I'm going to tell you a quick story about my brother's coffee farm. I want to tell you this story because it's tangible. It's something any small business owner can hold onto, amidst the enormity of what I am going to show you next, in a special webinar presentation. The webinar is about Google Inc's boardroom strategy and their digital marketing genius.
This story today however, is about a humble coffee grower, as far removed from Internet marketing as you would expect.
You will learn how a simple (but good) digital marketing campaign launched 8 years ago exploded his coffee business out of the gate, and for 8 years that followed.
Around ten years ago Brazil invented the worlds first coffee harvester (machine).
This meant for the first time coffee could be grown in countries other than third world, coffee beans no longer had to be harvested by hand.
My brother and father purchased a lot of expensive high altitude land in Australia, in an area that scientifically, had all the elements of being technically perfect. It was perfect coffee growing country.
Their first harvest would take three years from the time the first tree was planted. Throughout this 3 year period my brother asked every one he knew to ask staff in coffee shops around Australia, if they served his particular brand of coffee. I won't mention the brand because he may not appreciate this story reaching his clients.
Of course none of the coffee shops had heard of "his brand". It had not sold any coffee yet. He pushed this almost zero cost word of mouth marketing strategy relentlessly, for three years. Fine food trade shows, 5 star eateries, hotels and coffee shops, more and more people were asking staff if they served my brother’s brand of coffee.
When they said no, if ever asked about it, there was a stock response, I too was a foot soldier helping him get his brand out, it went something like this:
Staff: Can I help you.
Me: Do you have “X brand” of coffee?
Staff: No. I’ve not heard of that. Where’s it from?
Me: It's Australian Coffee (not well known as a coffee grower). Apparently there's a region in the "X Hinterland" that's the best in the word for growing coffee beans.
Staff: Oh really! Is “X brand” grown there?
Me: Yes!
Staff: Mmm I’ll have to look that up.
Me: OK, what other premium blends do you have?
What happened was, the staff (especially coffee connoisseurs and influence-rs amongst them) in these venues (after fielding this same question multiple times), became curious.
They’d Google “it”.
Ranking number "1" for his own brand name that wasn't on the market yet wasn't hard. His website was a simple but high end electronic brochure, it also ranked for phrases to do with the best coffee growing regions in the world, and Australia (also not competitive).
The site was not about coffee, it was about coffee growing on his farm. It was selling the virtues of his farm’s region (backed by statistics from reputable sources), as a perfect coffee growing region.
The site was raising the question:
"Was this region the optimum coffee growing region in the entire world?"
In terms of water, altitude, climate, moisture, humidity, frost, bugs, sun, shade and soil, etc etc for coffee trees.
He wasn’t selling coffee.
As you can imagine breaking into the coffee market against some of the biggest marketing behemoths in the world would have been extremely expensive, he had to out think them!
His strategy was to sell his farm’s location instead, as locations go, his farm was actually located in what was statistically, a great location for growing coffee. As good as any other throughout the world.
He found his hook!
Now he obviously did his homework when buying the property, whether it was the best region in the world or not, statistics proved it was certainly up there, the answer to such a question was "arbitrary".
So why market a coffee bean when you have a story like that to sell?
He started a good story, introduced it to coffee enthusiasts and influence-rs (at almost zero cost through a word of mouth campaign), then gave them a platform to talk about it amongst themselves. His website & eMail subscriber list.
The location of his farm became his brand’s point of difference, his coffee beans therefor were not just another coffee bean. This strategy saw his beans become of strategic importance to local coffee bean distributors.
His Call to Action...
His website was not selling a commodity. It was not another eCommerce site selling coffee, it asked visitors to subscribe and receive information on making "the optimum cup" of coffee in the world.
From seed, to a plant’s life-cycle, green bean and the roasting process, right through the machine and making the coffee, into a cup. Even the location in which the optimum cup of coffee is consumed, was open for discussion.
Subscribers were also made aware of the fact that when buying coffee from a coffee shop, the same process from tree seed to cup involved umpteen different (independent) parties. That if one link in the chain was sub-par, the cup could not be an optimum cup.
The coffee supply chain was only as good as it's weakest link. If everything else was perfect but the coffee machine (final stage) was dirty, or the Barista poor. The cup could not be optimum no matter how good the bean.
His subscribers were being engaged in a digital conversation that gave his story depth and social proof, the same way you are in this eMail conversation. Only their conversation was all about "the optimum cup of coffee".
How it could be achieved?
It was not only a complete education on every stage of the coffee growing process and what was required for everything to be perfect, it was the "ying" to the perfect coffee farm’s "yang".
The coffee farm itself had magnificent mountain peaks with stunning views. They had built a decking platform at the top of a mountain where my brother took "his most important guests".
Fresh coffee beans straight from the tree, grown in the best coffee growing soil on earth, roasted on site, and brewed (using a generator) at the top of a spectacular coffee growing mountain range.
Sipping your coffee, talking to "the" coffee grower, sitting outdoors, looking out over some of the most breathtaking scenery in Australia.
Was this the optimum cup of coffee?
Subscribers were all asking that question? They were each entered into a draw to find out.
Each month one person would win flights and accommodation to his farm as a personal guest, to take the tour and experience the optimum cup of coffee.
Subscribers Were All Coffee Snobs
Remember I told you that marketers start stories, it’s consumers who spread them.
What better story is there for a coffee snob to tell other coffee snobs, than this experience, coupled with the knowledge gained by receiving the eMail sequence. Each month’s prize cost him no more than five hundred dollars, but yielding him brand ambassadors in every corner of the country.
By the time his first harvest was ready, the coffee snob crowd was buzzing in anticipation (throughout the industry), everyone wanted to get their hands on a sample of these beans.
To top it off my brother sponsored the world champion Barista (a pro coffee maker) in the same year as his first big harvest, he won the Barista world championships for a third time. This time using my brother’s coffee beans.
This conversation remember was kick started by friends and family of my brother walking into coffee shops and asking a simple question, do you serve X brand of coffee? (All done in his spare time over a 3 year period whilst he farmed his first crop).
The conversation carried over to his website where he published photos and videos of prize winners drinking the optimum cup (each month), new subscribers could join the eMail sequence.
Flying real people into the farm each month was important social proof, the conversation became one that all coffee enthusiasts needed to join.
As You Can Imagine "Sales Exploded"
By the time his first commercial harvest landed, demand for his beans was 5 times greater than supply. His price per kilo was $10 more than standard coffee beans, it didn't matter, it wasn't about the price.
His story had all the right peoples attention, for all the right reasons. He positioned his coffee beans to be of strategic importance to coffee bean distributors wanting the sell them.
This very simple digital marketing strategy was so successful, his biggest problem since (nearly 8 years on) became a lack of supply.
To fix this problem he hired a farm manager.
My brother now buys premium and exotic coffee beans from farming co-ops throughout Asia. He sells to coffee buyers throughout the world. He’s a coffee broker.
Today my brother’s core business is satisfying the same demand generated by one good digital marketing campaign, he executed 8 years earlier.
He has not had to advertise since.
Simon U Ford
Engage Smarter!
P.S. My next example is pure digital marketing genius, executed by the best digital marketing company on earth. Google Inc.
For this eCoaching session my friend Jerry Rocco will host a webinar I'll present. You will not have seen anything like these needle-in-a-haystack insights into Google's boardroom. The lengths Google went, to dominate PPC search on mobile devices, as they've always done on the desktop.
Although this particular strategy is unattainable for most of us, Google's less than free strategy used to dominate PPC search advertising on mobile is as good an example as I've seen, not just digital marketing strategy, but positioning.
Remembering that "Internet search" to Google Inc(s) brand, is what "Coca Cola" is to the Coke company.
The mobile web will become 5 times bigger than the desktop web.
Google had to dominate mobile search advertising at all costs, you'll learn exactly how they did it in the board room on this webinar.
Sign up for the webinar, here.