Content Marketing the Right Rx for Pharmaceuticals Marketplace

Finding the right marketing solution for a relatively new business can be a tricky proposition, especially when the sales funnel doesn’t fit a well-established pattern.

That was the case in the summer of 2014 when pharmaceuticals marketplace Trxade sought help to boost their membership and online sales numbers.

Back Story

Nearly 2,000 independent pharmacies had already joined Trxade, thanks mostly to their outbound call staff. In addition to signing up those members, the callers had also built an email list of thousands of independent pharmacies that had not yet joined.

Looking to make the website an effective way of acquiring new members, Trxade heard about and became interested in HubSpot. After meeting with and receiving a proposal from a major HubSpot agency, they decided to look for a more affordable solution.

They found 1SmartPuppy with the Google search, “HubSpot copywriter Tampa.”

Challenge

Several challenges were clear:

• A two-part solution was needed, one that would attract new members and another that would encourage members to purchase more frequently on the ecommerce platform
• The then-current website did not have a content management system that would allow content to be added quickly and easily
• A user interface design group had been engaged to improve the performance of the ecommerce site, but the time it would take for their work to be proposed and implemented made it impractical to wait for those changes before developing a content-friendly website.

Solution

Based on the content strategy he developed, Meyer Baron of 1SmartPuppy wrote and built a new, temporary, public-facing website on the HubSpot COS (content optimization system). The purpose of the site was to engage independent pharmacy owners and staff with relevant content updated weekly.

1SmartPuppy provided:

• Content strategy
  • Buyer personas
  • Brand positioning
• Website navigation
• SEO website copy
• Weekly blog
• Weekly blog promotion emails to each of four market segments
• Monthly Tech Tips to help members use the ecommerce site
• Calls-to-action and landing pages

Trxade was cautioned to not expect immediate results, as content marketing can take 4-6 months to kick in.

In December, 1SmartPuppy conducted phone interviews with members to update buyer personas and get a better handle on what content members would find most interesting.

Results

Buyer personas updated and enhanced by phone interviews led to higher rates of user engagement, including email click rates of 3.77%, 6.14%, and 8.43% in January.

Blog post views, which registered at 415 in September, reached 1,665 in January.

In less than six months after the launch of the temporary website, traffic increased by nearly 55%, membership increased by 50%, and sales doubled.

 

Trxade has used some of its new revenue to invest in an internal marketing department to create the permanent website and to build on the content marketing efforts initiated by 1SmartPuppy.

Were they happy they chose 1SmartPuppy?

According to Carole Lucas, Director of Operations,

“Meyer is a pleasure to work with. For Trxade, he developed a content strategy that showed us how to reach and win over our audience. In crafting the website copy, landing pages, calls to action, blogs, and email blasts that were the foundation of that strategy, Meyer’s work has consistently been on point and on time. Most important of all, Meyer’s work helped Trxade enjoy a 50% increase in membership and 100% sales increase in only six months. He’s done everything he promised, and always with a smile!”