On February 28, we were thrilled to find that a brand we work closely with, Natural Delights, had earned a placement on Yahoo, worth 4 billion (yes, billion) impressions. This gave us the opportunity to do a case study, and what we found was that this placement was a perfect example of the power of integrated marketing.
Natural Delights is a brand with a unique challenge because many shoppers do not know what Medjool dates are or how to use them. This has given us, as marketers, the opportunity to get really creative with our outreach. After years of engaging on social media, reaching out and building relationships with influencers, and developing a highly functional inbound marketing strategy, we found that “going viral” looks like one of two things – it either takes significant planning, time, and resources or it’s like winning the lottery.
Case Study:
Kristin, the author of the article picked up by Yahoo, follows two bloggers who have been advocates for Natural Delights for more than two years, which means she’s seen a variety of recipes, social media posts and promotions from them. As a result, Kristin followed Natural Delights on social media over a year ago and has been engaged with the brand ever since. Let’s look at the marketing funnel of events that led Kristin to the heart-healthy snacking trios that she ultimately featured.
Public Relations – Natural Delights partnered with two bloggers in 2013 (with compensation) to produce content for the brand. This content ranged from blog posts about new products, recipe posts, social media support, and attendance at the brand’s annual blogger summit. Kristin saw Natural Delights on both blogs and went to social media to get more information.
Social Media – She followed Natural Delights on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest in order to get more inspiration, where she saw recipes, company information, health-related articles, and free resources from the brand. She’s been eating Natural Delights Medjool Dates ever since.
Fast-forward to February, 2016…
Integrated Marketing – After brainstorming creative and relevant ways to promote National Heart Health Month (Feb.), Natural Delights partnered with a long-time brand advocate and RD to create photography of Medjool dates and other heart-healthy snacks in the shape of a heart. This content would be used across all platforms – website, email marketing, social media, and PR to support consistent messaging. As a result, any consumer who was engaged with one platform, also saw supporting content across all platforms.
The takeaway? When you have a well-designed website, supported by relevant content, social media engagement, public relations nurturing, and a consistent brand messaging across all platforms, influencers and journalists notice. BUT, this can take years to build. While it’s important to create short-term, measurable goals for the brand, it’s also important to recognize the long-term effects of nurturing relationships with influencers and consumers.
Where we see the most success with our clients is when marketing is treated like a 5-course meal instead of a salad bar. When we strategically use all elements of marketing to tell a complete story, it produces long-term results for the brand that one-off promotions and individual pieces of content and promotions can’t do on their own.
Have a thought about integrated marketing? Tweet us at @thecoreblog and @bethatkinsonpr!
