CHALLENGE

Just-Auto.com, one of several sites from B-to-B vertical site publisher Just-Sites.com, needed a way to effectively raise traffic and build customer relationships. Their target audience: high-level automotive industry executives worldwide.

CAMPAIGN

Marketer Joe Walker had heard that adopting a casual tone of voice for an email newsletter could raise response rates, even in stuffy industries. So he put his head together with in-house Editor Dave Leggett and revamped the site’s weekly email newsletter completely.

“We decided ok, let’s try it to create some sort of personal contact after what can be the faceless entity of a Web site. The newsletter used to be just a round-up of the week’s news headlines with links back to our site. In the new version we made a conscious effort to be as informal as possible with this email (which did raise eyebrows internally) but, boy does the industry like this style?!!!

“Dave literally introduces each issue with a little jokey personal story that then segues into some way back into the serious stories posted at the site that way. No one has come back saying, ‘hey this is a serious industry.’ I suspect that people prefer it.”



RESULTS
In a little over two months, the newsletter’s circulation has jumped from 1,000 to 4,000 opt-in executive readers. Walker says, “And these guys are coming from all the right companies - the Fords, GMs and Delphi’s of the world.”