Let me tell you about an incredible, new product launch that pulled in a half a million new customers … during a recession!
What made it so successful?
Three words. Direct marketing strategies.
Popular in Japan, Sun Chlorella wanted to break into the U.S. market. But the Japanese entrepreneur behind the product, George Higashida, couldn’t get the product in the U.S. health food stores no matter how hard he tried. The few stores that did agree to carry the product didn’t sell much of it.
So, George found me.
The Challenge?
We needed to turn an unknown, unappealing product – taking an algae pill sounds terrible – into something American consumers would rush to buy.
Our mission was to …
- Generate sales
- Open up retail sales
- Create a loyalty / continuity program for repeat sales
- Cross-sell other nutritional products
- And create an accountable system so that George and his team always knew the cost per sale.
We tackled this challenge by breaking it down into strategic, achievable parts. These included:
- Branding the company to stand out more for an American audience
- Positioning the campaign
- Targeting the right audience at the right time
- Identifying the products unique selling proposition (USP)
- Developing an irresistible direct response offer
- Using direct response copy rather than image art to convert potential customers into buyers
- And testing, testing, and more testing … always striving to improve results.
We conducted the entire project in a way that allowed us and George to immediately see the cost per sale. The return on investment was positive from the start.
Then, after the first campaign, we kept testing media and the creative elements, continuously growing the campaign.
The components of the campaign included:
- Direct Mail. Both traditional envelope mailings and a magalog (a promotion written and designed to look like a magazine).
- Landing Pages. Never market to your corporate website. Instead, market to landing pages that are designed to draw the consumer in.
- This is a promotion written and designed to look and feel like a book. In such a familiar format, it disarms the potential prospects natural tendency to dismiss advertising without a second thought.
- But not just any kind of email. Rather, a series of emails designed to remind the prospect about the benefits they can achieve with the new supplement.
- Digital Marketing. To keep the message in front of the prospect wherever they went online.
Today, Sun Chlorella is a household brand in the U.S. That’s because the results of our campaign were outstanding.
The Results
Our marketing campaign generated more than 600,000 new buyers.
We got buyers into retail stores, which opened up the retail distribution network, where stores began to promote Sun Chlorella nationwide.
We created a systematic reordering program, including aggressive auto shipment efforts, all of which generate repeated revenue with little additional effort.
And we successfully developed new product promotions, increasing the company’s profitability, and diversifying its product range.
We did all of this during a recession …
Despite intense supplement competition …
To a market unfamiliar with the products benefits.
In the process, we helped create a new, multi-million-dollar corporation … all thanks to our direct marketing strategies.
You too can increase your leads and sales, even during these recessionary, pandemic-darkened times. Call me at (615) 814-6633 or email me at [email protected] and let’s see what we can do about turning YOUR business into the next multi-million-dollar success story.
