Driving results with the complete content marketing strategy.

Transcription

1 Case Study. Driving results with the complete content marketing strategy. How Stickyeyes developed and deployed the complete content marketing strategy to drive european growth for Hertz.

2 The challenge Re-establishing a market leading brand in the digital space. Hertz Europe approached Stickyeyes, looking to improve it s organic search performance in its key european markets. Operating in a highly competitive search market, under increased pressure from low-cost operators and looking to increase the number of reservations being driven through digital channels, Hertz approached Stickyeyes to address those key challenges. One of the fundamental issues behind Hertz s online performance was that, despite a highly recognised global brand, the level of authority and customer engagement that Hertz experienced online was not where it needed to be. When competing with the low-cost operators, Hertz was struggling to engage with customers and get its core service propositions across to the user, whilst it was didn t have the online authority necessary to out-perform its full-service competitors in organic search, particularly on high-value and high-traffic generic terms. What followed was a complete review of the client s approach to search and content marketing, identifying new opportunities to steal a march on their competitors, as well as a strategy to build the levels of authority that reflected the strength of the Hertz brand and proposition.

3 The insight Understanding the market, and getting to know the Hertz audience. We performed a full analysis to understand the audiences that Hertz were looking to reach, and how effectively Hertz were reaching them. Our analysis into the Hertz target audiences across each of its European markets revealed what those audiences valued, what they looked for from a brand, and what types of content they engaged with online. This insight allowed us to focus our strategy on some core themes, and create a wealth of content that would meet their needs at various stages of the customer journey. We applied this insight with Hertz s own booking and ecrm data, to profile how different customer segments adjusted their behaviour and needs in different markets. The needs of a Hertz customer hiring a car at a major international airport would be very different to that same customer s needs at a low-cost holiday resort, and we would ensure that our content would reflect those key differences. And we would overlay all of this insight with a detailed analysis of the client s performance in organic search, ensuring that we could address some of the key performance issues that were harming organic rankings, and capitalise on some sizable opportunities.

4 Making content work harder Rethinking the approach to functional content We identified a huge opportunity for Hertz to drive rankings and increase reservations through locationbased keywords. That meant that we would need to make the brand s functional content work as hard as possible. Whilst location-based keywords may have individually represented lower search volumes than generic keyword terms, the lower level of competition for these terms meant that Hertz had an opportunity to drive a volume of qualified search traffic to dedicated landing pages that could serve that user s specific need. We therefore worked to recreate more than 12,000 pages of location-specific content, across 12 languages, in order to do just that. As well as being much more conversion focused, we would ensure that these pages provided our audiences with useful and engaging content that was relevant to that location. Our in 60 seconds video guides ensured that Londonbound customers knew how to pay the congestion charge, that customer headed for Los Angeles could avoid the city s infamous traffic jams, or that those driving around Italy could find a parking space in Rome s narrow streets. The problem was that the client s existing content for these locations was not in a position to be able to attract, engage and convert those users. And by supporting this content with location-focused creative concepts, we would significantly enhance the brand s rankings across its core European markets.

5 Engaging and inspiring audiences Creative content that engaged consumers and enhanced authority. In order to pull in those all-important audience groups, we also focused our efforts on producing regular, engaging content on the issues that were both relevant to Hertz, and important to the audiences that the client wanted to reach and engage. We engaged with leading influencers, engaged with some of the most respected and authoritative media across Europe and spoke with leading journalists, giving them the opportunity to experience what Hertz s top locations had to offer. This content would discuss issues that we believed would engage, inform and inspire the consumers that Hertz wanted to reach. This ranged from destination guides and top tips, through to ideas for their next driving holiday or road trip, and driving tips to help them get around some of the world s most notorious driving cities. The subsequent coverage helped us to boost the brand s search authority, and that played a huge role in helping Hertz to climb the organic search rankings. But as well as using content to pull audiences in, we would take Hertz s content directly to those core audience segments, with a series of content campaigns designed to engage the European media, and build brand exposure.

6 Amazing ideas that build authority Inspiring ideas that get people talking. To make a big impression in such a competitive market, you need big ideas. Our big content campaigns were designed to inspire our target audiences, and to get them talking. We wanted to create big content ideas that would not only grab the attention of influencers and build brand authority, but we wanted to add to the Hertz experience on what were key consumer segments for the client. If Hertz was to compete with aggressively-priced low-cost operators in key holiday and leisure markets, we needed to offer genuine value and an enhanced proposition to the consumer. Our USA Roadtrip planner would be one of the ways in which we would do just that. American fly-drive holidays were a big market for the client, and we wanted to make sure that we were making those trips of a lifetime even more special. We spoke to the people who knew these road trip routes better than anyone, the Hertz teams in those key starting locations. We got to know what their customers are looking for, where they want to go, and build a series of routes to help them see the very best of America. What resulted was an interactive guide that allowed users to find the perfect trip based on what they wanted to see. Whether they were looking to sample the swinging soul of Motown, or marvel at the majestic natural wonders, they could find their ideal route. It was a big campaign, and it delivered big results.

7 14m 12m 10m 173% Organic European sales growth 8m 6m 4m 2m 148% Organic European traffic growth 0 Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q The Results Traffic and revenue growth that was powered by content. Our content-led strategy has resulted in sustained growth in traffic and revenue from organic search over four years - and we re not done yet. Our approach has resulted in signficant growth in the brand s online visibility for organic search. Hertz now ranks prominently across its European markets not just for location-based terms, which are driving significant volumes of qualified traffic. As a result, organic European traffic has increased by 148% when compared to pre-engagement levels. And because our content is supporting that customer journey, conversion rates and average order values have also increased significantly, with sales from organic digital channels have increasing across Europe by 178%. But don t take our word for it. Here s what the client had to say: Stickyeyes has proved a great addition to our in-house team. Working within a huge international organisation always brings challenges but Stickyeyes has shown skill and tenacity to ensure they achieve their technical and creative SEO objectives. Their ability to leverage our existing partnerships for the benefit of SEO authority has been impressive and the breath of their in-house, multi-lingual resource has made a huge difference to the content onsite. We look forward to continuing our relationship with the team. Conrad Davies, Hertz Europe.