“We realised that there was a gap in the KZN market when we began receiving emails from people asking us to launch something similar in their region,” says sales and marketing director Shelli Nurcombe-Thorne.
“After several months of market research, we decided to extend our reach and launch a weekly newsletter and website focused on Durban and its surrounding areas.”
Key to the Durbs.co.za offering is the weekly email newsletter that is disseminated to subscribers every Friday morning. The newsletter contains details of forthcoming events, as well as ideas for families, singles and adventure-junkies. Music and theatre lovers will find information on future live events, while those looking to get away for a much-needed weekend break will find ideas on accommodation suiting both their specific interests and budget.
According to Nurcombe-Thorne, the company’s success is largely due to the “push” nature of email, which delivers information directly to busy subscribers who have no time to research what to do each weekend.
“We generate bite-sized pieces of information that provides an overview of events and happenings taking place that weekend. Subscribers can quickly read through the information and click-through to the website should they require further information.”
According to the site, the initial response from subscribers has been very positive. The online statistics show that a large number of subscribers have forwarded the newsletter to their friends, inviting them to subscribe.
“Word-of-mouse remains the strongest form of online advertising,” says Nurcombe-Thorne. “You know you are on to a good thing when subscribers continually forward content to their friends.”
www.durbs.co.za launched on Thursday, 1 March 2007.
