Out-Smarts partnered with Great Bear Rainforest Essential Oils to develop and implement a comprehensive digital marketing plan to drive sales and build brand awareness.
This small yet impactful company had just recently launched their website and was ready to take their business to the next level by sharing their products with the world.
Working with a brand new company presents us with a unique opportunity because it allows us to work with them to craft a personalized strategy from start to finish. From industry assessments to a full SEO audit, identifying strategic objectives, building a brand voice, content creation, and a full plan that we then implemented, being able to work with this company was a pleasure. And, the results speak for themselves.
Digital Marketing Project Background
Shortly after their launch, the GBREO team reached out to us to establish and grow their presence online, build brand awareness, create photography and blog content, to develop an online community, and to ultimately increase sales.
One of our mandates is to help companies that do good in the world do better online, and our collaboration with Great Bear Rainforest Essential Oil was a special one because they are a social enterprise supporting first nations communities.
About Great Bear Rainforest Essential Oils
Great Bear Rainforest Essential Oils is a social enterprise supported by the Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative — a non-profit society and alliance of eight First Nations on British Columbia’s North and Central Coast and Haida Gwaii. Their essential oils are carefully steam-distilled from fresh, sustainably harvested conifer needles gathered in the Great Bear Rainforest region. The Great Bear Rainforest Essential Oils venture creates sustainable, long-term employment for individuals with limited opportunities in remote communities.
Social Media Strategy and Planning
Great Bear Rainforest Essential Oils needed to create an online presence from the ground up. Since good planning is the foundation of any successful marketing campaign, we took the time to work with GBREO to ensure we knew the brand and their goals inside and out. We developed and implemented a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that encompassed SEO, email, social media and Pay Per Click Advertising.
Content Creation
Great content is key to any successful digital marketing campaign and this project was no exception. We created unique content for Great Bear Rainforest Essential Oils across all avenues of communication. Our full-service approach to content creation included photography, content creation, and social media across Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. We crafted blog posts backed by SEO research to optimize their online traffic and implemented effective email marketing campaigns. This all-encompassing approach allowed us to build a consistent, authentic voice for the brand.
Social Media Community Management
With a strong identity established and an ongoing stream of content, we managed the Great Bear Rainforest Essential Oils community across three major platforms best suited for their audience: Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Our goals were to develop their brand awareness, foster an online community, and increase website traffic.
Since the company was in its infancy, finding an audience that matched their target demographic was important to us. This means we based a lot of our community management tactics on increasing engagement on their social media platforms and aligning ourselves with our audience. Running monthly contests also enabled us to reach a wider audience that would value our content, and in turn, be more likely to follow and visit the website to try the essential oils for themselves.
Social Media Advertising
We focused on developing social media advertising campaigns on Facebook and Pinterest that drove targeted traffic to their website and built a strong, engaged following. We ran a combination of engagement and page promotion posts and increased numbers within a modest ad budget, as well as running monthly social media giveaway contests.
Social Media Reporting and Analytics
Showcasing the progress to your client is one of the most rewarding parts of what we do. We want our projects to succeed in the best way possible, and we shared that success by preparing in-depth monthly reports for the Great Bear Rainforest Essential Oils team to review. These reports combined statistics from all platforms, including Facebook Insights, Instagram Analytics, Google Analytics. Pinterest Analytics, and Google Ads.
Email Marketing
Developing an engaged audience of email subscribers was key to our success in driving website sales for GBREO. We set up branded email templates in MailChimp and implemented a lead funnel approach, incentivising website visitors to sign up to receive exclusive discounts and promotions.
The Results
Web Traffic Driven from Social Media
- Traffic from Facebook increased by 584%
- Traffic from Instagram increased by 578%
- Traffic from Pinterest increased by over 1000%
- 652% increase in followers
- 8820% increase in post reach
- 345% increase in post engagements
- 731% increase in followers
In The Customer’s Words
“Samson Consulting worked with Out-Smarts through my client, Great Bear Rainforest Essential Oils (Coastal First Nations – Great Bear Initiative). Mhairi and her team were able to provide all the elements needed at both the strategy and implementation levels. They also recognized needs beyond what was requested, such as including beautiful original photography, that had a deep impact on the success of the campaigns.
I was particularly impressed with their creative approach and ability to maximize impact for my client while being mindful of budget, including significantly growing the social media audience, creating avenues for meaningful engagement, and increasing brand awareness. Clients are in good hands with Out-Smarts Marketing.”
Hillary Samson, Samson Consulting
Why We Loved this Work
It was an honour to be able to work with and support first nations communities on a social project aimed at having a positive impact. Their natural, sustainably harvested essential oils were not only a wonderful product but a powerful vehicle for positive change in rural indigenous communities. The essential oils are steam distilled from fallen conifer needs in the protected ecological wonder, the Great Bear Rainforest. We had the chance to launch their company on social media from scratch and help them gain a dedicated audience that aligns with their values.
info@out-smarts.com
604 909 3532
