Riding the Wave

Case Study: How Internet marketing company Wave Direct helped its client increase leads by 50%

Wave Direct Screen shot It took more than a 90-minute presentation to convince a new client to step out of its marketing comfort zone. But for Internet marketing firm Wave Direct, it was a matter of persuading its customer, an internationally known five-star hotel chain, that an aggressive Sponsored Search campaign could help generate more timeshare purchases. Given the chance to show what can be accomplished with the right keywords and exciting ad copy—and with the assistance of a talented team of Yahoo! Search Marketing account managers—Wave Direct rolled up some tremendous results.

Company Overview
Established in 2004, Wave Direct is a direct marketing company specializing in customized e-marketing solutions including targeted email, display banners and search engine marketing. With seasoned direct marketer Rob Cheyne at the helm, Wave Direct has established itself as a leader in the rapidly evolving e-marketing arena. In 2007, the firm began managing the online marketing efforts of a widely recognized hospitality chain which operates several all-villa resorts in some of the world’s most desirable destinations. Wave Direct’s marketing efforts have focused on driving high-quality leads to the client’s website so prospects can learn more about the advantages of timeshare ownership.

Starting from Scratch
Prior to hiring Wave Direct, their five-star client managed internally-supported search marketing campaigns which yielded mixed results. After jumping on board, Wave Direct’s team recognized that the optimal demographic target was a much better fit with the users of Yahoo!, so they began working with the Yahoo! team to open an account and get its search ads up and running. A month of ads appearing in Yahoo! Sponsored Search results established baseline metrics, and then the team went to work on fine-tuning the campaign, including adding and deleting keywords, and spicing up the ad creative.

Five-Star Results
Adding more specific, targeted keywords—and ditching the “plain vanilla” ads for more exciting copy with attention-getting words like “luxury” and “opulent”—was the passkey to the penthouse for their efforts as Wave Direct enjoyed some very obvious performance improvements just 24 hours after renovating the campaigns. The firm was able to substantially cut the client’s cost-per-conversions, while increasing the overall number of leads by an impressive 50%. Wave Direct continues to generate great results for their customer, taking advantage of Sponsored Search’s ability to “dial up” bids and budgets on particular keywords during down seasons.

Doubly Good
With their client now sold on the importance and value of search marketing, Wave Direct continually works with its Yahoo! account managers to make any adjustments that will build on the already-impressive marks. The team has added a number of “long-tail” keywords, which are low-volume search terms that are targeted and can convert well. Wave Direct reports that the firm uses the impressive results to help sell other clients on the value of search marketing. Most telling, though, is that in 2008 Wave Direct plans to double its business with Yahoo!.

Lessons Learned

Think “out of the box” when looking to add keywords, including using “long-tail” terms that are low-cost but can have a high impact.
Avoid “plain vanilla” copy in your ads; use exciting adjectives that will catch the attention of searchers.
Use a combination of email, display advertising and search ads to drive the greatest return-on-investment.
Use common sense in evaluating your campaigns: Take advantage of available reports to see what’s working and what’s not.

Testimonial
“Yahoo!’s account interface is by far the fastest of the three main players. Yahoo! is the most user-friendly company to work with among the Big Three. If I could get the same amount of responsiveness, service and friendliness that I get from Yahoo! from all my other vendors, I would be in a wonderful position.” — Don Eaker, National Sales Director, Wave Direct

— Jeff Hecox

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[ Categories: Advertiser Spotlight ]

34 Comments Add your own

1. Free Traffic | June 17th, 2008 at 8:34 am

Yes that’s right Yahoo!’s account interface is the fastest and the best… as of now.

Plus it’s more user friendly and more human.

Thanks Yahoo!
2. Jason | June 17th, 2008 at 12:17 pm

I beg to differ. Adwords Editor makes setting up and managing a campaign a breeze.
3. Delores Henriques | June 17th, 2008 at 1:10 pm

I am new to yahoo. I can’t say the per click idea is working for me right now. But I can say yahoo’s people are one the most patient and understanding people i have had the chance to speak with.
4. Franklin | June 17th, 2008 at 3:26 pm

I have to disagree strongly, I find the Yahoo interface to not be nearly as fast or easy to use as AdWords. MSN is by far the worst. Yahoo, while not nearly as bad as MSN, is still quite awkward in many ways.
5. Sell My House | June 18th, 2008 at 2:25 pm

I also like Adwords. It is easy to set up campaigns and copy them to create new ones.
6. Minnesota Entertainment | June 18th, 2008 at 7:10 pm

I like the new Yahoo interface. I do find it pretty easy to use. All though advertising my entertainment services in Minnesota, it was easier before. I began my PPC adventure with GoTo, way back before it was bought by overture!
7. Clarissa | June 19th, 2008 at 12:53 pm

Adwords is the best then Yahoo then MSN.
Yahoo is not corporate friendly like Adwords is.
8. O Popoola | July 9th, 2008 at 1:58 pm

The yahoo interface is great, the only issue we have with it is that the Ajax refresh is slow for sections of the pages that use Ajax. Maybe a non Ajax version would be faster )
9. Earl Netwal | November 3rd, 2008 at 11:33 am

I wish I could click on my Yahoo and and see if they actually worked. I was paying for an add with a typo and getting no benefit.
10. Robert | November 4th, 2008 at 4:32 pm

I have used Wave Direct in connection with this guy. Awesome service, awesome company.
11. Health Product Reports | November 10th, 2008 at 2:35 pm

The Yahoo ad interface is much improved. I use it all of the time now.
12. Free Website | November 25th, 2008 at 7:04 pm

I am still expirementing with the Yahoo Interface, too early to tell. I did find a reason to stay optimistic in the last 2 hrs. MSN has a glitch I have been able to exploit.
13. baja | December 16th, 2008 at 8:45 am

Adwords is the best
14. Jesse "team building" Boland | January 15th, 2009 at 2:41 am

This is all very good information. Though I personally prefer Google’s network to Yahoo.
15. mcpokamatch | January 17th, 2009 at 7:28 pm

Just thought Id introduce myself,

Names jarun. I like wow,jogging, and this forum! =]
16. Crayden interesting ebooks | February 4th, 2009 at 8:55 am

I think the Google Adsense and Adwords interface is great and particularly when used in conjunction with Analytice etc.
17. Sober Living | March 29th, 2009 at 3:36 pm

I will look into this company, thanks Yahoo!

Los Angeles Sober Living
18. Awesome Review Site | May 17th, 2009 at 9:05 am

I definately think that google has this down pat.
19. street lighting | October 15th, 2009 at 11:59 pm

thanks your commetns!
20. unlimited | October 19th, 2009 at 4:05 am

Definitely I use Yahoo for a wide range of reasons. The first one is the interface which is just great, easy to use and user friendly. It is much easier to set up and to manage a campaign with the adwords editor and the more time you save the more money you will get. I will take a look at this company to see… Thanks for sharing.
21. seo indonesia | November 14th, 2009 at 2:31 am

i use adword for pay per clink,.but someday i may use yahoo for that,.
22. bike-bmx | November 18th, 2009 at 11:56 pm

bike-bmx thank you very much for information
23. nash xioh @computer keeps freezing.net | December 6th, 2009 at 2:18 am

well paying some bucks on this service for your marketing is one way to get instant cash but it’s a big risk.I prefer SEO though
24. Jennifer | December 27th, 2009 at 9:51 pm

@rogah I’m not quite sure about that…
25. Brandon | December 27th, 2009 at 9:58 pm

thanks! bookmarked
26. Bay Area Webdesign | January 6th, 2010 at 9:20 am

As a graphic web designer , I’m very glad to find that another individual thought to post this topic.

Quite a few people don’t grasp the concept of what all is involved in this field, and I think also we’re many times not appreciated enough
or taken for granted. Never the less I’m very glad to see that you may feel the same way I do , thanks so much for this post!
27. mephedrone | February 3rd, 2010 at 4:40 pm

Nice post, I will continue to read in future!
28. Andrew Jason | February 4th, 2010 at 2:53 am

Great information is very interesting. I’m Jason and Traveler from New York.
29. Rakesh | February 11th, 2010 at 3:57 am

Hi, I liked your thoughts.Thanks for sharing this information. You revised the SEO theory.
30. Brent | February 12th, 2010 at 1:48 am

Adwords is easy to set up campaigns and copy them to create new ones.
31. typo3 templates | February 14th, 2010 at 9:44 pm

thanks for giving the very useful information about how waves is useful to internet marketing?
32. typo3 templates | February 14th, 2010 at 9:45 pm

thanks for giving the very useful information about how waves is useful to internet marketing? Regards from,
typo3 customization
33. Reg Cure | February 19th, 2010 at 7:35 am

I agree with the post. Being a webmaster I have been sought wave direct’s help a lot of times and they have always delivered perfect results.
34. Matt | March 16th, 2010 at 9:09 am

Good Advice Jeff,
I’ve been completely ignoring Yahoo, but will now give it some consideration.

Matt
Orange County Mortgage

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