Who would think that a 33-minute online promotional video could be so effective? Stroll, the sole licensee for consumer sales of the audio language learning Pimsleur Approach and producer of the animated pitch, is growing at a phenomenal clip. “We grow in one month the way most companies grow in a year,” says Dan Roitman, founder and CEO of Stroll. “We have over 150 employees and so far this year are hiring four to five a week. It's like mushrooms sprouting everywhere.”
Roitman says he started the company while in college at the University of Maryland, going $70,000 in credit card debt. “I discovered the Pimsleur Approach in 2001 and thought it was such a great product, but so undermarketed,” says Roitman. “I saw the opportunity with the product line to take it to another level.”
Since 2002, Stroll has expanded at a compounded annual growth rate of 73%. Last year alone Stroll grew 135%.
Competing with Rosetta Stone, which holds the number one slot in the language learning vertical with the benefit of an $80 million dollar investment, Roitman saw that the path to success was all in the metrics. “At this point, we represent the majority of sales in the marketplace,” says Roitman, whose sophisticated marketing analytics verge on fanatical. “When we spend $5,000 to place an ad, it's critical that we measure the return on every single ad dollar.” Now in its 12th year of business, that 33 minute long landing page video is the result of a decade of rigorous testing.
Roitman had to fight for placement of his first online ad, which broke even. He improved and tweaked until one Pimsleur ad resulted in a 1,500% lift in the conversion rate. “We focused on one channel at a time, and then diversified within that channel.”
Roitman says the company's marketing efforts have turned language learning into an impulse purchase. Most people who buy the Pimsleur Approach do not have a pressing need to know Spanish or Chinese, but rather have a latent desire to improve themselves, says Roitman. “We help them take steps to achieve a lifelong dream of learning that language. They open themselves up to a whole new world.”
Source: Dan Roitman, Stroll
Writer: Sue Spolan
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