TLDR: Freshpet succeeds by emphasizing the high quality of its product. In an industry not known for finesse, this helps the company stand out.
So What? Emphasizing quality over price is a marketing strategy that can work in any business, even pet food.
We don’t normally think of pet food as a high-quality product: it’s usually made of items that only pets would eat. Often it comes as dry hard kibble and barely resembles food at all.
What if you made high-quality pet food out of natural ingredients and kept them fresh and refrigerated before purchase?
That is what Freshpet does. Its line of high-quality pet food is much like human food with real, natural ingredients like fish or pork. It is then stored in grocery store refrigerators to maintain freshness.
Although this makes the product more expensive than ordinary kibble, it involves a rare virtue: quality. Truly high-quality goods are hard to come by, and certain customers will pay top dollar for it.
To that end, Freshpet’s marketing revolves around its top-level pet food. It uses an always-on marketing strategy and constantly pumps out messaging about the quality of its pet food.
It uses several different techniques to reach customers including:
- Paid advertising
- Social media
- Personalization
- Blog content
Freshpet’s strategy works. It sold $425 million in pet products in 2021 alone.
Paid Advertising
Freshpet uses paid advertising to get its message out. Its YouTube ads focus on the ingredients and how the product differs from ordinary kibble.
Paid advertising on the internet is valuable for several reasons including:
- Targeting
- Rapid delivery
- Analytics
Freshpet is a high-end product and appeals mostly to consumers with higher incomes. Mass advertising, such as through television or in print, may not be as effective. When advertising online, Freshpet can target exactly the demographics likely to buy its products.
Online advertising is fast. With enough capital, you can reach thousands of people within hours. This helps Freshpet with its always-on messaging strategy.
With online advertising, you can record data about who clicks on your ads and when. This data can be used to fine-tune marketing across the board.
Social Media
Freshpet is active on several social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
In posting frequently, followers receive information, tips, and memes about their pets. Following Freshpet’s social accounts has many benefits for consumers.
Social media helps engage customers by turning a brand into a living social presence. This makes the company seem more human and makes it easier for customers to feel loyalty.
Personalization
Personalization is the ultimate form of quality. Personalized goods have had extra care and attention applied to them to make them uniquely valuable to consumers.
Freshpet offers a product selection tool on its website that helps consumers pick the right products for their pets. Other websites might use quizzes or games for the same effect.
This technique leads to a few important results:
- It helps customers decide on a product.
- It gathers information for the company.
- It instills trust in consumers.
One problem with the overwhelming variety of consumer goods is that such choice is overwhelming. Consumers face decision fatigue and will gladly rely on a free tool to help them make a purchase.
On the reverse side of the equation, companies like Freshpet need all the information they can get about consumer needs and preferences. Having customers take a quiz about their product is a non-invasive way to gather data.
Consumers who follow through with a company recommendation are more likely to trust the company in the future. After all, if you trusted someone’s advice once and it worked, you will likely trust their advice again.
Blog Content
No business is complete without a blog, and Freshpet’s blog is updated every few weeks to educate readers.
Blog content helps engage customers by:
- Providing an educational resource for interested customers.
- Demonstrating the company’s expertise.
- Making the company website look alive.
Content is a permanent asset for a company: one which continually provides value to customers. Interested customers will follow the blog and come back repeatedly. This enhances loyalty and leads to better consumer decisions.
Another reason for updating a blog regularly is so people know the company is alive and functioning. Nothing looks worse than a blog that hasn’t been updated for many years.
Marketing Like Freshpet
Quality is a great way to differentiate yourself from competitors. Nearly all consumer products feature different levels of quality. If you can prove your product stands above the rest, you’ll attract a customer base.
What makes Freshpet’s marketing work is that it always emphasizes the quality of the company’s ingredients. They pump out messaging as much as possible. This “always-on” strategy is a great way to convince people your product is superior.
If you sell a high-quality product, consider all the ways you can reach customers. Targeted online advertising can be a great way to do this as it lets you target your core demographic: people with enough money to buy top-shelf items.
Other practices, like social media and blog content, can attract and maintain a loyal customer base. Personalization adds extra value to your customers and helps them choose between your products.
Media Shower helps brands build customer engagement strategies to fit their needs. We know how to communicate with customers, just like Freshpet. Click here to try Media Shower for free.
