Goals

  • Increase top-of-mind awareness of Maine Grains statewide, regionally, and nationally
  • Secure up to three high-value media results
  • Support and provide educational resources for Maine Grains’ internal marketing team
  • Anniversary event support
  • Increase sales for Maine Grains

Situation Analysis 

To garner the desired media attention for the anniversary and success story of Maine Grains, as
well as help the company to strengthen its PR and Marketing department, Marshall
Communications proposed a short-term relationship with Amber Lambke, co-founder and CEO
of Maine Grains, and Kayla Bess, Maine Grains’ sales and marketing manager commencing on
February 1 and running through September. We wanted to use the anniversary to attract media
attention to their organic and heritage grains as well as garner excitement state-wide for the
upcoming anniversary celebration.

From left to right: Amber Lambke, co-founder and CEO of Maine Grains and Governor Janet Mills
From left to right: Amber Lambke, co-founder and CEO of Maine Grains and Governor Janet Mills

Methods 

  • Pitched Maine Grains stories to national and local media, beginning in March and ending
    in September including Martha Stewart
  • Nominated Amber Lambke as a Business Leader of the Year in Mainebiz
  • Nancy Marshall and Emma Dimock had six one-hour coaching calls with Amber and
    Kayla. During these calls, they discussed pitch angles and helped Kayla refine her pitches
    for each targeted publication including the PR leading up to the event. Nancy also made
    key media introductions on Kayla’s behalf
  • Sent out a media advisory for the press conference held on September 10
  • Distributed a press release sharing details about the anniversary celebration held on
    September 12 – communicated with Governor Janet Mills re: the event
  • Coordinated a Mainebiz story and shared photos from the press event as they couldn’t
    send a reporter to the press conference, but wanted to cover the story
  • Created a Wikipedia entry for Maine Grains
  • Maintained our budget of $10,000

Results

  • Our media relations tactics earned far more results than we initially aimed for: we earned
    36 results, with 1.13M in views, an audience of 802M and 1.71K in engagement, including
    a www.MarthaStewart.com result. Please see our Coverage Book for the full results.
  • Amber Lambke was selected as the Small Business/Entrepreneur Business Leader by
    Mainebiz in March 2022.
  • Governor Janet Mills attended 10th Anniversary celebration.
  • Maine Grains’ Dry Goods Shop increased sales from $56,192 in 2021 to $71,202 over the
    same time period in 2022 (September through December) – directly following the events.
  • The Miller’s Table Cafe sales increased from $133,468 in 2021 to $163,988 over the same
    time period in 2022 (September through December) – directly following the events.
  • It is clear that at least in the short term, that festivities, visibility, and bringing people to
    the website had a positive impact definitely in the short term.
  • Our mentoring of Kayla Bess earned a result in Thomas College’s newsletter, highlighting
    the collaboration between multiple alumni.