A move from Middletown to a South Main Street address in the capital city has breathed new vitality into a company that is already, by definition, “moving very fast.”
Bluestreak, founded in 1998, provides full-service online marketing strategies to businesses and advertising agencies. In addition to setting up promotional e-mails, online sweepstakes and Internet ads, Bluestreak can provide its customers with reports on how often the ad was visited, and if a product was purchased after the user viewed the ad.
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The company moved to its downtown location in February, bringing 33 employees and ideally positioning Bluestreak for expanding its work force.
“We’re excited to be in Providence,” CEO and founder Annette Tonti said. “It’s so different to be in a downtown location, and it’s in a confluence of arts and technology.”
The new geography has also allowed the company to tap a new pool of workers from the Boston area.
“We’ve been able to draw talent and skill from Massachusetts” now that Bluestreak is in downtown Providence, Tonti said. That rich skill set prompted Bluestreak’s move. Another bonus of the move is being in a downtown location, Tonti said.
“It’s changed the culture of the company,” she said. “When we were in Middletown, it didn’t feel as vibrant.”
While Bluestreak coordinates e-mail marketing campaigns, the company doesn’t do pop-up ads or send unsolicited e-mails, Tonti said.
“There really are bona fide online marketers out there,” Tonti said. “We don’t do spam and we don’t do pop-ups. People don’t get e-mails unless they have opted in.”
Bluestreak, which has offices in Dallas and London, works primarily with large, global companies, like MBNA, AT&T and AAA.
People are spending 20 percent of their time online, Tonti said, but marketers aren’t spending 20 percent of their advertising dollars on online ads.
Tonti said the online advertising landscape has changed dramatically in the past two years.
“We offer technology and tools to make online marketing work,” Tonti said. “It’s so different from broadcast marketing.”
While Bluestreak’s 120-member client list is comprised mainly of those larger businesses, Tonti said she expects smaller, locally owned companies to join those ranks in the coming years as they realize the value of online marketing.
“You have an opportunity here to hear back from the public” in online marketing, Tonti said. And advertisers can know whether or not someone viewed their ad online – whereas on television it’s hard to gauge just how many people saw an advertisement.
Bluestreak also manages online sweepstakes for its customers, another medium Tonti calls a great way to attract customers. Those contests offer marketers an opportunity to learn about clients and potential clients.
“The most important thing is to understand who is most interested in the brand,” Tonti said. “We try to make sure it’s of value for a customer to sign up (for an e-mail list).”
Bluestreak also hosts platforms that allow their clients to manage their advertisements, e-mail lists and newsletters themselves.
“The people at AAA can send out their e-mails themselves,” Tonti said.
“Online advertising really took off last year,” she added. “It’s a growing and exciting market right now – major marketers have entered.”
One thing that is still a hindrance in the online marketing arena, Tonti said, is the fact that many Internet users have installed spyware because they fear their computers will give away too much information. While Bluestreak’s advertisements do drop cookies onto the browser of someone who visits the Web site, “those cookies have nothing identifiable. They’re just there so the marketer can see someone has seen the ad. They never know anything personally identifiable about the customer.”
Those marketers are only permitted to capture the information they’re given – like if a computer user fills out a survey.
“We can’t send people e-mails if they haven’t asked for them,” Tonti said.
