Casey Cornell

Here's my story.

I decided I would help a friend out with their branding and marketing to give them the face lift I felt they needed to take their business to the "next level". COVID-19 gave me an opportunity to test and try some things for a brand that had nothing to loose and everything to gain. Looking at the Google Analytics data images, you're probably thinking, "great, you threw a couple hundred dollars on Facebook and let it ride, awesome! Congrats!"

Well, you're wrong. I spent $0 on advertising. I really wanted to take a different approach and see what I could do from an organic standpoint because I've always been a full believer that with the right strategy, creative assets and proper timing, organic content can help take you the distance. Also, how can we provide customers the least amount of resistance to purchase the product/service during this interesting time in life.

Side Note : Don't get me wrong, I'm well aware what ad spend can also do for a brand, but for this instance we have a small business, $0 budget, and it's a pandemic. Let's have some fun!

I got the green light from the owner and took over all accounts ( website, socials, search, Google, etc.) on May 18th and pushed “pause” to get everything I needed in place to make a full-court press. Next, I completed a product photoshoot to get myself new creative assets. Then, came the many hours and late nights of staring at my laptop. I spent my time re-designed the website, building eCommerce online ordering, writing new content pages, implemented key SEO updates, and made fundamental branding updates across all platforms.

It took about 2.5 weeks to build and launch it all to completion.

Once all new components were ready and launched, it took a few days to get the ball rolling but once it did, the momentum was there. It was pretty amazing to watch. In a world filled with ads and ad rev, don't cut yourself too short on what you can still do organically to make an impact on your business. Organic content is the cheapest way, besides word of mouth , to help drive traffic and revenue for your business. Another important part of this puzzle is consistency. Publishing engaging content 3-4 times a week and keeping your brand top of mind for your consumers is HUGE!

*Image above is a closer view of the lift in traffic. Timeframe May 1 - June 16, 2020.

I remember during my SEO internship in 2014, they preached “Content is King.” Fast forward 6 years and the same still holds true today, but I like to modify it a little… “Quality Content is King!” I say this because we all know what good quality content looks like vs. content just for the sake of posting.

How eCommerce Helped:

Many businesses were faced with a challenge the day the world closed: roughly March 16, 2020. They had to ask themselves, how can I still sell my product or service without coming in contact with anyone to pay my rent and keep my lights on.

This business had always taken orders over the phone and when we spoke, I knew there was an easier way to streamline that process. Think of how much time is wasted answering the call, taking an order and dealing with small talk. I knew launching online ordering was going to save them a ton of time and drive more revenue from customers who were already visiting the site but didn’t want to pick up the phone and call. As crazy as it sounds, calling on a phone in 2020, that’s considered “too much work” for consumers. If you can’t do it with ease, they have already moved on to the next alternative.

Don’t be afraid to try a different avenue to sell your products or services. Just because you’ve been doing something for years doesn’t mean it’s the best route to success. Use the technology around us to streamline and create new processes that free up more time for XYZ. When you go to bed at night, think, can the new alternative make you money while you sleep?

Success Comes at a Price:

Through all the work, success came out to costing $0.00. I say this in a sense of $0 ad dollars were spent in the making of this brands glow-up. I understand there is always a cost involved but this is merely based on paid vs organic content. The company has taken in hundreds of online orders in the past few weeks and are still showing promising growth metrics headed into July to kick off Q3 on a strong foot.

The COVID-19 Pandemic might have been the “thing” all marketers needed to kickstart their creativity again and to start having conversations around how to drive revenue in a more creative, digital, streamlined, and contactless way. As a marketer I’m excited to see where this takes us from a digital perspective, and how brands and businesses interact with consumers moving forward.

Could QR Codes have hit the market too early and now, make a major comeback to be the answer to all our marketing needs? Only time will tell!

*Metrics from Organic Content & eCommerce : Social Media: +46% followers Website Traffic: +397% pageviews Online Revenue: +53% revenue

Casey Cornell

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area 2K followers 500+ connections

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Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Marketing Consulting, Growth Marketing, and Graphic Design

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