Although Hooker and Company is a boutique marketing and advertising agency from Saint Paul, Minnesota, we’ve been hearing from a lot of businesses beyond Saint Paul lately. These are businesses coming to us for our unique offering of marketing services. Whether they’re calling on Hooker and Company to elevate their brand, increase sales or to reach and engage an audience, we are getting the job done.
But what does that mean? ‘Getting the job done.’ We think that it’s more than just a portfolio of happy clients. We wanted to know how specifically our marketing efforts are paying off. So we set out to find a concrete ROI that demonstrates how our variety of marketing and advertising services are moving the needle for Saint Paul businesses.
Donatelli’s Italian Restaurant and gift cards during COVID
Marketing services – Digital Marketing: Social Media Management and Content Marketing
The messaging was simple and the time was right. The best way to help a beloved local restaurant during the COVID-19 pandemic (aside from ordering take-out or delivery) is to buy gift cards. It’s like giving a restaurant a micro stimulus. Additionally, a restaurant’s gift card is a stimulus you can turn into delicious food later. Everybody wins!
Our social media campaign for Donatelli’s took off almost immediately. Donatelli’s has a loyal following across Minnesota and the nation. They were generations of White Bear Lake families, devoted to Donatelli’s Italian cuisine who were all too ready to help. All they needed was a little push in the right direction.
With clear messaging, eye catching graphics and a social media and email campaign with smart targeting, we saw gift card sales suddenly shoot up. In the days after we sent the email, Donatelli’s sold over $1000 in gift cards! The future suddenly seemed a lot brighter for this White Bear Lake institution, even during the economic slowdown. It just goes to show how combining the right message at the right time can make for explosive results!
In just 24 hours we were able to drive over 1,000 views to Donatelli’s gift card page!
Comfort by Design: social media management and the power of video production
Marketing services – Broadcast: Video Production. Digital marketing: Social media management
Thanks to science, we know the human eye can process an image in one-tenth of a second. Compared to text, humans can understand an object 60,000 times faster than text! These days, the world is a blur. Social media, news and advertising are all clamoring for our split-second of attention. So when you’re using video in your marketing campaign, then you’re cooking with gas.
When we made a series of videos for our fireplace and HVAC clients, Comfort by Design we knew we were up against a lot of eye-attracting content. Even though we had the benefit of promoting over $300 in savings, we still had a challenge of articulating why your heating and cooling units could use a cleaning and tune-up (very important, especially here in Minnesota).
We tapped our talented crew of photographers and video producers to create a slick, fun to watch video. The video moves fast and feels like only a few seconds, which is perfect for delivering a lot of information in a visually appealing format. Also, pairing the visuals with a light samba backbeat certainly lends a fun element. All told, this fun little campaign sent over 15,000 unique page views to Comfort by Design’s website! And we’re seeing the numbers continue to climb as the campaign continues.
Developing the brand and staying the course with U-Pull R-Parts
Marketing services – Brand Design: branding personality workshop, logo design
U-Pull R-Parts originally contacted us with the hopes we’d take over as their advertising and marketing department. We recommended that the first step should be to define their brand in terms of personality, tone, and look. At that time their brand was a mismatched series of messages created by the publications that were running U-Pull’s ads.
They agreed and we took U-Pull through our brand personality workshop where we developed their brand tone and message. Once the messaging was agreed upon it was time to bring it to the market. At that time we developed a cohesive consistent brand identity featuring a bold and unified look.
With this in place we were able to layout an annual marketing and advertising plan that would get their message out to the market. Once we began using the new brand and bringing their promotions under that umbrella, we saw an immediate increase of 20% in gate fees.
Our feedback from the marketplace on the messaging we were presenting was very positive. The pride that the client had in their brand was amazing. We had taken a junkyard and turned it into something fun and professional. The essence of creating a brand that fits is making it understandable, believable and defendable and we had truly accomplished that.
One of the hardest things for clients and agencies to do is stay focused and not reinvent the wheel. As we have worked with U-pull we have stayed focused on the brand as it was agreed, and maintained our course. We’re seeing the results year after year with sales growth at a steady 20%. U-Pull’s brand engagement remains strong as we continue to execute against the brand.
Up next, part two in our series:
Search Engine Marketing, Print Design and Website Development
We’re continuing to unpack some impressive numbers from our campaigns, we want to share a series of those successes with you to demonstrate how, when your messaging is on point, and you’re working with a savvy strategy there are big wins to be had for you and your business.