Send In The Troops – social media marketing case study

Send In The Troops is a British Facebook based brand and pioneer of the cross promotional tool known as “Facebook Marching”. The Send In The Troops "march" gained great popularity as a way for small business to gain hundreds of new “likers” in a very short period of time through exchanging “likes”. Talk About Creative was engaged for a period of one month to help establish the brand in Australia and New Zealand.

The Challenges

Send In The Troops' initial innovation was soon copied by dozens (if not hundreds) of competitors. It was essential to create a more targeted, stronger branding position if it was to remain a market leader. 

The brand was not turning a profit even though it had a large following.

While the brand offered an extremely useful and successful Facebook marketing tool, it delivered poor sales figures for its followers.

The Solution

Talk About Creative approached the Send In The Troops GM to discuss expanding the brand into several other countries. This was determined to be the best solution for overcoming the growing number of challenges this runaway brand faced. It achieved:

• Great enhancement of the original brand
• Higher quality “likers” for active users
• More targeted marketing opportunities
• Better conversion rates for active users
• A greatly expanded base of active users
• A market position that no competitor could challenge
• New revenue opportunities

The Result

Australia – SITT was established and marketed by Talk About Creative in conjunction with two other administrators. The brand was promoted widely on Facebook and set the standard for the other regional pages. The page grew rapidly, acquiring around 5,000 "likers" and 800 weekly “marchers” in the first four weeks of operation.

Additional Challenges and Solutions

Talk About Creative also implemented several changes to overcome some of the key difficulties faced by social media based brands, including low sales conversion rates, low engagement rates and spam.

Mission Accomplished

We left the Send In The Troops brand with around 20,000 new “likers” globally, a pathway for higher revenue collection and data on minimising spam to create a path forward. 

Talk About Creative is privileged to work with dozens of Wagga Wagga based brands. These wonderful brands include Brett Longmore Constructions. Brett Longmore Constructions is a forward thinking, thriving building and renovations business based in Wagga Wagga and servicing the Riverina region.  Brett Longmore Constructions is not a typical "Facebook brand" so we worked with their team to overcome regional online marketing problems.

The Challenges

Brett Longmore Constructions' early Facebook success was stunted by three factors:

• Being a regional service, there was a limited geographical area Brett could target with his social media marketing
• Late adoption of online marketing by many local businesses
• Low social media participation and interaction by both residents and local businesses

The Solution

Using Brett’s page as a catalyst, Talk About Creative set about motivating and educating local businesses on the power of Facebook for promotional purposes. We established a voting system for the Best Customer Service in Wagga Wagga and encouraged like minded businesses to become involved. We established weekly Facebook networking and cross promotion opportunities and set about building local relationships.

The Result

Overnight, Brett Longmore Constructions became the centre of a friendly Facebook sparring match. Local businesses signed up to Facebook just to participate. Network partnerships were formed, alliances forged and a good humoured and friendly battle broke out. All the while, Wagga Wagga businesses shared Brett's page with their "likers". Over a hundred new Wagga Wagga businesses either joined or increased their usage of Facebook and viral marketing style "hype" paved the way for increased use among residents. The weekly networking program has burgeoned, taking Wagga Wagga to the forefront of regional social media usage.  

Let's not forget the most important result: Brett's bottom line. Brett has enjoyed increased brand recognition, word of mouth publicity and also direct sales as a result of his Facebook activity. 

It was a great success with a local car detailer taking out the grand prize – a prestigious pat on the back.

Do you have a local or regional business? We don't just specialise in regional social media, we can also help with regional and local business SEO.  Talk About Creative, Brisbane is the specialist small business SEO copywriting and social media strategy firm.

Bamboo Bubby Bag branding strategy

Bamboo Bubby Bag is a sleeping aid for babies suffering from eczema and dermatitis. It is a burgeoning Adelaide based brand that has all the hallmarks of greatness – and we're not just saying that. On the brink of launching itself into a much wider marketplace, Bamboo Bubby Bag needed a branding overhaul. It has uniquely designed sleeves that set it apart from other sleeping aids and offers parents a new level of reassurance and value. 

The Challenges

Benefit segmentation for the Bamboo Bubby Bag is complex and draws from all four benefit categories. At the core is the functional benefit of making a real (and very powerful) difference to the sleep quality of babies with eczema (and their parents), but this manifests in a highly emotional manner. It was necessary to combine an authoritative and credible brand identity with a soft, empathetic message. A product marketing challenge we were ready for!

The Solution

As part of the brand development process, several key process and distribution issues were identified. In order to enter the purchase decision making process at the earliest stage and to gain pharmacy based distribution, a comprehensive marketing strategy was prepared and implemented.

Together with Marie O'Neill Design + Illustration, Talk About Creative developed a "trusted yet empathetic" branding position for Bamboo Bubby Bag.

The Result

Bamboo Bubby Bag is now in mass production. Many of the changes recommended in the branding strategy have been implemented with positive results.

Need help overcoming your brand's challenges? Talk to Talk About Creative, Brisbane