Strategic Expansion, Digital Marketing, and Funding Solutions for a Home Goods Brand
Situation:
When Rem came on board, the company was looking for feasible means of expansion. They wanted to figure out how to spread their business into new consumer groups. The other major goal was to figure out new forms of funding. Our client recognized that the current forms of marketing and social media use were not as efficient as they could be in terms of reaching new audiences as well.
Challenge:
The business excels in providing quality home goods through in-person sales, with the founder leveraging personal relationships to build a loyal customer base. To expand, the company aims to enhance its marketing strategies and leverage social media to showcase the unique aspects of its products.
Despite a strong existing customer base, there is a desire to reach broader demographics through targeted advertising. She is open to exploring various advertising strategies that highlight different aspects of her products in order to cater to certain audiences. The founder, who manages most operations, is also seeking new funding opportunities and exploring the possibility of a permanent storefront, having previously faced challenges with subsidized options.
Approach:
From our first meeting with the client, our team identified three main objectives: growth strategy, digital marketing strategy, and funding. Our first priority was identifying opportunities to strengthen the current customer market or expand to new customers. While the company already markets and successfully sells to their primary target demographic of women ages 25-50, they have a harder time marketing to males of the same age despite the majority of their products being unisex. To grow their sales, men must also be attracted to the products by marketing more specifically to men using the products. We also recommended a loyalty program to help maintain the high level of customer retention as they add more customers.
Our second step in our project was to recommend various digital marketing tools. While our client does maintain a social media presence, we recommended Tik Tok and Instagram reels which have become far more engaging than traditional Instagram posts. Along with this unpaid marketing, we showed the client the strengths of both Google and Facebook ads, creating mock ups of ads for both platforms. We recommended utilizing paid Facebook ads because they can more easily target a specific customer segment, which would help with the growth strategy, and the use of multimedia more effectively highlights the products. Finally, we created a list of influencers in the home goods industry who could help bring to a new, massive customer market.
Finally, our team researched a variety of grants that could help boost the company by providing them with the capital they need to expand. We walked through each individual grant and the best steps to make the company more attractive in grant applications.
Impact:
We helped our client develop a growth strategy in order to enter a new market. We did this by analyzing the current market and developing customer personas. Next, we analyzed the market and developed strategies for broadening the secondary market. We also helped establish new social media and marketing strategies. In order to do this, we first analyzed the current analytics and then researched the best social media practices to maximize brand awareness. Lastly, we found new sources of funding by researching grant opportunities that our client was eligible for. We came up with a long list of opportunities and included important dates and relevant application information.
Team Lead - Maya McDonald
Strategist - Louise Lerner
Strategist- Sarah Kennedy
Jr. Strategist - Liam Donohoe
Jr. Strategist - Fred Hargett
At Rem and Company, we're on a mission to keep doors open and dreams alive. Rem and Company started as a social impact initiative offering free consulting services to small businesses impacted by COVID-19. Rem and Company has become an information hub and digital community platform for small businesses in need. At Rem and Company, small businesses stay up to date on trends in their industries, learn new approaches from peers, build a network, and develop the capacity to adapt as the world around them changes. Our consulting teams provide small businesses with the opportunity to identify and prioritize issues facing their business, propose innovative strategies and facilitate execution. If you are a small business owner and want to learn more about how we can help, request a free consultation.