Whenever you write in the forum, beware marketing and branding experts are calculating the impact on their products. According to a fascinating piece on peer-to-peer communication in Marketing magazine, this site is “Probably the most powerful site on the Net right now” and it routinely comes top of the Brandwatch charts for the top source on brand comment.
Below I’ve reproduced the small section about this site. I do hope the magazine doesn’t mind – after all, following its own view, this is good marketing for it! To read the full article, here’s the link: Marketing Magazine piece (this section comes at the end).
“Money saving tips
Take MoneySavingExpert.com. When it comes to influencing UK consumer choices, this is probably the most powerful site on the Net right now. With nearly 5 million unique visitors a month – 2.2 million of them subscribing to its weekly money saving tips newsletter – MoneySavingExpert’s forums routinely come top of Brandwatch’s list of top sources of brand comment. “It is absolutely massive,” says Palmer. “Until I looked at our data, I didn’t quite know how big it is.”
The thing about MoneySavingExpert, however, is that it is a marketing free zone. Fiercely committed to providing independent, impartial advice to consumers, it refuses all advertising. Consumers actually go there positively wanting to be influenced – they are looking for help in making a choice. But they go there precisely because its content is not influenced by marketing. With MoneySavingExpert consumers are flocking to where they see value/ help in making better decisions. The “change consumer attitudes and behaviours in our favour” mindset of old media marketing ignores this need however. In doing so, it ignores the first rule of marketing – identify and meet your customer’s needs – thereby leaving the market wide open for new entrants.”