but relatable tone of voice we were able to produce articles that resonated with the audience. Copy was of course optimised to rank well in search engines, along with ensuring titles and metadata was well thought through.

      Ever the data fans, we monitored key metrics including traffic levels, page value and page performance indicators to gain insights into performance and continually adapt our approach based on the learnings.

      Result

      We have seen consistent month on month improvements for organic sessions to the article pages and the quality of the content is reflected in improved bounce rates and page duration. Uplifted pages per session and page value are also a testament to the effectiveness of the content in driving onward journeys and conversions.

      We’ve seen a good response from the email audience too; with improved click through rates on emails with articles and onward actions and conversions from the sessions.

      Going one step further to support Avery WePrint with SEO improvements, we analysed the key products and sectors to produce a gap analysis of missing article content.

       

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      Increase Organic Sessions

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      Reduction in Bounce Rate

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      Increase in Email CTR

      Testimonial

      Strange has  worked really hard to understand our customers and their businesses, behaviours and interests. This has been pivotal to the success of the content strategy and it’s great to see the positive shift as a result. Their review and reporting capabilities are second to none, so you can clearly see the results of the work and get key insights that often feed in to other parts of the business.

      Kevin Power  
      Ecommerce Manager, Avery WePrint 

      Google Grant PPC Management

      Google Grant PPC Management

      Digital Marketing:

      Google Grant PPC Management 

      Introduction

      The Centre for Ageing Better is an independent charitable foundation, funded by The National Lottery Community Fund. It creates change in policy and practice informed by evidence and works with partners across England to improve employment, housing, and to combat ageism.

      Brief

      The Centre for Ageing Better believes that more people living longer represents a huge opportunity for society and they want everyone to live a good later life. But changes are needed so more people are in good health, are financially secure, are socially connected, and have a sense of meaning and purpose in later life.

        Approach

        Strange has been working with Ageing Better for the last three years and have recently won the contract to continue working with them for up to three more years. As an agency, we are really proud of the lasting relationships we build with our clients, but more than that, we are proud of the results we are able to deliver for them.

        One of the challenges we were facing managing the Google Grants account for Ageing Better was being able to deploy the full budget each month. We were noticing that standard search spend was flat YoY, so we needed to find a solution that was going to increase spend through the account whilst still being able to meet the client’s objectives and the Grants policies outlined by Google.

        We had previously run some low level DSA campaigns with some success so wanted to see what more could be achieved with this campaign type. Our approach resulted in building out a complete DSA strategy that ensured full coverage of the website. Running this alongside the standard search campaigns opened up a whole new area of search that we had not previously been targeting. Careful search term report analysis meant we were able to build robust negative keyword lists to minimise wastage and maintain quality traffic reaching the website, whilst beginning to scale the account. 

        Result

        As a result, we saw some staggering growth YoY. 

        • Spend increased by 84%
        • There was an 88% increase in impressions
        • We generated a 20% increase in traffic to the website

         

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        Increase in Spend

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        Increase in Impressions

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        Increase in Traffic to Website

        Testimonial

        As a charity, it’s really important that our digital marketing spend is delivered as efficiently as possible. Google Grants search restrictions are challenging and mean we look to Strange to provide high-quality strategic thinking and optimisation. The implementation of the new DSA strategy has hugely contributed to the success in achieving our growth and performance KPIs.

        Yehia Nasr 
        Digital and Content Manager, Centre for Ageing Better 

        Legoland Discovery Centre Launch Campaign

        Legoland Discovery Centre Launch Campaign

        Digital Marketing:

        Legoland Discovery Centre Launch Campaign 

        Introduction

        We were delighted to win the brief to help Merlin Entertainments’ launch Legoland Discovery Centre, Birmingham.

        The ultimate indoor playground was the second to be built in the UK and opened just outside the centre of Birmingham and ideally situated opposite the popular National Sea Life Centre.

        Brief

        The ambitious brief required us to:

        1. Drive pre-launch awareness and engagement by increasing number of unique website visitors and impressions served on social media
        2. Drive pre-launch bookings to support overall targets
        3. Drive bookings and awareness once the attraction was open

        Approach

        We used a comprehsive data driven approach to plan a multi channel strategy to meet the brief. 

        The answer lay in Facebook, Search and Display to balance awareness driving impressions and direct response conversion elements. The campaign budget was weighted to meet the planned targets; maximising the Christmas opportunity to sell First 2 Play Annual Passes, before launching a broader awareness campaign, that culminated in focussed conversion activity in the countdown to launch.

        Through a mix of  targeting approaches, we were able to effectively identify and deploy ads to tailored audiences built from website visitors, lookalikes of customers and targeting modifiers from our experience and learnings. All activity was geo-targeted based on drivetime insight and brand growth opportunity to ensure budget was focussed where it would be most beneficial.

        A highlight of the campaign was making the most of the well loved brand LEGO® to promote the launch of the attraction. We were able to make the most of key assets and photography to present the proposition in a digital-friendly and targeted way. The campaign plan was then put through testing and optimisation to refine the message to its optimum based on data learnings. We were reactive and flexible too, pro-actively adopting new elements to incorporate local PR activity and maximising countdown tools in the lead up to launch.

        Result

        The campaigns surpassed targets for website visits and bookings. And with total impressions in excess of 4 million, social engagements of 14 thousand and 12 thousand Facebook followers acquired, the campaign awareness and engagement eobjectives were met.

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        Annual Pass Sales Target Achieved

        Facebook Followers Acquired

        Social Engagements on Ads

        Testimonial

        We’ve been very impressed with the results we’ve seen from both SEO and Social. Strange have worked hard for us to deliver a programme that produces good business results.

        Liz Rodgers 
        GM, Holiday France Direct, a Brittany Ferries Brand

        SEO and Social Success for Holiday France Direct

        SEO and Social Success for Holiday France Direct

        Digital Marketing:

        SEO and Social Success for Holiday France Direct

        Introduction

        Like many businesses, Holiday France Direct wanted to increase the volume of visitors to their website from non-paid traffic, and increase their social reach and engagement. They came to us with a brief to upgrade their site to target potential customers better, and to set up and manage a programme of monthly SEO and Social activity.

        Brief

        Holiday France Direct came to us with a brief to solve 3 business challenges. Firstly to upgrade their website site to improve targetting of potential customers, secondly to set up and manage a programme of monthly onsite and offsite SEO activity and thirdly run their social media channels for them. 

        Approach

        With thousands of properties located in popular destinations, we knew that Holiday France Direct could benefit from better organic traffic generated through an SEO programme.

        We introduced a blog and content marketing strategy to help position Holiday France Direct as an authoritative information source. Keyword research and analysis of PPC traffic patterns showed a number of opportunities to increase the visibility of their inventory through renaming and relabeling to match user search language.

        Search language also varied from region to region, even in close neighbours like Brittany and Normandy, so we took the optimisations down to a local level, producing curated lists of accommodation properties to match the demand shown in search.

        Alongside this, social media properties were created on Facebook, Twitter,  Instagram and Pinterest to further reach and engage with their target audience.

        Result

        Organic traffic grew 45% a year for two years running, generating increases in enquiries to property owners and the number of holidays booked through the site.

        Social channels continue to perform well, providing new opportunities to reach and engage with potential customers.

        %

        Increase in Organic Traffic

        Testimonial

        We’ve been very impressed with the results we’ve seen from both SEO and Social. Strange have worked hard for us to deliver a programme that produces good business results.

        Liz Rodgers 
        GM, Holiday France Direct, a Brittany Ferries Brand

        Let's chat. Tell us a bit about your project.

         If you prefer to speak with someone, call 01202 203160 or if you'd like to book a 30 min meeting to see if we can help just let us know and we'll arrange a call with one of our Directors.

        Blackpool Has it All

        Blackpool Has it All

        Digital Marketing:

        Blackpool Has It All 

        Introduction

        We love working in travel and tourism. So we were thrilled when the UK’s top beach resort asked us to plan and deliver the digital marketing for their 2018, 2019 and 2021 destination marketing campaigns.

        Blackpool needs little introduction as a mainstream tourist destination. Set alongside sandy beaches the popular UK resort is famous for its iconic attractions, including the Blackpool Tower and Pleasure Beach.

        The Blackpool Has It All campaign is a collaborative effort to increase long and short stay visitation and revenue to the resort. The annual campaign has been running since 2015 and there are increasing stakeholders who invest in the campaign, including Merlin Entertainments, Pleasure Beach and Blackpool Council.

        Brief

        Blackpool Has It All had seen promising results overall, but wanted to improve and grow the digital marketing year on year. The objectives were to improve targeted ad deployment and website traffic. The key commercial goal was to grow purchases of the Blackpool Resort Pass, as this allows 7-day access to the resorts top attractions and therefore encourages longer stay visits.
        The digital campaign was focused on two key target audiences of families with school-aged children and young couples across the UK.

        The content was wide-ranging, with all of Blackpool’s events, attractions and selling points available for use in ads. As part of a wider campaign, the digital activity had to align to the core messages and creative.

        We were tasked to plan, execute and optimise a digital solution, taking a multi-channel and targeted digital approach.

        Approach

        In order to deliver to the objectives we devised a complex campaign plan that was focused on three key areas.

        The first was on timings to maximise spend in key periods, the second was around targeting to ensure we used channels where we could effectively deploy ads to target core audiences, and finally personalisation ensured we delivered compelling ads to relevant audiences. 

        To inform timings, we analysed data from the website and other sources to get a lay down of when users were considering a visit and when they were most likely to book. We also undertook a research piece to analyse the time gap between booking the visit to visiting the resort, with consideration of seasonality and school holidays. This helped us understand when best to deploy ads for awareness and after what period a booking focused message is better used. The outcome was a dual phase plan that related to specific audiences throughout the campaign period. 

        At this stage we were able to define the best channels to balance awareness and direct response requirements. We took an agnostic approach to channel selection, choosing platforms based on historical performance and digital insight. The result was a channel mix that included Google Search, Facebook Ads, YouTube and Display. 

        The final step was to create a flexible ad plan that combined best practise on digital, with alignment to the wider campaign creative and incorporated a balanced mix of attractions and events messages. Through structured ad testing we were able to refine and improve ad performance on an ongoing basis, taking a personalised approach to copy and creative for the core audiences and their locations. 

        Throughout the campaign we were proactive and data-led to continually optimise campaigns to meet the objectives. We also performed deeper campaign reviews at routine intervals, including at the end of each year, to sense check strategy from our results and use insight from the wider campaign team when it was available. 

        Result

        We are pleased to report growth from digital activity for both years we have worked on the campaign. In 2018, there was a 93% increase in website sessions from paid media and 60% increase in online Resort Pass sales. Our 2019 digital campaign continued the year on year growth, delivering 60% more sessions with less media budget deployed and 20% more online sales year on year. 

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        More Online Sales YoY

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        Increase in Resort Pass Sales

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        Increase in Website Sessions

        Testimonial

        Having worked with Strange for a number of years, I was confident to invite them to work on the Blackpool Has It All destination campaign, knowing that they’d devise a strategy that’d work and get great results.

        Their dedication and attention to detail, has seen some great successes for the campaign and we’re on track for a record year for Resort Pass sales and footfall.

        Chris Coventry 

        Campaign Manager for Blackpool Has It All  

        Let's chat. Tell us a bit about your project.

         If you prefer to speak with someone, call 01202 203160 or if you'd like to book a 30 min meeting to see if we can help just let us know and we'll arrange a call with one of our Directors.