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Testimonial

 

Susan Hardwicke and kSero

 

VA Newswire Generates Big Buzz

 

On April 14, 2004, VA Newswire published a profile of Susan Hardwicke, CEO of kSero, who is creating new cognitive development programs and treatment centers. The article, combined with our unique e-mail promotion, inundated her with positive attention.

 

Within two days, Hardwicke received 23 e-mails and one phone call in direct response to the article. At least six people mentioned seeing the article in phone conversations, and one person commented on it in person – less than an hour after it was published! To top it all off, she says, “At least five people mentioned the article to my COO at a Charlottesville Venture Group event, one of whom is interested in investing.”

 

How did Susan Hardwicke generate all that buzz? Here's the story.

 

VA Newswire selected kSero for an "Entrepreneurial Dominion" feature story because we thought that Hardwicke's unique business proposition -- establishing cognitive development centers that improve individuals' capacity to learn -- met our test for newsworthiness. We highlight only innovators who stand out with a unique product, a remarkable technology, a novel business model or exceptional execution of its business strategy.

 

A VA Newswire writer conducted the interviews and wrote the profile. "I was impressed how well you captured the essence of the company," says Hardwicke. "You did a great job."

 

We published the profile in the April 14 edition of VA Newswire. The first day generated 91 click-throughs from the newsletter to the full-length feature page on the Web. (Another 24 stragglers would click through in subsequent days.)

 

Hardwicke began getting responses immediately. Less than an hour after the newsletter arrived in her PC, she bumped into someone at the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park, where her office is located, who commented on the story. Within the first day, she received 14 e-mails and a telephone call in direct response to the profile. “At least five people mentioned the article to my COO at a Charlottesville Venture Group event, one of whom wanted more in-depth information about the company.”

 

But that was just the beginning. On April 21st, VA Newswire conducted a bulk e-mail broadcast of the profile itself -- no newsletter, just the profile -- to 100 addresses from Hardwicke's contact database. Once again, the response was phenomenal. Within the first day. 85 percent of the recipients had opened their e-mail and seen the story.

 

Plus, thanks to VA Newswire's "Forward to a Friend" feature, which enables readers to forward clean, uncorrupted e-mail copies of the profile to others, Hardwicke got another bump of publicity. VA Newswire's tracking software indicate 129 e-mail "opens" -- suggesting that the original 100 recipients either opened and read it for a second time or forwarded it to third parties to read.

 

Finally, VA Newswire purchased a sponsorship of the key words "cognitive development" through Overture, which listed a sponsored online ad linking to the article every time someone on Yahoo, MSN, CNN, Altavista and other search engines. In the following two weeks, these ads generated an additional 33 clickthroughs.

 

Two weeks later, VA Newswire's tracking software showed the profile had generated 324 page views (of which 20 to 25 were VA Newswire administrative page views), for a net readership of about 300 highly targeted readers from all sources. And the e-mails are still trickling in.

 

 

Try it Yourself

 

We can't promise you results like these -- kSero makes a more compelling story than most -- but we can assure you this: We can track your results so you know exactly how much return you're getting from your investment. And at the end of day, you have a profile that you can place on your own website or convert to print to use as mailers, brochure stuffers or handouts.

 

For information about sponsored profiles, click here.