Cleaning up in pet stores

Cleaning up in pet stores When Abby Gnanendran talks about his affordable, fashionable and earth-friendly product line, it sounds glamorous. Since January, Poop Bags has been working with Rob Vena, president and creative director for Feast Interactive, a digital advertising and design agency based in Toronto, to keep the social media momentum going. "At that point, they had set the stage for a retail presence," Mr. "They just needed to target their social media presence to raise engagement and fuel organic growth. The goal was to build brand awareness and identify loyal followers who could continue to spread the word. The online advertising was as simple as it gets: "cheap poop bags" was pretty much the mantra used in AdWords, Mr. "People loved the fact we didn't hide what the product was. We knew it was a great business to be in. Be creative. By the time the initial marketing was over, Earth Rated Poop Bags had given away 5,646,585 bags to potential customers and vendors. Growing fan numbers have opened up opportunities to share stories and keep fans up to speed on environmental issues and animal rescue and shelter programs, Mr. "At that point, it all comes down to the creativity behind your message. Earth Rated Poop Bags donates product to animal shelters across Canada. Gnanendran said. "So we put together sample kits and dispensers and offered them free to stores. The team started checking out social media channels daily to identify worthy recipients (i. The team decided that the very best strategy would be to sacrifice short-term profits for long-term gains. There are plans for giveaways and contests advertised via Facebook. "When we started numbers grew from 6,000 to 9,800 through January and February. The key now is to keep them as time goes on. "When we started testing it, we saw a huge upswing. Picking the words that resonated best with customers was easy. "We weren't expecting the type of growth we had at such a young stage," Mr. "But we soon realized we had something really strong here that could grow swiftly. At first, Earth Rated Poop Bags relied on Google Ad-Words and Facebook Ads to generate interest and sales. Within five months, Earth Rated Poop Bags had a fan base that would be the envy of most small companies. That's an important part of what we do. That insight is situated on the results of an informal poll of 119 pet stores across Canada to learn how their product was selling compared to its competitors. "The packaging, the branding - it all shows we're eco-friendly. And the price tag is reasonable, which isn't always the case for green products. 99. While the company no longer sells products on its website, there's still a strong focus on supporting a thriving online community, Mr. "Now we use social media to stay in touch with customers, retailers and the charities we support. The company said it experienced a tenfold growth in sales in the second year of operations, with sales this year expected to triple. The data shows 92 out of 119 (77%) stores said that Earth Rated Poop Bags was their best seller in the category. Selvadurai said. And it's important to our customers," Mr. How to keep up engagement on social media. With the growing demand from clients, came calls from pet supply stores wondering how they could get Earth Rated Poop Bags. "We realized then that we had to go retail. It's a fantastic way to maintain communications, get feed back on our product and make certain everyone is satisfied. Cleaning up in pet stores Trade News selected by Local Linkup on 03/04/2012