Holland’s Pies | Strategy & Content

Brief

As one the North West’s most iconic brands, with over 150 years experience making proper pies and puds, Lancashire based Holland’s Pies we’re keen to develop their online marketing as part of a wider relaunch of the business. They already had a corporate website, but weren’t using it or any form of social media to engage online. They asked us to help them create a dynamic web presence that would not only connect them with customers, but also ultimately build an online community of pie fans, across the UK and wider world.

Solution

We developed a comprehensive social media strategy that would get Holland’s Pies engaging in authentic conversations with customers. We set up their core social media channels and trained them how to use them effectively. Between us we created compelling content including blog posts, videos, audio podcasts and competitions that struck a real chord with their target audience.

The social media channels included:

  • A blog called ‘The Growler’ – the name of which was crowd sourced from a pie fan on Twitter!
  • The PieCast podcast show – a quarterly audio podcast hosted by and featuring Holland’s employees, customers and suppliers
  • The ‘Holland’s Pies Official’ Facebook page
  • @HollandsPies on Twitter
  • Holland’s Pies Official YouTube channel
  • Holland’s Pies Official Flickr account

Results

In twelve months, Holland’s Pies were transformed from a business that had a traditional website with minimal online customer interaction, to being recognised as one of the most successful ‘Social Brands’ in the UK. For example, the PieCast podcast show has been raked in the top 3 in its iTunes category, customer conversations and interactions on Facebook and Twitter are significantly higher than the average for similar brands and SEO results have radically improved.

What about the overall business benefits to Holland’s Pies? To quote a very satisfied client (Leanne Holcroft, Brand Manager): “Ten Horizon have been very successful in meeting all of our objectives, in fact I would say that they have over delivered on a number of objectives this year.” (Click to watch full client testimonial).

Check out Holland’s Pies social media channels:

Holland’s Pies – What makes our pies and puds so special? web video:

Holland’s ‘PieCast Podcast Show’ – a big hit in iTunes: