One of the most successful content marketing campaigns I worked on for an FMCG brand.
It was built around fun information. A foodstuff brand and family run business that I still work for after 13 years.
Audit & Marketing Plan
A lot of work went into building the brand from many people. Once the website was categorised. (using Google Search Console) it was personalised ie segmented and the copy more focused.
The categories:
- Health
- Beauty
- Fitness
- Recipes
At the time, many consumers didn’t fully understand the foodstuff:
- how to use it
- the nutritional benefits
- beauty applications
- recipes
So instead of trying to sell directly, we created a free fun and info packed printed booklet.
What started as a 28-page full colour brochure later expanded into a 36-page guide packed with:
- recipes
- cooking ideas
- beauty uses
- nutritional information
- lifestyle content
- practical advice
The offer was simple:
Signup for a free foodstuff guide.
Digital Advertising
We initially promoted the campaign through Twitter (X) and Facebook advertising.
Twitter had some interest but the engagement was just under 1% (the Twitter account manager told me this was good)!
We put all the budget into Facebook Ads. Standard ones targeted by gender, age, interests and the fact we knew from analytics, they were mostly iPhone users.
At peak performance, the campaign was generating up to 300 new email leads over a single weekend.
The leads were downloaded into a spreadsheet and manually uploaded to Mailchimp (these days this would have been automated).
With the list building every day the brand could:
- nurture prospects
- educate customers
- launch products
- build repeat purchase
- increase customer lifetime value
Result
Over roughly 18 months, the email database grew from several hundred subscribers to around 30,000 contacts.
I shudder to use the phrase ‘Lead Magnet’ as it sparks memories of p*ss poor PDFs. This campaign worked because:
This guide felt substantial:
- It looked premium.
- People kept it.
- People used it.
In fact, there were numerous requests by people once they had the guide for more, for family members, friends and workmates.
A few lessons from the campaign still apply today:
- Educational and fun content can outperform direct selling.
- Consumers exchange email addresses when the value is obvious.
- Social ads perform better when they solve curiosity or uncertainty
- Email lists remain one of the most valuable marketing assets a business can own.
Conclusion
Algorithms constantly change. Having a substantial email list (and methods of continually growing that list) means a direct connection to customers and leads.
It helped that the content included pictures of delicious food and caught the zeitgeist of the time. O’, and the website visits peaked at 98k per month and the social following grew to over 300k (over two years).
[image: Daria Strategy, unsplash.com]
About Conversion Detectives
Conversion Detectives is a full-service digital marketing agency in Hertfordshire.
We find the best quality traffic for your website and convert more of that traffic into sales or sales leads.
Services
Digital Marketing Strategy | Creative Content Marketing | Email Marketing |
Lead Generation | Content Strategy | Social Media Marketing |
Video Marketing | SEO (Basics) | SEM | Shopify Marketing |
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