{"id":364,"date":"2025-03-17T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/?p=364"},"modified":"2025-03-18T13:10:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T13:10:20","slug":"how-this-small-startup-outperformed-a-stalling-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/17\/how-this-small-startup-outperformed-a-stalling-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"How This Small Startup Outperformed a Stalling Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As liquor sales stagnated last year for nearly the first time in two decades, one segment of the market actually grew by a whopping 29% YoY: <strong>Pickle-flavored spirits.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re like me, your first question was, \u201cWhat the ever-loving fffff-?\u201d But your second question is, \u201cWhat are they doing right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"cta_button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hubspot.com\/cs\/ci\/?pg=bcbe2652-03f9-49fe-b517-acedc47b6f27&amp;pid=53&amp;ecid=&amp;hseid=&amp;hsic=\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img \" style=\"height: auto !important;width: auto !important;max-width: 100% !important;border-width: 0px;margin: 0 auto;margin-top: 20px;margin-bottom: 20px\" alt=\"Click Here to Subscribe to Masters in Marketing\" height=\"58\" width=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/53\/bcbe2652-03f9-49fe-b517-acedc47b6f27.png\" align=\"middle\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>So I sat down with the marketing director for the top-selling pickle liquor to find out how this small startup is beating the trend and outmarketing the market.<\/p>\n<h2>Meet the Master<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/erin-quinn-mim.jpg\" width=\"560\" height=\"560\" alt=\"erin-quinn-mim\" style=\"height: auto;max-width: 100%;width: 560px;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Erin Quinn<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3><em>Marketing <\/em><em>Director, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theoriginalpickleshot.com\/\"><em>The Original Pickle Shot<\/em><\/a><em> <\/em><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Fun fact: <\/strong>Was an extra in two different &#8220;This is SportsCenter&#8221; commercials when she worked as a stats analyst at ESPN.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Claim to fame: <\/strong>Once ordered $3,000 worth of \u201cPickle Slut\u201d friendship bracelets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Lesson 1: Research your opportunities a year out.<\/h2>\n<p>Most people don\u2019t think about National Pickle Day. Like, at all. But to Erin Quinn it means a lot of green. And that green is money. And also, presumably, dill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was our biggest earned media impressions surge,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are a lot of national news outlets doing National Pickle Day coverage. And from an online sales standpoint, it was definitely our biggest surge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But that never would have happened if Quinn hadn\u2019t been looking down the whole length of her calendar.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook at the full year for what opportunities might be relevant for your brand,\u201d she advises. Now, your brand may not be connected to any gimmicky holidays, but there will be conferences, trade shows, festivals, and fairs. The lesson remains: \u201c<strong>Identify a few that look relevant to you. Then take a look at how those have been covered in the past by the news media.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s not just about news media, but social media, too. Quinn recommends doing social listening around the events to see which ones already have your audience catching a buzz.<\/p>\n<p>Those will make the most rich opportunities for seasonal campaigns.<\/p>\n<p>But this isn\u2019t an \u201cIf you build it, they will come\u201d kind of exercise. Which brings us to lesson two.<\/p>\n<h2>Lesson 2: You have to have news to be news.<\/h2>\n<p>\u201c<strong>Media outlets aren\u2019t going to cover your brand for the sake of you existing. You have to have news to get attention.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>News outlets could have just as easily reached out to Vlasic or Frito Lay for content about National Pickle Day, right? So why did they cover this small, upstart liquor brand instead? Because Quinn gave them a reason. Two, actually.<\/p>\n<p>Two big, pickle-green, mid-calf, 100% genuine leather reasons.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pickle-boots-mim.jpg\" width=\"429\" height=\"552\" alt=\"pickle-boots-mim\" style=\"height: auto;max-width: 100%;width: 429px;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Quinn says her team asked themselves, \u201cWho\u2019s an unexpected brand that we can partner with to do something cool that\u2019s going to get people talking?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The answer was Texas-based luxury boot company Miron Crosby. And the one-of-a-kind, pickle-themed cowboy boot sweepstakes was born.<\/p>\n<p>Though that makes it sound a lot easier than it was.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe really wanted to design a custom pair of pickle cowboy boots,\u201d Quinn recalls. \u201cBut I was met with a fair amount of silence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By a stroke of luck, Miron Crosby was looking to target the same audience as The Original Pickle Shot. But luck isn\u2019t a long term strategy, so what\u2019s a new brand with a small audience and limited budget supposed to do?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/erin-quinn-mim-news.jpg\" width=\"650\" height=\"433\" alt=\"erin-quinn-mim-news\" style=\"height: auto;max-width: 100%;width: 650px;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Lesson 3: Collab with brands you can grow with.<\/h2>\n<p>Quinn offers two pieces of advice for how emerging brands can stretch their budget and amplify their reach.<\/p>\n<p>First, \u201cIdentify brands that are complementary to yours,\u201d she says. \u201c<strong>Brands that have a similar presence, that are looking to grow, and you can grow together.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Together, you can split the costs of campaigns and share each other\u2019s audiences. She gives the example of how The Original Pickle Shot partnered with flavored-salt company Twang on a product giveaway. Quinn\u2019s team handled the logistics, Twang donated products, and both companies shared the results with their social networks and influencers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The second piece of advice is to consider what else you bring to a collaboration besides reach.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe might not be able to offer a huge social following yet, but, hey, we\u2019ll run the sweepstakes, we\u2019ll pay all the fees, if you make a collab post.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>No matter the size, every brand needs good content.<\/strong> If you can provide relevant, eye-catching content, that can make you an attractive partner for a bigger brand with a wider audience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you\u2019re an emerging brand, sometimes that\u2019s what partnerships have to look like.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And, if you\u2019re wondering, National Pickle Day falls on Fri., Nov. 14 this year. Govern yourselves accordingly.<\/p>\n<h2>Lingering Questions<\/h2>\n<h3>Today&#8217;s Question<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">What\u2019s one marketing mechanism that will generate the most revenue quickly for a startup?<\/span> \u2014Jennifer Waters, Co-founder, 7 Figure Dojo; Executive sensei, Seigler&#8217;s Karate Center<\/p>\n<h3>Today&#8217;s Answer<\/h3>\n<p>Quinn says: <span style=\"font-weight: bold\">I know it\u2019s annoying to say \u201cit depends,\u201d but my recommendation for quick revenue growth would likely vary depending on the startup.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>For example, paid social is likely to be a cost-efficient and impactful choice for a budget-friendly DTC skincare brand targeted towards Gen Z. (<span style=\"font-weight: bold\">There\u2019s a reason that paid social is the first and only paid media that many brands invest in!<\/span>)<\/p>\n<p>Promo codes, rebates, and couponing can be an important add-on to said campaign, as these tactics provide an extra incentive for conversion and you can use redemption as a KPI.<\/p>\n<p>No matter the business model, <span style=\"font-weight: bold\">my most important \u201cdo this before anything else\u201d recommendation would be to spend time on your consumer target, positioning, and brand identity development so that you are targeting the right people in the right place with the right messaging and creative.<\/span> It won\u2019t drive revenue in the short term, but it should increase the likelihood of long-term success.<\/p>\n<h3>Next Week&#8217;s Lingering Question<\/h3>\n<p>Quinn asks: <span style=\"font-weight: bold\">What\u2019s the most memorable advertisement (commercial, print ad, OOH, anything!) you can remember seeing, and why do you think it has stuck with you?<a class=\"cta_button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hubspot.com\/cs\/ci\/?pg=e1f0958d-1b15-418e-b4db-45ee531f71af&amp;pid=53&amp;ecid=&amp;hseid=&amp;hsic=\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img \" style=\"height: auto !important;width: auto !important;max-width: 100% !important;border-width: 0px;margin: 0 auto;margin-top: 20px;margin-bottom: 20px\" alt=\"Click Here to Subscribe to Masters in Marketing\" height=\"613\" width=\"1920\" src=\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/e1f0958d-1b15-418e-b4db-45ee531f71af.png\" align=\"middle\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/track.hubspot.com\/__ptq.gif?a=53&amp;k=14&amp;r=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.hubspot.com%2Fmarketing%2Fhow-this-small-startup-outperformed-a-stalling-industry&amp;bu=https%253A%252F%252Fblog.hubspot.com%252Fmarketing&amp;bvt=rss\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" style=\"min-height:1px!important;width:1px!important;border-width:0!important;margin-top:0!important;margin-bottom:0!important;margin-right:0!important;margin-left:0!important;padding-top:0!important;padding-bottom:0!important;padding-right:0!important;padding-left:0!important\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text-justify mb-2\" >As liquor sales stagnated last year for nearly the first time in two decades, one segment of the market actually grew by a whopping 29% YoY: Pickle-flavored spirits. If you\u2019re like me, your first question was, \u201cWhat the ever-loving fffff-?\u201d But your second question is, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":410,"href":"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions\/410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}