• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, May 31, 2017

The available search traffic for one of MuscleEgg's top targeted keyword phrases -- flavored liquid egg whites -- is a bit slim, but the company's marketers have managed to turn an anomaly into a thriving advertising and marketing strategy.

Joe Gonzalez, digital marketing manager at MuscleEgg, took the challenge. MuscleEgg, founded in 2011 by Paul Shepherd, co-owner of an egg farm, makes flavored liquid egg whites mostly for the fitness industry. With health on many consumers' minds, the company plans to branch out into other areas through digital advertising and marketing -- namely search.

When Gonzalez first came to MuscleEgg about two-and-a-half years ago, the marketing group outsourced its paid-search campaigns to an affiliate agency. MuscleEgg has worked with Google for about five years, but Gonzalez brought paid search in-house about one-and-a-half years ago, which saved the company "quite a bit of money."

AdWords takes the majority of MuscleEgg's digital advertising budget. Today, organic and paid-search traffic contributes about 60% to the company's Web site traffic, with about 25% attributable to Google AdWords.

"I essentially got the green flag to spend as much of our budget as needed on Google AdWords because it consistently gives us the best return on investment," he said.

Gonzalez said the monthly search budget has grown to about $3,000 monthly -- up from $300 monthly since he first began running paid search for the company.

About eight to 12 months ago, Gonzalez set up mobile-only campaigns that resulted in much lower CPAs and higher returns.

Gonzalez's goal was to stay below $20 to acquire a customer. Previously, the company outsourced some of its paid advertising. Using that as a baseline, the company managed to drop the CPA to between $10 and $11. The marketing team then created mobile-only campaign that dropped the CPA to one-quarter of the target.

MuscleEgg plans to expand its use of AdWords with the goal of reaching new retail and wholesale customers, as well as customers outside of the main fitness niche. The company plans to branch out to target bariatric surgery patients or diabetics and others with a sensitivity to sugar and high fat content.

MuscleEgg also is in the process of diversifying its marketing initiatives through Facebook advertising.