Gannett’s companywide daily deals offer, DealChicken, expands from its
Arizona market to 57 markets across the United States, with 81% of its
advertisers new to the newsmedia company.
Five years ago, the first thing in your inbox each morning would likely have been a work-related email from your boss or an unnecessary forward from your paranoid mother. Today, inboxes around the world fill up with offers from retailers, merchants, and daily deal sites as the sun rises.
Five years ago, the first thing in your inbox each morning would likely have been a work-related email from your boss or an unnecessary forward from your paranoid mother. Today, inboxes around the world fill up with offers from retailers, merchants, and daily deal sites as the sun rises.
Gannett Co., Inc., recognised this change in the average consumer’s
daily life. But more importantly, we recognised the need to connect
merchants in the community with potential new customers. It is the
oldest form of “client solutions” in the newest way possible. Provide
daily deal subscribers with tempting options at half price, and it’s
hard to resist.
The concept was not born overnight. Nearly 10 years ago, Gannett
purchased Clipper Magazine, fully embracing the couponing craze. In
spite of the numerous daily deal sites debuting in every major city,
these traditional coupon mailers were experiencing steady growth. How
might we take the lessons learned there and apply them to social
commerce?
We looked at the competition. Groupon and Living Social were
investing heavily to establish a local presence without any true
appreciation of the particular market’s intricacies and defining
characteristics.
Here was Gannett’s opportunity. With more than 100 years of
experience at the local level — dealing with advertisers in the
community, frequenting small businesses, and handling customer service
inquiries from mere miles away — we had the hometown advantage. Pair
that with the best practices of a well-recognised corporate brand, and
it means we are able to deliver resources no one else can; including,
but not limited to, additional promotion in our local newspapers and on
our broadcast stations.
In 2010, the Arizona Republic launched the first site. DealChicken’s popularity grew rapidly, quickly able to hold its own against Groupon and Living Social.
The early success in Phoenix was encouraging, so we formed an
advisory committee. Key experts from various areas of Gannett developed a
strategy, tested brand elements, and decided to move full-speed ahead.
The mascot for DealChicken was bright, bold, offbeat, and friendly. This
helped us to stand out in a crowded field of generic daily deal
titles.
In July 2011, we rolled the DealChicken brand out to 11 sites
beyond Phoenix. By November 2011, we were live in 57 markets across the
country, and in February 2012, we launched a travel vertical.
A passionate employee base fueled the quick and steady growth. The
new brand operated like a start-up but was backed by a media giant,
attracting an energetic and collaborative workforce. Each market is
largely responsible for its own social media and marketing promotion.
Although local employees operate in 57 different markets, the internal
corporate social media platform, Yammer, keeps them connected. They
never need to go far for advice on what photo works best or how to deal
with a merchant query.
Account reps often visit businesses in person to determine if the
business is a good fit for DealChicken. Emphasis has been placed on deal
quality rather than deal quantity. Upholding these high standards and
keeping our subscriber’s best interest at heart has paid off. Customers
trust the integrity of our brand. And while other deal sites have
received criticism for over-selling to an unengaged audience,
DealChicken’s merchants have seen repeat customers and
higher-than-average bill totals when our users redeem their vouchers.
Our audience tends to skew slightly older with higher incomes. This does
not come as much of a surprise, considering many signed up after seeing
ads in their local newspapers.
A number of our partner businesses have seen exceptional sales
growth and positive exposure after running a deal on DealChicken.
Vermont Maple Syrup sold nearly 5,000 deals in December, with a flurry
of comments on its blog praising the syrup. One reviewer stated: “I was
one of the DealChicken recipients of your Maple Syrup. It was worth the
wait! You will have one repeat customer here and we will pass the word
to others. Yours is the best maple syrup we’ve ever had, even from other
places in Vermont. Thank you again for the hard work.”
Meanwhile, a restaurant in St. Louis, Missouri, saw gross sales of
US$9,350 as a result of a single offer presented to customers in July.
These were some of the more notable results, but they are not outliers
by any means. Markets large and small have success stories across
multiple business segments.
Currently, 81% of DealChicken advertisers are new to Gannett.
It’s not easy to search out 57 great deals each day, but Gannett
has been able to make it work. At the end of 2011, DealChicken was
ranked the ninth-largest among the major daily deal Web sites tracked by
comScore. It’s now sixth. With even more products launching soon,
DealChicken is poised for even greater growth in 2012.
We took the best attributes of a national media powerhouse — proven
business practices, social media know-how, distribution expertise,
institutional knowledge — and combined those with the start-up mentality
— hard work, exceptional customer service, and an unexpected new
product. That’s how we got cracking.
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