About marketing with PON-PUSHKA CEO Alexey Shpadaruk, who shared the tools he used at the beginning of his journey.

Alexey said:

• How to promote social networks without a budget
• Which advertising works best for a donut chain
• what will help aspiring entrepreneurs

“The first step to promotion is a video that I shot and edited myself”: about promotion on social networks without a budget

— Alexey, tell us, how did you start promoting on social networks?

It all started when I registered accounts on social networks and found a name. The first step to promotion is a video that I shot and edited myself. The video showed donuts, how they are prepared, and the interior of the establishment. I was lucky—the algorithms worked and the video was successful.

The video that started my social media promotion. Source: pon_pushka.by

From 2018 to 2020, I managed social media myself. And only then did I strengthen my marketing team by hiring an SMM manager. Currently, a whole internal team is working on marketing and promotion: designers, copywriters, marketers, targeting specialists, and SMM specialists.

— What brought the biggest results at the beginning of the promotion?

Social media tags worked best. For example, an Instagram story. After all, we opened the first PON-PUSHKA location in a small town near Minsk—in Stolbtsy. Thanks to tags, news of the opening spread throughout the city.

Of course, there were also occasional Instagram giveaways with the mechanic of tagging friends in comments or stories. People liked it, and the audience grew. After product tags from guests, giveaways were the second driver of subscriber growth.

— Tell us, when did you start thinking about positioning?

From the very beginning, we didn’t have a concept of expensive and beautiful interiors. This is easy to explain: everything revolved around a single product — a donut.

At the start, there was an interesting feature that I came up with and implemented myself. Everyone who tagged our account received a direct message asking, "Did you like everything?"

— Video creation, giveaways, positioning strategy — it must be very expensive. So, there were big expenses on SMM at the beginning?

No, at the start, I saved money on everything. So, the only costs were time and electricity to charge the phone. All the software was free. For example, I edited the video myself in CapCut. I didn't use video makers or SMM managers.

"I set up contextual advertising to promote a franchise for $100 and got no results": online or offline advertising

— Tell us, did you use contextual and targeted advertising? What results did it bring and what were the costs?

I didn't use either for the first two years of my restaurant business. The only thing is, after six months of opening the facility, I set up a contextual campaign to promote the franchise for $100. I didn't get any results and didn't try that option again.

Currently, the flow of applications to open under the PON-PUSHKA brand organically has grown to approximately 30 applications per month. The target audience is ambitious people who have tried the product in the establishment and decided to open a partnership business in their city.

— Are you currently using targeted or contextual advertising? What are you focusing on?

Currently, we use targeted advertising to promote new products in the retail network. But the advertising volumes are still small. We focus more on these promotion methods:

✅ Word of mouth;

✅ Event sponsorship;

✅ Barter with bloggers;

✅ Artificial news hooks;

✅ Outdoor advertising.

We don’t use context, but we have plans to. We see that our market colleagues are actively using this tool.

— What about offline promotion? What do you use and what were your initial costs?

Offline advertising is outdoor advertising. It is divided into two sections: conditionally free and paid.

• Free. The facades of our locations are decorated with bright signs, illuminated panels, and banners. We pay great attention to lighting to attract attention.

• Paid.Cityboards and street road banners work well in the immediate vicinity of establishments. In the adjacent areas, we additionally set up standees and a promoter to distribute flyers.

"When I receive an offer for paid promotion, I ask colleagues to provide an expected forecast for the result": advice for aspiring entrepreneurs

— What marketing advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?

• Digitalize all funds invested in advertising.When I receive an offer for paid promotion, I ask colleagues to provide an expected forecast for the result. Ideally, net profit for a certain period taking into account all expenses.
• Choose an integrated approach.It can be afforded once the company gets on its feet. In the early stages, it's better to save money and choose methods used in similar industries. But it's important to distinguish between image-based and sales-based advertising campaigns. At the beginning of my journey, with the knowledge I have now, I would try to do sales-based advertising locally. Because image-based advertising is long-term and won't have time to pay off before the entrepreneur goes bust.
• Make a good product.When it comes to promotion, I emphasized word of mouth. But for it to work, you need a good product. We have one – amazing donuts. Therefore, for some entrepreneurs, one product is enough for success.