Boutique Interactive Marketing Firm, The Usman Group, Wins Best Internet Advertising Campaign Tempo Award from the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing.

Campaign helps The RoomPlace achieve triple-digit percent ROI; Usman Group beats out much larger competitors and exemplifies innovation on a budget.

CHICAGO -- The Usman Group, a boutique interactive marketing firm won "Best Internet Advertising" campaign during the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing's (CADM) 38th annual Tempo Awards. Winners were honored during a June 3, 2009ceremony held at the Museum of Contemporary Arts.

The campaign utilized paid search and email marketing to increase in-store sales for The RoomPlace, a 22-location furniture store. The complete RoomPlace case study is available here: http://www.theusmangroup.com/work/roomplace.html.

There were three main objectives to the six-week program: 1) Sales - Increase new-customer acquisitions and drive offline sales via online marketing; 2) Visibility - Increase brand awareness for The RoomPlace; and 3) Leads - Grow the opt-in e-mail marketing list.

The results of the campaign were measured using five different factors: 1) Number of ad impressions; 2) Number of text and banner ad clicks; 3) Click-through rate (CTR); 4) Number of e-mail signups; and 5) In-store sales figures related to the campaign.

Dozens of professionals from Chicago's direct marketing community judged entries in 17 award categories, rating both creative achievement and marketing results.

"We came from virtually nowhere and beat the big guys, including DDB," explained Naveed Usman, founder and president of The Usman Group. "This serves as a huge validation that a smart, focused and creative strategy without a big budget can produce great results."

"The Usman Group greatly exceeded our expectations," stated Valerie Berman, marketing manager for The Room Place. "This campaign drove in-store sales, which was most important to us. It really broke some of our pre-conceptions that online promotions would mostly just drive online sales."

THE CAMPAIGN

Challenge:

The RoomPlace wanted to increase its online brand presence with customers who had never heard of the store, and who had never considered it as a destination point in the furniture market. It wanted to increase its offline sales using online strategies, but needed a fresh approach to lead generation.

Solution:

To meet The RoomPlace's marketing needs; the Usman Group developed a cohesive e-marketing plan, incorporating keyword bidding/management, paid search advertising, search engine optimization, web design and email-marketing strategies. Yahoo, Google, MSN and other major search engines were utilized to reach consumers in the Chicagoland area.

Methodology:

Two campaigns were developed and tested during a six-week period. Strategically selected keywords with high search volumes and conversion potential were utilized to increase ad rankings for The RoomPlace on the various search engines. Additionally, The Usman Group monitored each keyword's performance on a daily basis, securing The RoomPlace's position and ensuring conversion goals were being met.

Results:

The RoomPlace realized an impressive triple-digit percent ROI, far exceeding traditional offline advertising methods. In addition, it received several thousand email sign-ups, and new customer acquisitions increased by 63 percent.

"The Internet Advertising Campaign category is an emerging media type of award and very prestigious in the Chicago advertising community," stated Andrew C. Stoppels, membership services manager with the CADM. "The Usman Group developed a very creative campaign."

About The Usman Group

The Usman Group is a full-service, online business development company, specializing in the creation of unique online experiences and marketing solutions since 2005. Through innovative ideas, interactive design and targeted search queries, The Usman Group helps organizations optimize their online marketing efforts. It is committed to providing excellence in interactive marketing strategy, high-end creative design and exemplary customer service. www.theusmangroup.com

About The RoomPlace

Headquartered in Lombard, IL, The RoomPlace (www.theroomplace.com) is best known for its total-room concept, providing online and in-store customers an easy and convenient furniture-buying experience. It has 18 Chicago-area stores and four in Indiana. Customers can choose from a wide variety of designs. While individual pieces are available and sold separately, customers actually save money when purchasing a complete room.

About CADM

More than 1,100 members strong, CADM is the largest regional direct marketing association in the United States, and the only broad-based direct marketing association in the Chicago metropolitan area. www.cadm.org.