When working on social media for a small business, you’re able to have your hands all over the different elements of the business... Which is AWESOME!!!

While I created a social strategy for Small Batch Jam Co. before, a lot of what I do on a day-to-day basis is more on the creative and deliverable side of the business. This presents its own form of objectives that I have grown accustomed to working through, which involves tapping into my copywriting and design skills that I have sharpened over the years. However, there have been some great opportunities to conduct research and implement strategic approaches to various business ideas.

After getting back home from my summer internship, I was able to get into the driver’s seat of the social media/marketing/design elements of Small Batch, and it started with working on both our Instagram presence and some direct mail pieces to generate awareness for our newly opened store in Eugene, OR.

Because our brand is so defined, it gives me the ability to create content that feels refreshingly modern and nimble, all while still having that vintage feel that gives Small Batch its identity.

Social Posts

My main goal for our social media was to promote a variety of different products and holidays so that our feed continued to feel festive, such as the pumpkin spice syrup for the fall or Lunar New Year. Decorating our logo also helps the brand be identified in a variety of ways, as well as promote our festiveness and identity as a small business.

I’m not a tried-and-true designer, so I use Adobe’s generative vector feature to generate some of what I want to make, and then I tweak and edit it to achieve the look and purpose I want for a piece of content.

Direct Mail

I was asked to design a mail piece that would go out to some neighborhoods in Eugene through the Post Office’s Every Door Direct Mail program (EDDM). Because it was going to be sent out at the end of November, the strategic approach was to promote holiday shopping for your friends and family.

The Problem

After opening a retail store in our hometown of Pacifica, CA, in December, we wanted to reward our loyal patrons when they bought our jams and jellies as holiday gifts. If customers bought 10 jars or more, we gave them a 10% discount on their entire purchase.

While this was just a quick fix on our part to reward those who support us, I knew that there was a more sustainable way to do this. If someone buys 2 jars a month for 6 months, they deserve to be rewarded as much as the customer who bought 12 jars at once.

So, how could we reward our devoted customers while also reframing what their loyalty means in a more meaningful way?

The Solution

We can start a loyalty program!

I did some thinking, and I realized that a loyalty program is an extremely simple solution to a variety of nuanced problems all at once.

I pitched the idea, and after both working on the design in Adobe and finding a stamp that matched, we launched…

The Small Batch Jam Co Loyalty Card!

The best part is that it’s simple! If you buy 12 of basically anything in the store (except our stickers) and fill out your stamp card, you get any 6.5 oz standard flavor for free. Boom!

Since we launched the loyalty card at the beginning of the year, we have already had to order a second batch of stamp cards, proving that it has been effective!

In classic advertising fashion, I’ve had the opportunity to work on social campaigns that showcase the launch of new products and restocks of highly anticipated flavors that have been requested.

One of our most requested jams was huckleberry, and since we hadn't made it since 2017, I recommended to my dad that he make it because so many people have asked about it. After bugging him about it for 2ish weeks, he finally made it, and I began making the content that would go live on our social media, so people would know that we have it, and they could go buy some. While it’s not a full-blown social campaign since we really only use Instagram, Facebook, and are now starting to use TikTok, it wasn’t a large variety of content, but it proved to work!

We launched the Huckleberry on August 16th, and that weekend we sold 49 jars, which is more than 4 boxes, most of which were sold via ecommerce!

One of our most popular products is our sample packs, which offer an assortment of either 3 or 5 flavors in 1.5oz jars that can give people the opportunity to try a few different flavors without committing to a full jar.

Selling sample packs presents us with the opportunity to be creative with the pack names. Here are some that I’ve come up with:

• Jarcuterie Pack

• Mini Bar Pack (All Alcohol infused flavors)

• Ravenous Pack

• HWY 1 Pack

• Jammy Butler Pack (For when GSW traded for Jimmy Butler)

• 32-31 Pack (For when Oregon beat Ohio State in October of 2024)

• Starting Lineup Pack