Offline website marketing; The Thoughts of Chairman Ling of LINGsCARS…
Posted on | February 24, 2008 | Comments Off
I do not pay a penny for pay-per-click, but I do spend a lot of time on offline website promotion. This is one way I keep my business costs down (as AdWords is like an Airport Parking tariff; it can get out of control eating your cash!), and these reduced costs are reflected in the rental costs of my brand-new cars. I supplied over £28m of new cars in 2007, all from my bright, unconventional website, LINGsCARS.com.
There are many exciting ways to promote your website offline, a topic which can be ignored by quite a few website owners. Some people can only see what is on the computer screen in front of them. These are the thoughts of Chairman Ling. I’m not a guru, but these ideas certainly work for me and have included TV and roadside advertising, creating unique hooks, traditional press communication, publicity stunts, branding myself as an expert and sponsoring events… and a Nuclear Missile, too!
Using TV
In early 2007, having seen my website, the BBC approached me to appear on Dragons’ Den on BBC2, appealing for investment for my business. At first I was hesitant, I did not need investment, but soon the possibility of national TV exposure to 2 million quality viewers (for my website) began to consume my thoughts. My principal tool on Dragons’ Den was an A-board with a big photo of my website. Almost stupidly simple. Due to the fact that I could provide immediate gratification to viewers, I saw a massive leap in website visits, over 10,000 in just one day following the TV programme. This cycle is still ongoing as repeats of the show crop up on BBC2 and channels like Dave. Regardless of what went on, on the show (I turned the Dragons down point blank), the TV appearance has paid off and was worth at least £80,000 in cash terms. In addition, I have an advertising campaign on TV planned and will post about the results once this has been trialled in the Tyne Tees region.
Create a unique hook
Another great tool has been my nuclear rocket truck. 
This is a giant ex-Peoples’ Liberation Army nuclear decontamination 6×6 Zil, on top of which I built a large “nuclear” rocket emblazoned with the LINGsCARS logo and my head. I parked this next to the A1 in Tony Blair’s constituency of Sedgefield and pointed it West, towards George Bush. This created massive interest (not least from the UK Government who wanted it moved), and has paid back the £3500 the truck cost me, in loads of publicity, newspaper articles and national radio and TV exposure. 
I even got a large article in the Financial Times, with me pictured moodily on a foggy day, with my rocket truck.
Taking the long view and having fun
As my website rents new cars, which are hardly impulse purchases, I created LINGsCARS in a different style to all other contract hire and car websites. Those website owners can’t see further than the cars and immediate conversions to sales. I wanted people to be able to visit and remember me, possibly for up to two years, before their car change cycle became due.
This gives me great scope, unlike other sites which concentrate on capturing people at the time of their actual car change. So, I have the freedom to gain traffic from any topic, at any time, and not rely on the immediate nature of their car purchase needs. I can have fun with my visitors; post poetry, give away free lunch, interact and generally get under peoples’ skin.
Dealing with the press
I issue press releases frequently, on a catholic range of topics. I scour the news for things that are happening that I have an opinion about – mostly everything. For example, two days before I wrote this article, British Gas announced record profits. I wrote a press release about the discounts available to the utilities when they purchase cars and vans and the result is that if you Google “british gas car-buying” or similar combinations, I am up near the top, despite the volume of media interest from every top-rated news source about British Gas. So what? – Well, who knows what people will search, is my answer. This is the long tail. To me, everyone is a potential customer, because everyone drives a car!
Press releases are sent out frequently from a PR company that costs me just £500 a month, but they create a wide-range of online and press coverage. Second-stringing in other people’s press releases is a good tactic too, and is free. Last week I joined online accountancy firm KashFlow with a snappy comment on their own press release, to give it depth. That sort of thing is completely free and gets me in articles such as this one in Real Business, a widely-read website. I often get called into local radio stations like BBC Tees and BBC Newcastle (see below), and often feature on the TV news or in newspapers, due to traditional press releases.
Chatting to magazine editors gets results too. Kieren Puffett, editor of Parker’s Car Guide, allows me to use his picture and company logo which gives my site added credibility, in return he gets web-visits. In addition, people like Kieren are always available to contribute to press releases and voice their (respected) opinions, in association with mine. Having that added independent voice means things are twice as likely to get printed.
Publicity stunts
A good example of offline promotion is pulling stunts around events such as the unfortunate collapse of Northern Rock. While people had been queuing the day before to take money out, I rolled up in my London bus – my other promotional vehicle – to pay £10,000 in! 
I phoned ITV and told them I was going to do this, and told the local police. The cops were waving me in to park my bus illegally on double yellows against the flow of traffic outside the main Northern Rock branch, and ITV were there filming. I was waved in by staff. It made the local news, and national GMTV. I was hailed as one of the prominent local supporters of Northern Rock on national TV.
Another example of causing a harmless fuss, are the spoof “Chop Gear” films I made, making fun of Top Gear.
Subsequently, any Google search including Jeremy Clarkson and a car, (eg. “Jeremy Clarkson Astra”) usually lands me on the first page of Google results. Try it!
Branding yourself as an expert
I realise that I am about as much of an expert on the web, as I am at being an expert unraveling the human genome; that is, not much! But there are many opportunities to write articles for directories and paper publications as a web “expert”, for example “Organic Websites are the Future”. I am only an expert in my own experiences, I don’t claim to be a guru, but the benefit is credibility; the articles are often syndicated.
I offer myself up to discuss car-related subjects. Using my Applied Chemistry and Environmental Quality degrees, plus the fact I am Chinese… I combine this with my car experience to talk to a number of TV and radio stations. Everyone has some unique features that can be used, I think. Here is a radio interview I did with Manx radio about car paint protection and nano-technology (yes, I was confused about the linkage, too), and another topic on China and Google and censorship was covered by many media outlets. 
This film is of a the censorship radio interview with the BBC in Newcastle, and here is another movie, covering a BBC Dragons’ Den book launch on Radio Tees. The BBC gave me a chapter in the book, which I’ve (naughtily) published. Making movies of events like this is a great way of spreading the exposure nationally to different audiences, and keeping it alive, often for years. Did you know the BBC allow homemade films to be made of their output, which benefits them, as well as me? I ask, and they always say “yes”. They recognise this as great PR. Plus, it builds emotional attachment with my customers and website visitors, as people can see the action taking place, and they get to know I am “real”.
Magazines often approach me for traditional paper articles. In 2007, I agreed to appear on the cover of EMAP’s Automotive Management magazine; the trade magazine of the UK Motor Industry, and inside they dissected my business in a double page spread.
Be a personality
This brings me to my biggest gripe about many websites; you don’t really know who is behind them! I work on the basis that LINGsCARS is as much about me as it is about the cars and the prices. People are interested in people, and I certainly give them a big target to take aim at. Most websites are also very narrow, they concentrate on the single product or service, whereas I tend to go off on tangents with vague associations. I try to entertain, as I need to get inside peoples’ heads, because, as I explained, a new car replacement cycle can be a long time coming for many of my website visitors. For example I use myself as the crash test dummy when I scraped all the euroNCAP car crash test ratings and videos. I join them to my new car stock, and now play them for prospective customers. This has gained loads of offline press coverage as I am the only source for these videos in the UK, including Which? and The AA; both NCAP’s official partners. I stick my head above the parapet on environmental issues, joining with Euro MP Martin Callanan, who says: “Ling and her unique website LINGsCARS.com displays environmental information in a way that leads the UK motor industry” – due to my use of Government VCA data. It’s no good hiding yourself, if you are your website’s best promoter!
Sponsor events
Sponsorship can be important and very beneficial for low cost. I sponsor the Rallycross Open Championship, as it is car-related and not expensive, plus there are over a hundred participants and teams who will feature me on their websites and blogs (not to mention on the side of their cars). So, I will appear in news releases from many sources and again, it gives me credibility. 
Google just loves all these unsolicited links and name-checks. Plus I can get in front of crowds of up to 10,000 people, rolling up in my branded London bus. The rally series also has TV exposure on Channel 5 and Motors TV. As I said, I make funny (but cheap) films of every event and adventure and post them on YouTube, which has gained me over 150,000 film views. At the Rallycross I persecute the drivers, making them eat horrible noodles, ask them to show me how they drive using a wok as a steering wheel, and generally have fun. These viral films (1, 2, 3) get wide coverage and once again entertain visitors for 10 minutes at a time. That’s a long exposure in web terms!
Think long term
Most of these examples get long-term results and that suits my business model, but there is no reason why this should not have immediate benefit for many people selling smaller products or providing quick services on the fly. News clippings, films and interviews stick around and get recycled, often.
I recommend website owners take a look at offline website marketing in a new light, because nowadays websites are a part of daily life and not limited to the single medium of the web. Pay per click is certainly useful and successful, but you are competing with many other websites in such a narrow window of keywords and opportunity. Spread yourself wide, have fun, involve your visitors and build emotion. It’s hard to do that with 20 words on Google AdWords!
My final consideration is that all offline website marketing flows back to the web, anyway, as people and business post and blog about mostly everything they have seen and are involved in, these days. If you search LINGsCARS on Google.com, and skip forward to the 39th and final page of results, I am still getting page dominance. Not many businesses can say that… and a lot of this is down to offline marketing!
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I am Ling Valentine as seen on Dragons' Den I lease cheap cars in the UK!. Have a look at my Cheap car leasing website
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