Psst, hey! Here’s what you should expect from this post:
- An interesting digital marketing case study, to learn or to get inspired, and more specifically for digital advertising.
- New ways of being crafty and successful with tight budgets and a lack of resources.
- Some bragging (since I am very proud of this specific case).
Feel free to proceed in any case. Hoping you’ll enjoy it!
So this will be one of the first blog series that I will talk about something I was thinking about some time ago.
You can stick with me, come aboard my train of thought, but if you are asking yourself “Can we skip to the good part?” already, just go ahead!
While I have my main career going on, I always like to have other projects going around.
People who are close to me know well that I would die of boredom if they told me not to have any work-related things for more than a month.
One part of these projects I mumble about is my freelancing work, where I have been doing some amazing stuff over the years. Most of the time, with the first try!
…Ok, who am I kidding? Most of the time, things came through trial and error.
So I decided that it was time to write about it!
I decided to use the STAR method for these, as it will make it more readable and easier to follow. Let me also not forget to use my own writing tips.
Anyway; let’s dive in, shall we?
Table of Contents
Situation: Nice Ice’s Solidifying its B2C Sector Presence
Before moving to cover the situation, let’s discuss the client.
Company Profile: Nice Ice
Nice Ice is the leading provider of packaged ice products in Northern Greece, having a strong presence in many cities, including Thessaloniki, Katerini, Kavala, and others.
As its ice products, the company’s focus on quality is crystal clear. From its early beginnings until today, Nice Ice over exceeded its high-quality standards, certified by ISO 22000:2005, HACCP, and EUROCERT. It strictly abides by its slogan, “Ice is Food, Get Informed” (Ο Πάγος Είναι Τρόφιμο, Ενημερώσου), as the pioneer of ice products consumption safety in Greece.
This doesn’t, of course, go unnoticed by the market. More than 3500 satisfied Ho.Re.Ca customers across northern Greece use the famous, top-notch Nice cubes; if you are on the right side of the globe, it might be in your drink this instant!
I was extremely fortunate to cross paths with Nice Ice back in 2019 when I was hired to start its Marketing endeavors as their full-time Marketing Specialist for some months, continuing as their Marketing Consultant from 2020 onwards.
Today, alongside the company’s co-owner Haris Poursanidis, and the company’s management, we are solidifying our brand presence in both B2B & B2C markets.
Nice Ice initially focused only on the B2B market, providing top-notch ice products with impeccable service; the company owns its fleet, pays extreme attention to detail to its drivers, and is always close to its partners, exactly when they need ice.
However, the B2C market itself was something the company needed to tackle soon. Leading to…
Task: Create a tool to assist consumers in buying our products and promote our B2C offerings
It sounds simple, yet, in reality, there was a huge issue. Let me explain.
B2B & B2C are vastly different ways of doing business. You can’t just traverse from one to another with a snap of your fingers. Except if you are, well, Thanos from the Avengers.
And while Nice Ice knows that, another party didn’t.
In reality, the company faced issues from B2C consumers, as they believed that were eligible for the same services as the business partners.
Of course, delivering small quantities of ice to each consumer that craves it, would severe our logistics. It would be possible, but it is certainly not economically viable.
Customers had to understand that they could get ice, conventionally; getting it from a point of sale!
And there were a lot of points to get ice from. Nice cooperates with all major supermarkets and gas stations in Greece, so there was certainly a spot that is the most convenient for someone.
So the goal was to create that something, to ensure that consumers pass the (un)awareness stage, and get to know a tool that will help them find how to get ice from us, and how easy it is to get it!
Action: Create a map and promote it through paid campaigns
The idea about the map wasn’t mine; Haris came up with the early concept in our first discussions. And after some thought, well, it was a golden one!
However, we had to be realistic with its implementation and maintain a strict budget.
That’s why we moved towards a simple, but extremely effective and widely accepted solution; Google Maps!
This life essential allows for custom maps that we utilized to create the below:
Without knowing Greek, I imagine it might be a bit hard to use this, but (I hope) you get the idea. It includes all of our selling points so that any customer can find the one that’s most convenient for them. Consumers can choose their area(s) of choice, all that through the familiar google maps environment.
Key Takeaway: Searching for a tool can be hard sometimes, but always start from the basics, and see how far they can take you. Intricate business situations may require customizable solutions, but that's not always the case.
From its creation in early 2021 until now, the map has been promoted on social media on plenty of occasions, mostly seasonally (ex. in huge sporting events, or during Christmas, Easter, or Summer).
A combination of short videos and static posts have been used to promote the tool through Facebook & Instagram, as they are the prevalent social channels in Northern Greece. Usually, a short video format, connecting the event with the need to have an abundance of ice, then explaining the usage of the map, was used. You can see one of the videos created for EURO 2020 below:
But how did this unfold?
Results: Increased brand & tool awareness, combined with accelerating seasonal sales
To track the results, a combination of digital metrics & YoY sales comparisons have been used.
The easiest one to track is views, and since Google publicly announces the metric anyway, sharing that the map has gathered almost 46K views is public knowledge. What also matters greatly is how, nowadays, there is a steady stream of views organically (around 300/month), showing increased awareness & familiarity with the tool.
On a campaign level, since there is no clear conversion strategy, the goal was to drive traffic to the map itself. The most recent campaign conducted in December 2022 brought great results, with a 5.5% CTR being quite far from industry averages.
Quite promising were the metrics concerning the video itself, with the video completion rate being around 13.1% percent. This demonstrates an appreciation of the short video format used, which is getting more and more popular as time progresses.
However, this all has to translate to real business growth; and it did! Tracking the YoY sales in the same period showed a significant increase in consumption, with no other marketing activities conducted by the company at the same time. Taking into account how B2C demand is continuously increasing, portrays a clear positive effect on the company.
Key Takeaway: Digital data do look nice, but if they don't match with the reality, they're just vanity metrics! Always try to connect them with real, measurable business actions.
Conclusions
There are many things that I am grateful for in my professional career.
But one of my favorite ones is having the opportunity to work with companies of all shapes & sizes. Even at the “young” age of 28.
With small to medium-sized businesses, you have to be crafty. Devious sometimes, even!
Junior-level marketers can benefit a lot from being in such a situation. In this era of tool abundance, a low budget isn’t necessarily a reason for failure, but it’s most certainly an inspiration for success.
And I have been one of these junior marketers facing such challenges. They’re always such great growth opportunities for all of you to dive into.
Take advantage of your creativity. Generative AI of all sorts can help you do wonders as well.
This has application for more experienced professionals, potentially with more attractive marketing budgets, too. Flashy new tools always seem superior, but never be afraid to play with the toys you already have around you.
Experiment – you may never know where it will lead to!
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