{"id":8228,"date":"2023-08-01T00:55:21","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T07:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/?p=8228"},"modified":"2023-08-01T09:42:15","modified_gmt":"2023-08-01T16:42:15","slug":"how-one-media-placement-led-to-1600-customers-and-how-you-can-do-it-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/how-one-media-placement-led-to-1600-customers-and-how-you-can-do-it-too\/","title":{"rendered":"How One Media Placement Led to 1,600 Customers \u2014 And How You Can Do It Too"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cBut, customer acquisition isn\u2019t how you measure the success of public relations.\u201d I didn\u2019t have formal PR or marketing training and still, I knew it was a ridiculous KPI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was during my time at direct-to-consumer (DTC) healthy snack startup NatureBox<\/a>. We were a series A startup, a lean team that needed to grow our business quickly. It just wasn\u2019t useful for us to hang our hats on impressions, share of voice, and brand sentiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stared at my spreadsheet and started splitting my media outreach list into two parts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) Reputation wins that might help us work our way up to the highly coveted Wall Street Journal feature<\/a> (FoodNavigator USA, Food & Wine, etc) and…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Acquisition wins, or media placements that were likely to result in new customers (Lifehacker, Mental Floss, etc).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Over time, I’d realize that the niche coverage, either in trade or affinity-based publications would ultimately serve as short-term wins that I could later use in my pitch arsenal to score longer or deep dive features in mainstream publications.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t using any PR or media software at the time \u2014 remember, my lack of marketing training meant I didn\u2019t even know such things existed, so I resorted to leaning on my journalism background, doing tons of manual research, and following lots of food and lifestyle journalists on Twitter. I read every food-related publication I could get my hands on, and I took notes on the various writers I kept up with. All of this was tracked in a spreadsheet I updated and sent to my CMO and CEO nearly every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Far from chill work<\/a>, this was absolutely not a healthy way to work. I don\u2019t recommend this.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of my manual research included reading and replying to the comments on our brand\u2019s paid and organic social media posts. I\u2019d see anything from gleeful gotchas catching a typo here and there on our ads, to strange critiques of the doorsteps we\u2019d photograph our snack boxes on. But the comments that really<\/em> caught my eye were from the hacker and gaming communities. I don\u2019t have the quotes handy anymore but fairly common sentiment was this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese look like they taste like Doritos. I\u2019d eat these if someone sent them to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt sounds gimmicky but honestly, I\u2019m so lazy that I would pay $20 per month to not have to think about buying healthy snacks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHealthy snack delivery lol. Sounds like the perfect product for the hypocrite who loves healthy eating but somehow hates the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Ok actually, that last one was almost verbatim. Harsh-but-fair feedback that was burned into my brain forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These comments were so\u2026 specific. They seemed to indicate a certain lifestyle preference or archetype. I\u2019d check out the commenters\u2019 public social media profiles to see if there were any commonalities. I started to pick up on clues that indicated they were gamers or hackers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, we\u2019d occasionally get some inbound requests from nonprofits asking for snack donations, and from local Bay Area hackathons. Unless the quantity was unreasonable, we fulfilled all donation requests. For the hackathon donations, I\u2019d include some custom flyers and stickers, and follow up with the event organizers to see if they were happy with the snacks. Perhaps not surprisingly, hacker-types aren\u2019t that picky about free food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t really know what hackers read so I just sort of\u2026 Googled around. I searched for gaming sites. I lurked in Subreddits to see if I\u2019d find any other sources of influence. Eventually, I stumbled upon a gaming site called Kotaku. I followed some of their writers on Twitter, including then-reporter-now-editor Mike Fahey. I read some of his work, and then I reached out with an offer to send him a custom snack box. I was more than delighted when he replied! He wrote his review<\/a>, and we were able to attribute this placement to hundreds of customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next on my list as I went down various audience research rabbit holes: Lifehacker. I pitched them on a review as well, though I believe they had the idea of doing a full review with our competitors. As they did their reporting, I responded quickly to all their questions. And of course, I sent only our best snacks in the first box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result? The writer was honest AND gave us high marks<\/a>. (Worth noting that article has been edited in the 10 years since it was published. In its current state, it shows only a few paragraphs for context along with a coupon code.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four months later we had over 1,600 new customers from these reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All through audience research, hard work, and without spending a dime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, this was a lesson in rolling up your sleeves, following your curiosity down rabbit holes, and not being afraid to challenge assumptions about customer identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really believe that stories like this are some of the best ways to hone your marketing skills. Stories work because:<\/p>\n\n\n\n