Building a Brand From Scratch
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Myers Poultry
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Building a Brand From Scratch 〰️ Myers Poultry 〰️
Myers Poultry had an identity problem.
While they had owned and operated a successful business for over 30 years, they struggled with name recognition and lacked any cohesive branding. Myers Poultry simply did not stand out among their competitors, who had massive followings and dominated the market. Here’s what I did to get them on the right track.
Catalog and Print
The first order of business was to revive the Myers Poultry catalog, which had not been printed since 2020. In previous years, they used a word document with pictures inserted into the text. The design and photography was not really there. Alongside the graphic designer, we got to work putting together a new catalog that would be visually appealing and relay important information about the breeds in a succinct way. Because a majority of the catalog recipients are Amish, they asked us to use plain language that is accessible to all readers.
We also printed several flyers that went directly to farms, and published ads in magazines and catalogs read by our target audience.
Social Media
In March 2025, I saw an opportunity to start pushing social media. We were completely sold out of our inventory, so I needed a way to continue building interest and engagement, both with current clients and prospective clients. Myers Poultry wasn’t necessarily interested in me pushing social, but I knew we had an audience I could reach. When I started, we had about 250 followers on Instagram.
From March to June, I grew our following by 243% by posting highly engaging reels, and increased our reach by 10,591%. Many of these new followers are homesteaders, farmers, and hobbyists that didn’t know who we were previously. I even received a message from a competitor complimenting me on my content, so I knew that people were starting to recognize us. I posted 60+ reels in those 3 months, and all of our reach and engagement was completely organic.
Why was it resonating? Many of our competitors post content that is highly aspirational, or glamorizes poultry keeping. I wanted to bring a level of honesty to the platform that I wasn’t seeing from other hatcheries. I decided to do a mix of niche content, as well as memes/trends that would be appealing to wider audiences. Whenever possible, I also try to incorporate educational aspects to my content (see “baby turkeys are dumb”).
Some insights on our engagement for the end of Q1 and Q2
Myers Poultry does not offer any merchandise, which is an area where our competitors are very strong. I wanted to create something small, simple, and inexpensive to make that was highly unique to us. I didn’t want to just slap our logo on something and call it a day.
A few of our competitors offer stickers, but they are either AI generated, or bulk purchased from other vendors. I designed and drew these by hand, and then had my sister custom print them for us. I made them breed specific (because chicken people love certain breeds, just like people who have an affinity for specific dog breeds).
This is an item we can now hand out for pickup orders, or bring to industry events as a unique and memorable giveaway. The stickers not only strengthen our brand identity, but create a personal connection with customers, which is something we have been lacking.
