Digital Advertising

My time at Freshology is an example of my hands on digital experience on a scrappy budget. I chose to focus the brand on CRM and lead generation; shifting resources from agency dependent activities to growing in house expertise and technology. Here are a few examples: 

 

Marketing Technology & Analytics:

  • Introduction of Teamwork, an online project management tool,  that greatly reduced the creative review process and allowed for better communication with our development resources.

  • Integration of Hubspot to create customized CRM communication across channels and manage the PPC programs as well.

 
 



Growth Strategy

To pivot from a entirely paid marketing program, to one that developed leads through better targeting, owned marketing and developing relationships to gain access to targeted relationship and endorsement.

Key Metrics:

  • Efficiency in driving web traffic

  • Ability to engage

  • Ability to close customers

  • Growth in customer lifetime value

Targeting:

Developed a lead generation program that targeted very unique customer attributes and provided tiered education that nurtured these segments to discuss the program with our call centers.

Examples:

  • Affiliate programs with Soul Cycle and Active Network (with a Diana Nyad endorsement) for athletes in training.

  • Corporate sponsored lead generation programs with Warner Brothers and the Oprah Network - OWN that partnered with a corporate health program.

  • Partnership with the Celiac Disease Foundation that provided education on our gluten free menus.

Personalization:

I developed deeper segmentation/personalization in content to deliver unique stronger engagement in our acquisition as well as lifecycle marketing. This was executed through: 

  • Landing page or microsite per segment

  • A decision tree model for the website that captured customer goals and the ability to do personalized messaging

  • Developing targeted ads for Facebook, Adroll remarketing and Kiip mobile advertising.

  • Email and mobile segmentation

  • A/B testing to optimize CTA, pricing info, images and forms

Engagement:

Shifting away from merely diet solutions, I grew the brand's content around quality, sourcing and personalizing the customer's experience. This was achieved by: 

  • Providing deeper, targeted content for bloggers and demand generation to utilize.

  • Developing in house video content to launch with new website and on YouTube (e.g. Local Farm Sourcing and New Culinary Innovations).

  • Participated in Tastemaker events and cooking events in their area (e.g. cooking lessons with the LA Times or a presence in specialized food expos) that allowed for engagement

  • Provided a free trial via direct mail offer if prospect was further down sales funnel.

Results:

Freshology was able to move its marketing budget from paid ads to largely owned and earned, which greatly reduced costs for the startup. There was a large number of regional and national players entering the market that drove a steep increase in acquisition costs. This was clearly demonstrated when the early entrant and leader, Blue Apron, went public around the same time and six months later was at less than half its initial value due to soaring acquisition costs.