Identity

A Spanish chocolate company contacted growth. The company explained that it has a good website and a good marketing strategy, but it wants to step things up and improve certain elements of its business. Sure enough, we found that the company’s website is functional, as online purchases can be effectively processed. We also assume that the company has good logistics (the product arrives at its destination) and we do not doubt that the product itself is good (as this is not their reason for contacting us).

The company also explained that it wishes to expand its distribution to more countries, as it has the production capacity to do so. It currently has markets in Spain, France, Germany, and United Kingdom.

Value

In terms of the product, we discovered that the company has a great value proposition as it often promotes campaigns to raise ecological awareness and in support of animal welfare, environmental protection, respect for individuals, etc. It is also worth mentioning that the company prioritises Fair Trade practices, since it works with organic farmers to source raw materials and, in many cases, it collaborates with small producers and local suppliers.

✅ A company can have a very good chocolate product, but not offer any added value. The fact that the product is loaded with value is very positive, as it boosts the company’s offering.

However, in terms of distributing the product to other countries, it would be interesting to define the specific value that a chocolate made in Spain has to offer. There’s no doubt that Northern Europe, for example, values fruit from Spain. But when it comes to chocolate, Swiss products clearly dominate the global market. It is far easier to distribute Swiss chocolate as Switzerland has an established reputation for exporting the best quality chocolate. We would need to identify how appealing Spanish chocolate might be in foreign markets. A Belgian company can also produce organic and Fair Trade chocolate. What a Belgian company cannot produce is chocolate made in Spain.

✅ There’s no need to overthink what our identity is. Made in Spain chocolate could be a friendlier, more colourful product, with more of a Mediterranean style to it — more panache. Ultimately, it’s all about marketing: the objective is to sell.

Communication

We detected a communication style that is very focused on “buy buy buy”; everything is geared towards the end purchase. There are no offers or options to do anything other than make a purchase, so the customer is somewhat conditioned: they can help the environment, but only by making a purchase. This type of call to action isn’t a problem, but it shouldn’t be the only message being communicated.

When we visit the website, a pop-up appears inviting us to register for the company’s newsletter. When it comes to products like chocolate, it is difficult to design a newsletter that avoids this purchase-focused approach. This is because chocolate is not a staple product, over-consumption can be bad for your health, etc. The newsletter should therefore be structured in such a way that it offers readers something else, too.

✅ One solution that can help the company move away from this “buy buy buy” approach is publishing a blog dedicated to chocolate where the company shares baking recipes and tips. This offers readers a free service that expands the value of the brand.

User experience

The user experience is the experience an individual has when they navigate and interact with a website, for example. In this regard, we detected a number of errors (a few links that don’t work, an image that doesn’t fit the screen, graphic design issues, etc.).

When we refer to errors, we don’t just mean that something doesn’t work — we are also referring to conceptual and logical errors. For example, a button might work, but it could be difficult to locate.

✅ In order to improve the user experience, we suggest using the software rrweb, which records every user’s journey on a website and replays their interactions in video format. That way, the company can verify what a user does when they navigate their website, how they have arrived at the shopping basket, etc.

Organic and paid marketing

The company has only launched organic marketing campaigns (i.e., they have never invested in paid marketing, be it through Google or social media). Appearing on the first page of Google can be achieved either through meritocracy or by paying to improve a brand’s positioning. The same applies to social networks (it is one thing to post a photo on Facebook, and another to pay Facebook to promote it). The company’s organic marketing efforts would need to be analysed in order to assess its real website positioning.

✅ In a company that is already operating and has the production capacity to expand distribution to other countries, there is a clear opportunity to sell more and, from a capital point of view, earn more. And once the company earns more, it can invest in paid marketing, helping it to expand its reach even further.

More often than not, companies are unaware how orders or contacts have reached them. They don’t know how the customer has found them. It is very important to identify customer sources as you can then develop a logical marketing approach based on the process of hypothesis — action — analysis. This is the key to continuous improvement.

✅ Installing a purchase tracker can be a useful tool to identify where customers are coming from so that you can better target your marketing efforts.

Paid marketing is an opportunity to attract both businesses (B2B) and individuals (B2C). The company that we analysed is interested in both markets, as its e-commerce platform targets individuals, but it also targets distributors (who distribute its product) and shops (who sell it).

Direct marketing

In the case of B2B, we proposed using direct marketing, or automated marketing, where automated messages are sent directly to shops (email, WhatsApp, or phone calls).

Targeted messages should always offer an initial proposal and include a link to a landing page with more information.

✅ Automated marketing enables brands to reach hundreds of thousands of businesses without having to contact them personally and individually, reducing invested time and efforts.

Viral marketing

In terms of B2C, there needs to be a clear distinction between distribution and dissemination. Dissemination is the publication of content for social media followers and those who already know about and follow a company. Distribution, on the other hand, goes a step further; it’s all about getting content to people who are not yet familiar with a company.

It is also a good idea to consider the benefits of using memes for viral marketing. A meme is not just a funny picture that we receive on WhatsApp; it is the smallest theoretical unit of transmissible cultural data. Whether or not an image makes us laugh depends on cultural context. Something that makes us laugh might not translate in the same way to consumers from Asian cultures, for example. If we create a recipe blog, it’s important to target users with a shared cultural affinity.