ProtectingAmerica.org Free Emergency Radio Promotion

Winning Strategies planned to distribute 5,000 Protecting America-branded emergency radios as a promotion for National Preparedness Month. We initiated an online promotion; the free radio was advertised on the home page of ProtectingAmerica.org, and users were directed to a registration page to request one. This would allow Winning Strategies to capture qualitative information on people who could be mobilized to support the organization’s cause; in return, those folks would receive a radio.

The promotion began Aug. 29, 2008.Through the first two weeks, registrations increased significantly with roughly 250 visitors logging their information. (There were just under 1,000 registrants in the database before the start of the promotion.)

While this promotion was running, Winning Strategies was also commencing a comprehensive Search Engine Optimization strategy to help raise the ranking of ProtectingAmerica.org when Internet users searched for information on or relating to the messaging and mission of the coalition. WS also optimized the online promotion – linking the home page anchor text of “free radio” to the signup page; optimizing the registration page with “free radio” in the code and prominently in the header; “tagging” a description of the home page image of the free radio. These actions helped the promotion get noticed by prominent Web sites that alert visitors to “free” offers.

On Saturday, Sept. 13, the free radio promotion was listed on a forum on slickdeals.net. Over the next three days, both the registrant database and visitation to the site increased to levels never before seen over the three-year campaign. Nearly 40,000 new registrants signed up, and 75,000 unique visitors came to the site.

However, with just 5,000 radios, Winning Strategies needed to decide how to determine the number of genuine registrants and then satisfy those who were expecting a radio. We wrote a verification e-mail that acknowledged that there were only 5,000 radios, thanked registrants for signing up and asked them to click a link to verify their free radio request. Based on verification and the timestamp on their original registration, we were able to determine the 5,000 recipients.

Additionally, sending the e-mail displayed transparency. About 38,800 e-mails were sent out. The tracking statistics showed the e-mail received about 8,000 unique views and just over 7,000 clicks to the verification link, good for a 90 percent unique click rate.