From Podunk to success
Zing helped Podunk’s Ranch create its online presence
How Zing helped Podunk’s Ranch
create its online presence
When Lanea Donahoo’s grandfather called her Podunk as a young child, little did she know that nickname would lead her to establish Podunk’s Ranch, a beef producer operating on the land he originally owned in southwestern Colorado.
“I have a deep passion to keep land and agricultural production,”explains Lanea.
“So I spent some time on the land to see what I could do with it, and it came about that I ended up starting a beef business.”
She continues: “In my grandpa’s honor, I named it Podunk because the land had been passed to my grandpa. He bought it, passed it to my father and now it’s mine.”
Describing herself as a “grand steward of the land”, Lanea strives to do everything as best she can.
She adds : “I’m always learning and it’s led to sustainable rotational grazing and production.”
Standing out online
Like many business owners first starting out, Lanea looked after many aspects of her business’ online persona.
“I had created my own webpage and had done a little bit of email marketing and Facebook,” she recalls. “But I was having some trouble just presenting Podunk’s Ranch as a professional business.”
After being awarded a grant specifically for technology, the founder of the woman-owned business began looking for a partner to assist.
That’s when she discovered Zing. Impressed by Zing’s “young and fun” approach, she chose Zing because: “They have a lot of spirit, energy, and belief in what they’re doing. They have good people-to-people skills.”
After learning more about Lanea, her business, her goals, and challenges, the Zing team got to work.
Enhancing online capabilities
The Zing team began by creating a welcoming web presence to greet new and existing
customers.
My webpage now looks incredibly professional and inviting.
It’s authentic and that comes across when people visit
Alongside an online shop, the website’s blog function allows Lanea to bring her brand to life and answer questions that are on buyers’ minds.
In a recent blog post, for example, Lanea explains the advantage of grain finishing for beef - allowing her to highlight a brand USP, and boost her SEO, too.
Simplifying e-marketing know-how
Delivering successful online marketing campaigns can be challenging and time-consuming for business owners without the right help, as Lanea discovered
To reduce her workload and allow her to focus on other, more important parts of her business - Zing set up Facebook Ads campaigns and created a range of automated email campaigns.
Alongside establishing the campaigns, the Zing team went to great lengths to explain how these campaigns work.
“They walked me through the process with videos. These explained how to continue working with the campaigns and helped me understand the work done to date.”
This was particularly helpful when managing the business’ Facebook ads.
She comments:“It’s given me a routine that I can follow so I can do the same. I may not be able to proceed quite as voraciously as you but you’ve allowed me to be able to go on.”
Grabbing attention
Four months since she began working with Zing, Lanea reflects on the results of their partnership: “Overall, our presence is just so much better. Zing’s skills are good and everything they’ve done is remarkable.”
The greatest value offered by Zing was its team’s ability to raise her business’ professional profile far and wide.
“Within my small community, my little group of friends - and even non-friends - there was delight at seeing my ads come across.
“Suddenly, people I didn’t know - like other beef producers around here - knew Podunk’s Ranch. Their eyes would light up when I’d introduce myself as the owner… and I could tell it was because they’d already seen the ads.”
Lanea appreciates the Zing team’s ability to “push” her to “focus and believe”.
She adds:
“Sales and shipping have increased and it’s really fun to say
that I have shipped a half of beef to New Hampshire and
I’m about ready to ship another to Connecticut.
“It's so far away and absolutely amazing!”