How We'd Grow Carne Shabu
You go to the grocery store. You hit the beef jerky aisle. And you’re looking for the jerky that catches your eye. Except they all look the damn same.
Red & white packaging. Muscular branding. Bold letters.
They basically look like they’re all made for the same type of person.
This is an opportunity…
And an Austin-based brand, Carne Shabu (Marketing Examined reader :)) is getting ready to take advantage of this opportunity and create carnivore snacks for women.
But they haven’t launched yet.
So, we created their launch plan for them.
Take Over Austin: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Facebook started by being the hottest thing at one campus, then expanded into other universities.
Mid-Day Squares launched by blanketing Montreal retailers before expanding into other cities.
Carne Shabu needs to do the same. Become the hottest snack brand in Austin, Texas.
And create the perception that they’re everywhere. All at once.
Difficult? Yes. Doable? Yup.
So, here’s how to do it.
Influencer seeding.
Influencers create flywheels. A macro-influencer influences a micro-influencer. A micro-influencer influences a consumer. A consumer influences their friend.
When you create this flywheel in a hyper-localized area then you create the perception that you’re everywhere at once.
So, let’s imagine Carne Shabu’s core customer is: A woman in her 20s-30s, who’s very active, health conscious, and works out at least 3x a week.
Now we’d find the communities where this core customer spends time.
Examples:
- CrossFit Gyms
- Hyrox Gyms
- Yoga and Pilates studios
- Trainers
- Whole Foods & Trader Joes
These are communities with built-in word-of-mouth.
Now, What Do You Send Them?
In Austin, who are the influencers influencing people within these communities?
From macro-influencers to micro-influencers, to creators on the come up…Carne Shabu needs to get product in their hands.
And this is what they’ll include in the influencer package:
- A hand-written personalized note.
- A personalized explainer of why the product is better than what’s on the market.
- A story of the brand and product.
- A brief on how to get the most out of the product.
Why? The unboxing experience is the only thing with a 100% open rate.
Make it personal. Make it educational. And make it a one-on-one experience.
Next…Is Timing.
You reach out to 200 influencers. 50 agree to post about it.
But, 50 people posting over 6 months doesn’t create the illusion of being bigger than you are.
Which is why timing matters. And why you need to get the product into the influencer’s hands around the same time frame. With a note sharing when you’re launching.
Because it's a local area. Many people within these communities follow the same influencer. Multiple influencers sharing the same product, around the same time - creates the illusion that Carne Shabu is the hottest thing in town.
Then Amplify it.
Take the top-performing organic influencer content. Run them as ads. Only in Austin.
And you can get super specific and run these ads targeting a 1-3 mile radius of where these influencers hang out. Example a yoga studio.
Now, The Orders Start Rolling…
And it’s time to ship them. So, you hand deliver the first 100-500 orders in Austin yourself.
Why? You’re developing your first 100 true fans.
And you’re using this moment to have a conversation. Get feedback. See reactions. Surprise and delight.
Secondly, you can convert these moments into UGC videos. Every hand delivery is a chance to record an unboxing experience. A reaction video. A taste test.
So, now the content flywheel looks like: Influencer seeding > Run top performers as ads > Turn shipments into UGC.
The last layer…organic content.
Two brands to pull inspo from:
- Elwood Clothing
- Mid-Day Squares
Here’s why and what to replicate:
Elwood does a great job at creating different types of product-focused content. Think content pieces like product stories, styling inspo, fabric breakdowns, and buying guides.
This is middle of the funnel and bottom of the funnel content.
Mid-Day Squares built an audience by taking followers behind the scenes of different aspects of running their company like a sit-com. Making customers feel like they are a part of the company.
This is top-of-the-funnel content.
And when you’re launching a new brand aim for 70% TOF content. 20-25% MOF content. And 5-10% BOF content.
The launch plan boils down to this:
- Take over one city before expanding. Make your brand seem bigger than it is.
- Do so through influencer seeding to reach relevant communities. Ask the influencers to post around the same time to make it seem like your brand is suddenly everywhere.
- Run paid ads using the best influencer posts. Again, localized to one city.
- Turn early customers into fans by hand-delivering packages. Make content like real-time unboxing videos along the way.
- For ongoing organic social, learn from brands like Elwood and Mid-Day Squares to create product-focused or behind-the-scenes style content.
