How This Small Startup Outperformed a Stalling Industry

By cdelprincipe@hubspot.com (Curt del Principe)

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’re like me, your first question was, “What the ever-loving fffff-?” But your second question is, “What are they doing right?”

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.

Meet the Master

Erin Quinn

Marketing Director, The Original Pickle Shot

Fun fact: Was an extra in two different “This is SportsCenter” commercials when she worked as a stats analyst at ESPN.

Claim to fame: Once ordered $3,000 worth of “Pickle Slut” friendship bracelets.

Lesson 1: Research your opportunities a year out.

Most people don’t 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.

“It was our biggest earned media impressions surge,” she says. “There are a lot of national news outlets doing National Pickle Day coverage. And from an online sales standpoint, it was definitely our biggest surge.”

But that never would have happened if Quinn hadn’t been looking down the whole length of her calendar.

“Look at the full year for what opportunities might be relevant for your brand,” 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: “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.”

And it’s 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.

Those will make the most rich opportunities for seasonal campaigns.

But this isn’t an “If you build it, they will come” kind of exercise. Which brings us to lesson two.

Lesson 2: You have to have news to be news.

“Media outlets aren’t going to cover your brand for the sake of you existing. You have to have news to get attention.”

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.

Two big, pickle-green, mid-calf, 100% genuine leather reasons.