Earn $55M Worth of Marketing Results for Much (Much) Less

CoreBanner_55bill-1.pngAfter Mother Nature dealt growers and brands like Wonderful® Pistachios years of less-than-ideal growing conditions, in 2016 she finally lightened up and restored bounty to the pistachio category.  For Wonderful®, a record-setting harvest meant two things: They had to move much more product and they had an amazing opportunity to share the stories and many benefits of pistachios with millions of people. So, late last year, Wonderful® Pistachios launched their largest advertising campaign to date – to the tune of $55 million.

$55M is certainly a great deal of money and can deliver equally great results, yet only a tiny fraction of fresh produce companies could ever dream of launching, much less funding, a multi-million dollar marketing campaign.  However, that’s no reason to raze the fields, close up the marketing shop and move on to the next venture.  

A recent article from Inc. Magazine echoes one of our most deeply held beliefs and also highlights a solution that has been and can continue to be equally successful for fresh produce brands: The power of experiences is huge – and these experiences, through influencer partnerships, driving product trial and social media marketing, can be achieved for about 1/11,000th of Wonderful’s campaign budget.

If you’re still trying to figure out what 1/11,000th of $55M is, let me help you out.  You can make a huge impact with $5,000 – an amount that is much more easily allocated and approved for many fresh produce brands. In fact, here are some “millions” that fresh produce brands can achieve, even without millions of marketing dollars:

  • Impressions – When executed effectively, PR and social media posting and advertising enable you to reach millions of your target audiences’ eyeballs.
  • Website and blog visits – A million website/blog visits may seem daunting, but, when divided into bite-size chunks (say just over 80,000 visits each month), this goal is absolutely within reach.
  • Repeat customers – although this metric isn’t as easily measured as the two examples above, your brand can earn a loyal legion of satisfied shoppers with strategic and committed sales and marketing efforts.

Lastly, we give mad props to Wonderful® for their terrific marketing work, example and inspiration (thanks, Ernie the Elephant!) and for increasing awareness of marketing within the fresh produce category. 

If you’re interested in how you can get wonderful marketing results for your brand without the $55M spend, let us know and let’s explore the possibilities.