Episode description

1. “Our hypothesis was if we can really give content a shot and really invest in content marketing for a couple of months, maybe that can be our competitive moat.” @JVMeredith  #DTCPOD
2. “The way I look at retail is ‘if we're not on the aisle in the broth and stock section, then we're going to lose market share’.” @JVMeredith #DTCPOD
3. “I think the key thing is to remember, is our marketing plan is just a plan and plans change constantly. It's important for us to be flexible to where, as we see opportunity, we're able to jump on it.” @JVMeredith #DTCPOD
4. “We try to leverage our experience on the performance marketing side to get what we need from the retail side.” @JVMeredith #DTCPOD
5. “Our core channels from the early stages were influencer and affiliate marketing and they are still core channels for us today.” @JVMeredith #DTCPOD

We Speak About:

• [01:15] Backstory on Trend’s personal connection to Kettle & Fire  
• [02:30] About Jack and Kettle & Fire
• [05:00] Kettle & Fire’s unique content marketing approach
• [06:00] Why Jack and his team invested heavily in content and the results that followed
• [10:15] Kettle & Fire’s Facebook ads approach with a consumable good
• [12:50] How retail plays into Kettle & Fire’s marketing strategy 
• [15:25] Jack’s approach to setting KPIs for Kettle & Fire
• [17:20] Trying to attribute and get data on retail sales
• [19:50] Key metrics for retail sales
• [22:55] How Kettle & Fire nailed their first retail experience
• [25:40] The channel Kettle & Fire used while warming up SEO
• [28:05] How Jack does influencer and affiliate marketing
• [33:20] What’s next for Kettle & Fire?

Jack Meredith, VP of Marketing at Kettle & Fire joins the POD to talk about their unique approach to marketing and growth that’s turned the brand into a retail and DTC star.

Kettle & Fire is a brand that has created the first 100% grass-fed, shelf-stable beef bone broth.

When Kettle & Fire started, they didn’t have a ton of money resources to grow the brand. So instead, they turned to content and influencer marketing.

Content has been a huge growth lever for Kettle & Fire. Today, the brand ranks at the top for hundreds of keywords that creates a great funnel for customers.

Jack and his team have taken an almost B2B-like approach for content marketing and it’s paid off big time.

Content and influencer marketing aren’t the only growth levers for Kettle & Fire though.

As the brand has grown, paid ads and retail have become a large source of growth for the business.

Opening up the retail channel specifically has yielded huge returns for the business. Jack sees it as a way to complement the online strategy.

Even though retail data is hard to come by, the brand is constantly trying to use their learnings in performance marketing to track performance in retail better.

Stay tuned as Jack breaks down all of the channels Kettle & Fire uses for marketing, how they’ve mastered retail, and the exact KPIs the brand uses to grow.

If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for influencers and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Mentioned Links:

Kettle and Fire’s website: https://www.kettleandfire.com/

Jack’s Twitter account: https://twitter.com/JVMeredith

Jack’s DTC playbooks: https://www.dtcplaybooks.com/