Alpha Dog Food doesn’t just deliver fresh, healthy food to its pet-loving customers. It also strives to improve the lives of those customers, their pets, and a wide network of other people who support its brand. And it does that, in large part, through a unique referral and affiliate marketing strategy.
"Our company would much rather pay our clients, partners, and vendors the marketing money we’d otherwise spend on advertising. Ambassador’s software plays a huge role in helping us grow our business and accomplish that goal."
Royce Reed, Founder, Alpha Dog Food
On the surface, Alpha Dog Food might look like most other eCommerce brands. Behind the scenes, however, it’s a company with a unique — and very philanthropic — way of doing business. The company operates via a subscription model and its eCommerce sales are fulfilled and distributed by St. John of God Community Services in Westville, NJ. Furthermore, the brand’s biggest sales and marketing assets are its
As of 2016, 81% of Alpha Dog Food’s new customers come from referrals and about 50% are driven by groups like St. John of God, the Search and Rescue Dog Foundation, One Love Animal Rescue, and the Humane Society of Atlantic County.
While Alpha Dog Food founder Royce Reed is thrilled to have those organizations advocate on behalf of the brand, he’s equally motivated to make sure those groups are rewarded for their efforts. That’s why, in 2014, Reed decided to implement an all-in-one marketing technology that would help him more accurately track and compensate both his affiliate and referral networks on one platform.
“When I created the company, one of my primary goals was to find a way to give back to my community and support a greater cause,” says Reed. “I love that referrals drive our business, but it’s even more special when I can give back to the people who drive that business.
Because Alpha Dog Food’s affiliate and referral programs have both offline and online components, Reed says it was important to find a marketing vendor with the flexibility to help him manage, track, and optimize every aspect of their multi-program campaigns.
By creating multiple campaigns, Reed can offer cash to charitable organizations and recurring discounts on subscriptions for customers who refer. Meanwhile, Reed can still run offline campaigns and manually manage them in his Ambassador portal.
After two years using Ambassador, Alpha Dog Food has generated 8x more in new revenue than its total investment in the software. Just as important, it’s helped him build better customer relationships and positively impact his network of ambassadors.
“Thanks to Ambassador, I think we’ve been able to improve a lot of lives,” Reed says. “And as a company, I can’t say enough about Ambassador’s values. They genuinely care about our success and their team has gone out of its way to make sure we have everything we need.”