After completing most of the Digital Marketing & Growth Hacking With Gen AI Professional Certificate (IBM®) I have the opportunity to apply the skills I’ve acquired and showcase my work in a long term campaign and capstone project.
Our client, petspals, is a modern petcare company that targets millennials and gen-z pet owners in urban areas. Their mantra is pets are a part of the family and deserve the same quality products and care as their humans.
They are an employee-owned company that owns and operates 10 brick and mortar locations throughout the country, but they have struggled to build their online presence.
OBJECTIVES
- Drive qualified traffic to the e-commerce website
- Increase brand awareness among urban pet owners ages 22–35
- Improve online sales conversions and customer retention
Petsrpals has established goals, but have not provided any clear guidelines or desired outcomes.
I’ve opted to run their campaign using industry-standard S.M.A.R.T. marketing objectives.
Petsrpals has explained they would like to increase their online visibility, but they have not provided any clearly defined goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound). The first thing I need to do is research their company, products and audience.
STRICT TIMELINE: 90 DAYS, with thorough reviews and optimizations scheduled every 15 days.
AUDIENCE: 22–35 – we will leverage retail locations to attract online customers
FOCUS: Brand awareness and MEASURABLE growth
STRICT TIMELINE: 90 DAYS, with thorough reviews and optimizations scheduled every 15 days.
AUDIENCE: 22–35 – we will leverage retail locations to attract online customers
FOCUS: Brand awareness and MEASURABLE growth
Goal
GOAL 1: INCREASE BRAND AWARENESS (SOCIAL MEDIA)
OBJECTIVE: Increase +60% reach, +40% followers
PLATFORMS: Instagram/TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest
GOAL 2: DRIVE WEBSITE TRAFFIC
OBJECTIVE: +50% sessions, +35% organic traffic
PLATFORMS: SEO, Google Ads, email marketing, in-store QR codes
GOAL 3: IMPROVE CONVERSIONS & RETENTION
OBJECTIVE: +20% CVR, +30% email growth
PLATFORMS: Email, Retargeting
keyword strategy & search engine content marketing
CUSTOMER PERSONA ANALYSIS
I use HubSpot’s “Make My Persona” (AI) tool to describe two of our segments in order to target each of them effectively. Afterwards I run them through ChatGPT for a more thorough analysis. Our two major segments are dog owners and cat owners – 2 very distinct types of customers with different lifestyles, behaviors and pain points…
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KEYWORD analysis & setting kpi’s
I’ve identified a pool of high search volume, low-competition keywords using SEMRush. I plan on blog content for each audience, but for now I’m focused on their signature line of hypoallergenic dog shampoos. It has high CPC and competition, so I land on “pH-balanced dog shampoo.” I set KPIs as impressions, clicks, CTR, conversion rate, ROI & ROAS..
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KEYWORD CANNIBALISM SQL CODE
After having ChatGPT code a schema type for our ecommerce store, improving page speed, and optimizing metadata for the PetsRPals candle listings, we expected to see improved organic traffic and conversions. However, performance data revealed an unexpected issue: keyword cannibalism. Which we are able to resolve using SQL.
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LEVERAGING NATIVE ADS IN BLOG CONTENT
[sample blog article]
I need some content on the blog before I start promoting it. I’m starting with “pH-balanced dog shampoo“, which was a keyword suggestion from SEMRush, and confirmed on Google’s keyword planner to have low competition, high search volume and a 900% increase in volume both year over year and month over month.
Since I’m also working on growing our email list, I use this as an opportunity to set a discount on hypoallergenic dog shampoo to encourage users to sign up for our list, they are automatically added to a drip campaign in HubSpot.
social media strategy & content creation
MARKETING CAMPAIGN ON A DIME’S NOTICE
My client, petspals received a surprise shipment of a product that’s often running low or on back order. Petsrpals sells a pet-safe oil burner and has their own line of catnip-infused scented oils. The immediacy means postponing other deadlines. I use an array of AI tools to hasten the process, so that we can launch the campain tomorrow.
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HOW TO USE PINTEREST EFFECTIVELY IN 2026
Pinterest is still a relevant marketing tool IF you know how to use it effectively. As seen in Elizabeth’s customer persona analysis, cat owners are likely to use it, and engage by saving content for later. Bookmarks and pins are inarguably the #1 type of engagement. It ensures users will come back and indicates high interest in your brand.
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How to Use Gen AI to Form a Solid Paid Ad Campaign
I’m tasked with developing paid ad campaigns for Meta and Google. I need to tie my keyword in and decide whether I’ll be using CPC, CPM or CPA. I’ve chosen CPC since we’re in the early stages and still testing our marketing strategy. With growth hacking, I know I need to be ready to switch direction quickly..
I create ads in several formats: 1.91 : 1 (wide), 4 : 5 and a video in 9 : 16 which also promotes the email marketing list AND the product.
Petsrpals will be looking for a freelance social media manager, and me to create a general calendar with daily themes. I ask ChatGPT for creative ideas in calendar form, and to provide a different theme for each day of the week. I explain that PetsRPals has a wide network from being active in their local communities with veterinarians, groomers, trainers, dog walkers, local shelters, pet sitters and doggy daycare centers
I inform Chat that the primary social media platforms are Facebook and Instagram. Secondary are TikTok and Pinterest.
| Day | Theme | Content Format | Visual Direction |
| Monday | Mindful Mondays (ASMR content) | Reel – FB & Instagram TikTok Video | 45-second ASMR unboxing video, featuring a nano or micro-influencer’s content. |
| Tuesday | Testimonial or Pet TipsTuesdays | Reel – FB & Instagram carousel | Image of the hypoallergenic shampoo with an honest review by an influencer told from the perspective of their dog |
| Wednesday | Pet Wiz Wednesday (Advice from vets & pet pros.) | Facebook & Instagram Carousel Pinterest – Original graphic post | Interview veterinarians, trainers and/or dog groomers who are already in network. PetsRPals already has a wide array of pet pros who we can request cross-promotion with. |
| Thursday | Thursday Thoughts | TikTok video Instagram & FB Reel | A video of a girl giving her cat a bath emphasizing our dog shampoo is also safe to use on cats; and also recommending our organic cat wipes. |
| Friday | Friendship Fridays | UGC – Portrait of customer w/ pet using any product | UGC of owner’s pets using their favorite products or Testimonials |
| Saturday | Sustainable Saturday | Pinterest – Original Content. Post will link to blog article with must-haves | Size appropriate graphic with 8 items from our kitty shop; linked to blog post. |
| Sunday | Product Spotlight Sunday | 5 image carousel for Instagram and Facebook Repurposed for Pinterest | 5 carousel graphics; 4 with different facts about pH, recommending pH-balanced shampoo and organic dog food. Pinterest post graphic similar to “8 organic must-haves for cats” |
How carousels increase follower engagement
This carousel was strategically designed to maximize engagement, saves, and profile traffic for PetsRpals by leveraging both emotional appeal and platform behavior. Carousels consistently outperform single-image posts on Instagram because they encourage users to swipe, increasing..
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How to Make Stunning Marketing Emails With Gen AI
For this project I’ve combine assets from petsrpal’s DAM with Grok’s Imagine app. They’re stylized appropriately for Shopify, which I’ve been tasked with improving. The storefront is a complete mess with sloppy titles and poor image quality. After applying SEO-friendly titles and schema markup I’m ready to..
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email marketing
CREATING VISUALLY STUNNING EMAILS
Two versions of our automated welcome email is sent to two distinct, key audience segments. This is the version that gets sent out to people with dogs; dogs AND cats or whose pet-type is unknown…
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SEGMENTING AUDIENCES BY LIFETIME VALUE
The email pictured here is designed specificaly for cat owners after they have spent $750. We offer a discount to dog owners after they have spent at least $400, because of they spend less overall online..