THE power of a good website, social media and an interesting if challenging or blog should never be underestimated.

That’s the view of Diane Rivens who runs Juicy Marketing, which has been vindicated by the national news coverage of the National Sperm Bank, only having nine doners.

Although, far from being a failure, that number represents around 1,000 men who have come forward to be assessed and can help 90 families, who otherwise would have had to go abroad for donated sperm.

Diane said: “The reason you know this is because the National Sperm Bank’s chief executive, Laura Witjens, tweeted and blogged about her frustration with how the figures were being portrayed.

“She was then inundated with requests for interviews from the media, most of whom originally found her through the website, valued it’s content, and realised her tweets and blog were worth watching too.”

Delighted with the coverage, which included BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Diane, who is based in Kempshott, said: “We’re all surprised how far it’s gone around the world, but it’s an interesting – even slightly controversial – topic, highlighting an issue here in the UK where sperm is being shipped in from the USA and Denmark to fill the shortage. “Laura’s a confident spokesperson, so she comes across well, and she’s happy to accommodate the media, which really helps.”