How a Dutch online vet startup is cutting its marketing budget
As the industry prepares for a possible economic downturn, the Dutch online vet start-up is working to protect its marketing budget against the recession, cutting it by 90% and reducing its SEO efforts.
Dutch isn’t alone in revamping his plans to deal with continued economic uncertainty. Over the past few weeks, most marketers have been looking for ways to get more bang for their buck, which has required more support from partner agencies, according to previous reports from Digiday.
As a startup with a limited budget (and limited funding as investors hold onto their dollars a bit more with a potential recession looming), “you’re only taking a limited number of bets,” said Joe Spector, Founder and CEO of Dutch.
SEO is a channel the startup has experimented with in the past, ramping up paid and key term search efforts after seeing initial success in its first year of business, Spector said.
“We are investing more in SEO because we now see clearly that it leads to results and conversions,” he said, adding that the change has led to increased website traffic and retention. client.
Historically, the year-old California-based startup frequently spent up to $750,000 on advertising and marketing across channels like Facebook, Instagram, Google Display and Google AdWords, according to a brand spokesperson. But in March of this year, that figure was cut by 90%, allocating more spending to paid search. Around the same time, according to Spector, Dutch went from around $25,000 per month in SEO to $75,000 per month now.
There are plans to increase this investment in SEO, according to Spector. He added that although the budget has decreased, the optimized efforts and strengthened SEO strategy has resulted in increased website traffic and increased customer retention. He did not provide specific numbers.
That’s not to say paid search and SEO is the end of Dutch’s entire marketing strategy. Given its limited budget, Facebook has shifted from a brand awareness channel to a way to retarget customers, according to the CEO.
Brands are increasingly nervous about their media investments ahead of a possible downturn, said Shalanna Clark, head of marketing at digital marketing agency Code3. She said that while few of Code3’s customers have sought to cut their budgets, there have been conversations about maintaining budgets or testing other channels that might become cheaper with a recession.
“It’s paying off, but it’s a slow build,” Clark said of brand SEO investment, adding that SEO is often an investment that takes a while to see results. Still, diversifying media channels is essential in the long run, according to Clark. “If you have some kind of testing budget, even if it’s small, there’s an opportunity to earn a share,” she said.
With at least a year in business, Dutch has found its place and place in the market. That being said, they are looking to invest in brand awareness next year with experimental channels, according to Spector.
“Brand is a tax you have to invest in all the time. It’s something we’re going to revisit now that we’ve starved ourselves a bit,” he said. brand side.”
