Work / HCGDiet
Keeping a brand alive when the rules changed overnight.
Selected work from the HCGDiet website and marketing project.
After the FDA cracked down on HCG, the brand had no ads and few ways to market. We got creative, stayed inside the rules, and kept it growing.
Where they were
A brand falling in the rankings, through no fault of its own.
At its 2012 peak, HCGDiet.com drew more than 253,000 visits and $5 million in revenue a month. Then the FDA cracked down on HCG products. Merchant accounts froze, ad platforms said no, and rankings started to fall. Not because of the product or the people behind it. Because of the rules around it.
I was brought in to rebuild the strategy and the connection, with no ad spend and almost no way to market. We didn’t bend the rules. We got creative with the strategy.
What we did
Three moves that built the brand.
01
Conversations instead of ads
With ads off the table, we went where people were already talking. We joined forums and social conversations and talked with people one to one. Rankings started to climb again because real people were talking about the brand.
- Forum and social conversations, one person at a time
- Search rebuilt on owned ground
- Website and brand rebuilt to earn trust again
02
New product lines that could open doors
We created new product lines we were allowed to advertise. Over time they brought people back to a site that still offered HCG. A smart, compliant way to keep the door open.
- New supplement and nutrition lines
- Advertising on the products that allowed it
- A branding strategy that tied the family together
03
Support, not selling
We focused on what people needed to succeed: diet programs, recipe ideas and cookbooks. We reached out to mommy bloggers who talked about health and our other weight-loss nutrition, never pushing or selling HCG.
- Diet programs and recipe ideas
- HCG cookbooks
- Mommy bloggers talking about health
More moves
Everything we did to keep it going.
Cookbooks
Recipes people could live with.
Cookbooks built for real customers, so the program felt doable, not like a sacrifice.
Programs
A plan, not just a product.
Diet programs that walked people through each day with support, not pressure.
Bloggers
Moms talking health.
Mommy bloggers shared their own health journeys and our other nutrition products, in their own words.
Forums
One conversation at a time.
We answered real questions in real communities. That trust moved the rankings.
Events
Out where customers were.
Trade shows that put real people in front of the brand.
The long game
Time to build what’s next.
Every month we kept it going gave the owner revenue to build new opportunities, so HCG could be sunset gradually, on his terms.
The result
When the rules changed, we didn’t quit. We got creative.
Facing a tough market of your own?
Talk to Jared
Want this kind of thinking on your brand?
You work with Jared directly. Pick whatever is easiest.
Prefer email? jared@ballardbranding.com
The comeback
0 → 34K
monthly organic visitors and a recovered revenue stream. And time for the owner to build what came next.
Why it worked
“When others gave up, we figured it out. Inside the rules, and on the customer’s side.”