Weight-loss site eDiets.com will spend several million dollars to market the rollout of a revised business strategy, shifting from a one-product platform to multiple branded diet solutions.
The effort, which debuted April 16, is an attempt to differentiate the Deerfield Beach, FL-based company from other diet programs such as Weight Watchers.
Director of marketing Jay Berkowitz said the campaign would be based primarily online and would concentrate on banner advertising. Direct mail and print likely will be used too once the program gets under way.
Currently eDiets has 12 million subscribers who receive up to four free e-newsletters per week. The site generates 90% of its revenue from subscriptions to diet programs. Introductory subscriptions are $35 for nine weeks; the average subscriber stays with the program for seven months.
Since the beginning of the war in Iraq in late March, the sales performance of the company’s advertising campaigns declined by about 20% to 25%. Berkowitz noted the clickthroughs on newsletters and the number of site visits were down, probably because people were devoting their reading time to news.
At press time, the company estimated that for the first quarter ended March 31 it would report revenue between $7.2 million and $7.4 million. That’s an increase of some 3% to 6% compared with $7 million in the first quarter of 2002.
Deferred subscription revenue was expected to have reached an all-time high of $3.8 million March 31, compared with $3.1 million last Dec. 31 and $2.7 million on March 31, 2002, in part due to increased sales of annual membership programs.
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