Memorable brands don’t just solve problems with the products or services they provide; they make every part of the customer experience exceptional. From the first time you stumble upon an ad that actually makes you smile to the connections you forge with fellow customers long after purchase, successful brands have a knack for ensuring every interaction is meaningful.
From digital marketers at big brands to mom-and-pop pizza shops and rising TikTok influencers, creators and businesses alike are using Bitly QR Codes and Short Links to (re)imagine the possibilities and connect with their audiences and customers in new ways.
We caught up with Melody Park, Marketing Lead at Smalls, to dive into how this feline-friendly brand is using Bitly QR Codes and Short Links to (re)imagine the possibilities and bring healthy, fresh food for cats to customers everywhere.
Smalls is on a mission to put our furry friends first with fresh, vet-approved cat food delivered straight to your door each month. Explore their offerings and join this cat-loving community by connecting with them on Instagram and Facebook.
Putting cat-health first with convenient, fresh food
Matt Michaelson, co-founder and CEO of Smalls, started this direct-to-consumer startup six years ago to bring human-grade food to cats. But Smalls isn’t just in the business of pet food—they’re rewriting cat food standards to bring more nutritious meals to cats everywhere.
Smalls makes its cat food with 100% human-grade ingredients and leaves the fillers and mystery ingredients often found in traditional pet food behind. They take a personalized approach to cat nutrition, customizing meal plans for cats based on their age, weight, and body type. Once you have your all preferences sorted out, Smalls then delivers fresh meals right to your doorstep at a cadence that works for you (and your cat!). Melody noted that all cat owners can benefit from what Smalls has to offer.
“Our mission is all about giving cats longer, happier, and healthier lives. Through marketing efforts, we hope to let everyone know that Smalls is their best choice for doing just that.”
In order to spread the word out about just how exceptional their cat food products are, Smalls launched a number of innovative marketing campaigns this year to build brand awareness and showcase their unrivaled dedication to feline nutrition.
Crafting purrfect subway ads with Bitly QR Codes
Smalls recently launched an advertising campaign throughout the New York City subway system that scratched just the right itch for cat parents in the Big Apple. These adorable ads had the power to make even the most dogged commuter pause and purr with delight.
Whether sneaky cats were shown vanishing into a Smalls shipping box, staring into the abyss from the comfort of a couch, or licking a spoon oh so meticulously, these ads painted a vivid picture of what “Helping your cat cat” really looks like.
Knowing that this campaign marked their grand entrance into the world of big-city advertising, Smalls wanted to get the most out of their efforts by leveraging QR Codes to drive viewers to their website across every ad placement. Melody and her team knew they needed a solution that was trustworthy, measurable, and easy to use, so they leveraged Bitly QR Codes to make these showstopping ad placements more interactive.
“When it came to deciding on a platform to use for generating all of our QR Codes, there was a general consensus among the team—of course we should use Bitly! We didn’t even give it a second thought.”
Alongside photographs of adorable cat antics, subway riders were presented with the Smalls logo and a Bitly QR Code, enticing viewers to scan to learn more about the brand. For Smalls, these ads worked like a charm, piquing curiosity so much that folks shared pictures and videos of these quirky subway ads across social media.
By putting the spotlight on these irresistibly photogenic cats and pairing them with concise, compelling messaging, Smalls managed to not only create brand awareness but also guide people toward their ultimate goal—interacting with the brand on their website. With smartphones in hand, subway riders could easily scan the Bitly QR Code and enter the Smalls universe.
As a result, Smalls reached up to 3.6 million subway riders and 500,000 New York City cat parents, building more brand awareness and driving new traffic to their website.
“When people see our ads and then scan the QR Code, it’s a really quick way for them to directly engage with us. Using Bitly QR Codes helps us get the viewer—who are our potential customers—where we want them to go.”
Rather than assuming viewers would Google search their name later or even type in a long URL on their devices, Smalls strategically incorporated Bitly QR Codes into the mix to make connecting with cat-lovers seamless and simple.
Connecting with feline fans online and offline
Smalls isn’t stopping at subway ads to get the word out there about their vet-approved cat food delivery service and products. The brand recently teamed up with Catnip Magazine, a magazine “for cat people,” that’s set to launch this fall for another advertising campaign to help boost awareness and engagement with the brand.
Smalls secured an entire backpage advertisement in this print magazine that embodies “catlike curiosity and feline flair” to reach cat lovers far and wide. They plan to integrate a Bitly QR Code into the print advertisement to take viewers from the physical world to the digital —and so they can track the ad’s performance.
Melody and her team are also gearing up for an exciting 5-part event series hosted in Los Angeles later this year called “Cat Folk Social.” Their goal is to create a space where cat people can come together to share laughter, playful moments, and form meaningful connections with one another. When the time comes to spread the word and get those paws in the door, they’ll be using Bitly QR Codes on print materials, collateral, signage, and more to make RSVPs and engagement a breeze. With just a quick scan, folks will be able to reserve their spot in seconds.
Want to learn more? Visit bit.ly/catfolksocial to see what they have in store!
Smalls is continuing to think big about the marketing campaigns they have planned throughout the rest of the year and beyond. From guerilla marketing tactics and special events to creative advertising campaigns, Smalls plans on using Bitly QR Codes to make connections with potential customers wherever they are.
Tracking influencer campaigns with Bitly Short Links
When the team at Smalls isn’t busy orchestrating delightful pop-up events or unleashing their charm across an array of advertising campaigns, they’re engaging with fans of the brand and potential customers online. As a small startup, however, time is a precious resource, and there’s only so much of it to go around.
Jibran Malek, Director of Partnerships at Smalls, recognized the power of leveraging influencers to extend the brand’s reach and connect with cat-parents far and wide. In order to measure the effectiveness of these campaigns, however, the team needed a way to generate trackable short links that their partners could use when promoting the brand to their audiences—and that’s where Bitly came in to save the day.
“We’re oftentimes running 10-20 different influencer campaigns at once. Bitly saves us hours of time because we can create a ton of trackable short links all at once, which at a small startup, is really critical.”
The world of link management and tracking can feel like a daunting game of cat and mouse, especially when you’re working on multiple influencer campaigns at once. But with the right tools in place, it becomes quick and easy to keep tabs on campaign performance, understand what’s working, and make data-driven decisions to optimize future outreach and engagement strategies.
“Our team uses Bitly to create affiliate links at scale that are trackable and trusted. As a small team, we need to move quickly so we wanted to make sure we could generate links in a way that wouldn’t slow us down.”
Making the healthy cat food connection for customers
Smalls isn’t afraid to go big with their creative, cat-loving marketing campaigns. Their team’s commitment to the customer—both cat owners and their favorite felines—shines through from the products they create to the experiences they offer online and offline.
By leveraging Bitly QR Codes and Short Links, they’re able to drive action and spark connections with potential customers in a way that’s both trackable and on-brand. With the power of Bitly QR Codes and Short Links by their side, for Smalls the possibitlyties are endless.
Our mission here at Bitly is to be a catalyst for connections. With the Bitly Connections Platform, customers can customize and shorten links, create QR Codes, curate their Bitly Link-in-bio, and track performance—all in one place.