Starting off in a new career direction, I uncovered vital learnings and insights that hold equal potential to help you on your vegan marketing journey. Are you ready to delve into these insights? Let’s go.
Almost a year ago, I changed career direction from being a Marketing Consultant for 8+ years to becoming a Vegan Marketing Consultant. On the surface, doesn’t sound like much of a change, right? Isn’t it still marketing consulting at the end of the day? No, buddy. Though technically it is a sub-niche, I still felt like it was a whole different career path. Here’s why.
Challenges
1. Miniscule TAM
Overnight, my Total Addressable Market (TAM) went from scores of legacy brands, corporate giants to bootstrapped startups, solopreneurs, MSMEs as potential TG.
2. Unknown space, unknown future
The vegan community is very tight knit. I felt like I had gatecrashed into a party of close friends, where everyone but me knew everyone else. Also, wasn’t sure of how fast and far this segment would grow.
3. Miniscule purchasing power
Vegan brands have negligible budgets to fight against Goliaths (e.g. a vegan chocolate brand trying to beat Cadbury). There are enough and more demands on that miniscule budget. So not much scope for investing in marketing consulting.
Overcoming these challenges
Lay down the foundation
I took my time setting up the foundation of my new identity:
- Logo, branding, rebranding (after ~10 months)… all DIY.
- Website design, website copy
- Newsletter set up
- Content creation for LinkedIn and newsletter
- Learning Instagram and reel making and editing
Extensive, relentless research
I relentlessly, hungrily researched anything and everything vegan and plant-based. Please feel free to use this list to kickstart your own deeper research into the space.
Research sources for influential and active vegan thought leaders:
- Hashtags/ groups/ publications on Linkedin
- Vegan social media pages
- Vegan and plant-based events and keynote speakers
- Award organizers and award winners, exhibitors and stall owners
- Vegan Whatsapp groups
- Industry bodies, associations such as Plant Based Foods Industry Association (PBFIA)
- Webinars such as The Art of Raising Funds as another source of finding thought leaders in the space
Research avenues for content
- Content pieces of thought leaders, other veganism related articles and videos
- Who is who, contentious topics, innovations, challenges, of players in the space etc
- Global and Indian trends in veganism
- Valuable facts and stats (so as to form my opinion)
- Devoured vegan publications and magazines (this led me to Vegan First, my favorite vegan content source and client ;))
- Subscriptions to innovation trends, keyword trends, industry reports, etc.
Sources for brands and players
- HoReCa players working with vegan brands in India
- Vegan brands listed on Amazon, Swiggy, etc, their product line up and descriptions
- Popular or upcoming vegan brands: Analyzed their packaging, branding, communication, visibility activities, campaigns, copywriting style, offers, pricing, etc
- Non-vegan competitors of those vegan brands, their packaging, branding, communication, visibility, marketing campaigns, etc
Visibility
Thereafter, started actively putting myself out there.
- Through thoughtful commenting on Linkedin posts of vegan thought leaders.
- Participation in webinars, especially those organized by PBFIA.
- Curating and sharing worthy vegan content
- Actively posting on Linkedin about marketing, vegan marketing and veganism.
- Making reels for a peek into my personality
These preliminary organic steps were enough to gain brand awareness and generate an immense amount of relevant inbound inquiries.
10 Learnings For Fellow Vegan Professionals, Entrepreneurs, Brand Custodians
1.Knowing your WHY indeed works:
I used to think the advice “find your purpose/ Ikigai/WHY” was just good in theory but not effective in real life. Boy, was I wrong! I stumbled into my WHY after turning vegan in personal life. But that WHY gives me peace of mind and patience. Its making me confidently stick around, even when I am not sure how long it will take for this niche to grow, if ever.
2. Conversations convert:
Every inbound inquiry converted to proposal stage. How come? 30-45 mins introductory call allowed me to have a genuine conversation, to speak the shared vegan language, ask relevant questions, share details about my marketing background. This gave most inquirers confidence in my ability to help them.
3. Conversations teach:
All those introductory calls also helped me gain learnings on what’s working and the business challenges at the ground level.
4. Rejection analysis:
Not every proposal was accepted. As I mentioned earlier, most players in the vegan space are bootstrapped startups/ solopreneurs. Budget constraints was the biggest reason. Analysing rejections prompted me start exploring yet more creative ways to serve vegan entrepreneurs and businesses.
5. Beware of “scammers”:
Some inbound inquiries end up being “time scams”. They request an introductory call. But instead of introductions, they start asking very specific marketing questions about very specific issues (normally done after hiring). They then request a proposal and skedaddle. This way, they scam us out of our valuable time and hard earned knowledge and disappear or ghost.
6. Google Forms for screening:
As the volume of inquiries goes up, start screening who to do the calls with i.e. who is a qualified lead via a simple, short Google Form.
7. Use Linkedin to show your brains. Use Instagram to show your personality:
Linkedin allows us to share mid and long form text-based content and curated links. Plus your comments are visible to your network. Use them to show your point of view on varied topics.
Through Instagram Stories, you can give a peek into your life/ day at work/ hobbies/ etc. Reels and posts allow you to show your personality, wit, voice. Both networks expose you to very different audience sets. I get almost equal amount of leads and inbound inquiries from Linkedin: Instagram (60:40)
8. Youtube, the less tapped platform:
I was surprised to find that Youtube does NOT have vegan business/marketing related content. If we search for “vegan” on world’s 2nd largest search engine, we get only vegan food recipes, reviews, travel vlogs, etc. So if you are a service provider with enough bandwidth, try to get a first mover’s advantage on Youtube.
9. Attend offline vegan events/ fests/ conferences/ potlucks:
Because this is a tight knit community, knowing as many people as you can, helps. Every single vegan event I have attended in the last year has either gained me exposure, increased online followers or led me to a contact that connected me to a paying client.
10. Stay abreast of the broader market:
While firmly planted in the plant-based space, I still continue to consume general marketing content e.g. The Drum, Bob Hoffman, Justin Welsh, Josh Spector, Sparktoro, White Label Comedy, etc. Vegan brands don’t operate in a vaccuum. To stand out in the marketplace, keep abreast of the broader market. Pick learnings from complimentary non-vegan fields. THAT’s what will help you stand out.
Enough said! 🙂
Bonus: Here are my highlights of 2023 in data form
Question to think about: 💡
If lack of time is keeping you away from constant research and keeping up with global and Indian trends, you think you’ll be able to retain freshness and relevance in your vegan product? Do you think consumer expectations are going to stay stable and unchanging?
Should you want to talk, I am just an email away. You know that, right?