eOffice found 40 percent of its customers with Google AdWords

In a world of consultants freelancers startups and incessant business travel the virtual office has evolved from being an avant-garde trend to being a staple of business life Since its launch in 2002 London-based eOffice (wwweofficenet) has recognized this evolution as the need for flexible business and office solutions Based in a central Soho location eOffice provides an extensive menu of services ranging from startup office facilities to meeting rooms to ldquohotdesksrdquo providing workstations available on demand More traditional office services (messengers printing postal handing voicemail and teleconferencing) are also available from the company

Approach

Well suited to todayrsquos demand for office amenities without the overhead eOffice relies on a marketing mix of promotions PR and advertising Its online marketing activities include directory listings portals email banner ads and pay-per-click services

The purpose of all this activity says Pier Paolo Mucelli the founder and CEO of eOffice is to achieve several imperatives reach a greater number of qualified prospects gain more international exposure and convert more prospects into paying customers ldquoAs a young company the only way we can meet these ambitious goals is through very targeted programmes Traditional advertising would have been prohibitive to our young organization Thatrsquos why we started a Google AdWords campaign in July 2002rdquo Mucelli adds that as a Google user himself he ldquowas attracted to the easy setup of the programme and the fact that there are no minimum feesrdquo As a test eOffice first ran ads based on 20 or 30 keywords and probably spent about pound20 the first month

Results

It was a successful test Within three months Mucelli says ldquoWe had built up some 4000 keywords In the last four months of 2002 we saw nearly 13500 clickthroughs to our site ndash far more than wersquod seen using other programmes And in the year since that number of clickthroughs has actually tripled These are viable and interested prospects we are reaching that we did not see beforerdquo Mucelli notes that ldquoGoogle users tend to be technology savvy and that means they quickly recognise the value of our services and are ready to act on them They are seeking what we offer And since AdWords ads are so relevant we are receiving more business from international clients who have need of London-based office services ndash companies we would not have been able to reach any other way that was as cost-effectiverdquo

Mucelli also cites the higher conversion rate of AdWords ads as more proof that Google users are responsive In fact he says ldquoWe know that 25 percent of our current customers have come through Google AdWords and this lot are generating at least pound250000 annuallyrdquo

ldquoThis yearrsquos sales and number of active clients have grown 400 percent over last year and thatrsquos an indicator we are spending the bulk of our online marketing budget in the right place ndash with Google AdWordsrdquo

Paolo MucelliFounder and CEOeOffice

ABOUT GOOGLE ADVERTISING

Google AdWords is the worldrsquos largest search advertising programme currently used by more than 150000 businesses to gain new customers cost-effectively AdWords uses keywords to precisely target ad delivery to web users seeking information about a particular product or service The program is based on cost-per-click (CPC) pricing so advertisers only pay when an ad is clicked on Advertisers can take advantage of an extremely broad distribution network and choose the level of support and spending appropriate for their business

For more information go to wwwgooglecoukads

copy Copyright 2004 Google is a trademark of Google Inc All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated

EOFFICENET

The indirect benefits of Google keyword advertising are also invaluable Mucelli says ldquoThe ads themselves give us new visibility which in turn leads to greater PR exposure Even the sorts of businesses who are looking to become suppliers or partners see these ads Wersquove gotten very targeted leads proposals for collaboration not to mention leads for our own staff recruitingrdquo

In summary says Mucelli ldquoThis yearrsquos sales and number of active clients have grown 400 percent over last yearrdquo and thatrsquos an indicator he says that ldquowe are spending the bulk of our online marketing budget in the right place ndash with Google AdWords eOffice will continue to use digital marketing activities and in particular collaborate with Google to actively promote our services Simply put Google is the most effective avenue we have among all that we userdquo

ldquoWe had built up some 4000 keywords And in the last four months of 2002 we saw nearly 13500 clickthroughs to our site ndash far more than wersquod seen using other programmesrdquo