Viral Success: How Pacific Outbound Clothing Became #1 on Google

Brand Designer

Graphic Designer

Web Designer

Adobe Illustrator

Figma

Shopify

Within its first year, Pacific Outbound Clothing took the #1 spot on Google for relevant search terms and became a viral brand across the West Coast.

Summary:

#1 position on Google within 4 months

3.6% avg conversion rate

2,500 qualified engagements on a $100 guerrilla marketing campaign

The Challenge: Implementing the right brand strategies and marketing techniques that would produce the best results.

It goes without saying that building a brand from scratch and setting it up for success takes an extraordinary amount of work. From brand identity to marketing strategy, every piece is meant to work together to give the business a foundation to build on. We learned this firsthand in the fall of 2016 when ChampKid Design decided to build an experimental e-commerce brand named Pacific Outbound Clothing Company.

During the 18 months we owned and operated this apparel store (before we sold it), we tested everything we possibly could across branding and marketing efforts. We spent over $5000 of our own money in branding and marketing experiments, plus hundreds of hours of our time learning invaluable lessons on what to do and what not to do in building and growing a brand.

While there were many challenges to face, the biggest challenge was reaching new customers and gaining their trust as a new brand on the market.

The Solution: We focused on customer centric experiences and unconventional marketing efforts.

In order to hurdle the obstacle of customer acquisition, we focused 2 main goals: 1) Building a brand and online presence that was 100% customer centric and 2) Building marketing campaigns that were unconventional in order to maximize our exposure.

To achieve Goal #1, we designed the online store to specifically resonate with visitors and existing customers. We did this by structuring our content and photography around how the customer would feel wearing the brand.

We also proactively sought out customer reviews and put them front and center on the website.

Lastly, we formulated our product pricing around being able to offer free shipping on everything.

To achieve Goal #2, we put 90% of our marketing efforts into seeking out high profile accounts on Instagram that shared our same target audience and collaborated with them on promoted posts and giveaways of our product lineup.

We also built an Ambassador Program from scratch that centered on producing photography of people wearing the Pacific Outbound Clothing Company brand.

The Results: Pacific Outbound Clothing Company went viral reaching over a million viewers, generating hundreds of orders and having a 98% customer satisfaction rate.

Right out the door, Pacific Outbound Clothing Company gained traction with a niche market producing results that some companies wait months, even years for.

Here are the highlights:

1. Launched over 50 custom designer apparel products in a 6 month period. 2. Obtained the #1 spot on Google within 4 months against several high profile competitors that had been in business for years. 3. Generated over 2,500 qualified leads on a $100 guerrilla marketing campaign. 4. Earned a 3.6% average conversion rate. 5. Generated over 100 positive reviews in 40 days. 6. Reached millions of viewers through collaboration posts across several influencer Instagram channels. 7. Received a 98% customer satisfaction rate over a 1 year period. 8. Pacific Outbound Clothing Company was appraised at $45,000 at 12 months.

What we learned:

1. Our guerrilla marketing efforts produced a better return on investment than our conventional marketing campaigns. 2. Keyword research for on-site SEO pays off quickly. 3. Customer satisfaction and customer experience is king.