Chocolate: Good v Bad Marketing

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The best conversations I've ever had started at coffee shops. And it usually went like this. I'd invite five different people. We'd meet up for an hour. We'd pick a certain topic around startups and growth. And the convo would end up being two to three hours. Then I'd walk away with pages of notes, insights, learnings, and ideas. Which is why I'm launching the Content Cafe community in May. Our waitlist is almost at capacity. You can join here.

And as always, thank you to our partners SARAL and Heyou.

Get your brand in front of 200,000+ marketers & founders.

 In partnership with SARAL

Native Went From $0 To $100M in 2.5 Years With $12 Deodorant

So, how do you convince people to say yes to a 140% price increase on an everyday product?

Virality, word of mouth, and positive reviews/recommendations.

• They send products to diverse groups of creators willing to share their experiences.

• The key is personalized discount codes to incentivize high-quality UGC for the commission kickback.

But you know that building out a similar program is hard. There's tedious work. Or $20k+ in software tools that don't guarantee results.

So here’s the best-kept secret in influencer marketing helping brands reach 8.11x average ROAS– SARAL.

Build profit-first campaigns with your simple and effective influencer marketing assistant:

• Automatically find influencers

• Outreach “direct-to-creator”

• Track sales

• Build long-term relationships

No contracts. Cancel Anytime.

Curious? It’s free to try for 14 days.

Skeptical?

Content is modern-day window shopping at scale.

It can draw people into the store (your profile) and keep them around.

The chocolate industry is hyper-saturated. Chocolate is chocolate.

Good content made modern chocolate brands like Tony's Chocolonely and Mid-Day Squares emerge as major players in the market, even with heritage brands like Godiva as competitors.

Good Content Educates People On Your Brand Mission And Vision

"We say we're an impact brand that sells chocolate, not the other way around." - Tony's Chocolonely

Tony's Chocolonely has dedicated its efforts to raising awareness about inequality in the chocolate industry since day one.

Even as they've grown to become the largest chocolate brand in the Netherlands, their commitment to ending the exploitation of cocoa is the driving force behind their marketing content.

Whether it’s a social media post, a meme, or a wrapping paper, the mission is always clearly communicated.

Their customers know exactly what the brand stands for because they're consistently reminded of it. Unwavering and authentic brand values lead to lifelong fans.

On the other hand, Godiva's marketing rarely mentions their rich history. Looking at their content, you wouldn't know they have a century of history behind them.

Good Content Finds Ways To Make Your Customers Hear And See You

"The team at Mid-Day Squares is willing to be unapologetically themselves on camera to thousands of people. " - Kiva Dickinson, Investor in Mid-Day Squares

Being heard and seen is everything in a crowded space.

They built a reality show to get eyeballs on the brand to stand out on social media.

There’s a backstory taking the audience behind the scenes around why their chocolate tastes so great.

They have a scripted story supporting their chocolate creation process and a mini-documentary on the journey of their product flavors.

They even made a music video clapping back at Hershey's threatening to sue them, bringing awareness to the issue, and getting the community behind them.

Why all of this?

Because a beautifully photoshopped photo like Godiva’s won’t get the same attention and impact…

Good Content Pushes A Consistent Narrative That Fuels The Brand's Story

"Kraft was started by a human, and that human was similar to us. But now it's a big conglomerate, and you don't know who runs Kraft. We never want Mid-Day Squares to feel like that, even when we become a conglomerate, we want you to know us at every stage.” — Midday Squares

Mid-Day Squares has differentiated itself from legacy brands by embracing full transparency.

Their entire marketing content strategy revolves around amplifying and solidifying this narrative to strengthen their brand story.

The focus is on showing customers the raw, unfiltered reality of building a business.

Legal battles, production failures, business mistakes, warehouse break-ins - nothing is off-limits.

This narrative is so integral to their content strategy that only 5-10% of their posts are product-focused.

All of this is to make consumers part of the business and make them feel like they are buying from friends/family/neighbors they can trust, not a faceless brand.

So as you think about your content strategy, ask yourself:

1. Are we consistently educating on our brand mission and vision?

2. Do we show the customer who we are and what we represent?

3. Do we push a consistent narrative?

In partnership with Heyou

The Part of Social Growth That Nobody Talks About

Every creator I know has a group of friends that engages with their posts immediately.

It’s a signal to the algorithm that people are interested in your content.

Plain and simple.

You still need 10/10 content. There’s no way around that.

But every tactic helps when trying to gain traction.

Heyou helps you automate LinkedIn engagement.

It’s not fake accounts.

You add profiles you want to support. And it automatically likes when they post.

And your friends and employees can do the same for you.

• Must Watch: Chargeflow’s on-demand roundtable with eCommerce visionaries, “Shaping the Future of DTC in 2024” (LINK)

• Currently Reading: High Growth Handbook: Scaling Startups from 10 to 10,000 People (LINK)

• More Inspo: Ollipop’s “City Blitz” campaign is pretty awesome (LINK)

• Frequently asked, rarely answered well: when to launch your brand (AVOID these common timing mistakes) by @Orenmeetsworld (LINK)

• Growth Hack: Get instant access to competitive research, SWOT analysis, buyer personas, growth opportunities, and more at the push of a button with Osum. (LINK)