Peter Dunn began his career in financial planning nearly ten years ago. He founded his successful firm, Advanced Planning Solutions, soon after graduating college, and was able to pay the bills just fine. But Peter’s day job didn’t allow him to pursue or nurture his passion for comedy and certainly didn’t give his big personality a place to play. By the time he came to Channel V Media, Peter Dunn had developed into “Pete the Planner.” A financial planner out to set Gen Y on the right financial track, Pete the Planner is Peter’s radio persona for his show, Things You Dad Never Taught You. After publishing his first book, What Your Dad Never Taught You About Budgeting, Peter developed Green Candy, the ultimate online financial tool for Gen Y-ers. Despite his successes, Peter didn’t know how to get the word about his new online property.
Channel V Media worked with Peter for a month-long launch project that was aimed at raising visibility of “Pete the Planner” and Green Candy among Gen Y-ers (and their parents). Peter handled social media and blogging initiatives, while Channel V Media focused strictly on audience generation and publicity.
We decided early on that our outreach would highlight "Pete the Planner" rather than Peter Dunn—a move that quickly distinguished Peter from other financial planners out there. But rather than simply blast the media with images and sound bites of a happy-go-lucky and financially-sound Peter, we chose a more tailored approach:
Audience segmentation. Instead of participating in wide, "throw-it-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks" email blasts, we segmented our media targets by geography, platform and audience, focusing on outlets likely to attract Gen Y, their parents (even their grandparents), financial gurus, and the business savvy.
Messaging. Because Green Candy is an online product, we made a conscious decision to refer to it solely as "GreenCandy.com" to capitalize upon opportunities to lead traffic to the site regardless of the outlet.
From there, we crafted custom messages to cater to the needs of each of our target demographics. For example, outlets that cater primarily to a Gen Y audience received messaging to the effect of "Pete the Planner explains why Gen Y is entitled...to financial freedom."
We made use of timely messaging tie-ins to Christmas ("A subscription to Green Candy makes a great stocking stuffer!"), New Year’s ("Never mind weight loss, financial resolutions are all the rage this year!"), the dismal state of the economy during the last quarter of 2008 ("Get back in fiscal shape!"), and post holidays ("What happens when the turkey’s gone, the gifts are unwrapped and the tree is dried out? Reality hits and credit card bills roll in...").
Giveaways. We found out early on that financial bloggers had an agenda of their own. Not surprisingly, they were interested in trading posts for ad dollars, which wasn’t part of our plan. However, we were able to offer online outlets free GreenCandy.com subscriptions that they could then offer to their readers.
Stick with what you know. Pete the Planner was already an established radio persona and brand by the time Channel V Media got involved. We leveraged his radio and broadcast know-how with radio and TV shows, which welcomed the seasoned guest with open arms. We also encouraged Peter to push his blog to the forefront of his website so that audiences could become familiar with his accessible style and feel comfortable taking his advice.
Finally, we created tips sheets based on Peter’s expertise and sent them to relevant media outlets who were invited to use them in full so long as he was credited.
In just one month, Peter’s homegrown, hometown Indianapolis-based persona took off on a national level. Channel V Media secured Peter several spots on Fox News’s Studio B with Shepard Smith, where even today he continues to discuss everything from Gen Y’s finances to the state of the economy. He has been a guest on several radio shows across the country, including shows in Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio, and was featured in print publications such as Consumers Digest, and online publications such as CreditCards.com, Indy.com, Indy Dads and Thrifty Jinx.
As his own visibility skyrocketed, Peter saw a drastic traffic increase at both PetethePlanner.com and GreenCandy.com. As a result, Green Candy subscriptions also increased exponentially. Finally, Peter was able to parlay his national exposure into a syndicated program (60 Days to Change) with Indianapolis’s WISH-TV (a CBS affilitate).