Role: Digital Marketing Director
Company: Project Dragonfruit
About: Dragonfruit App is the dating app for geeks by geeks. Launched in 2015 as a website and 2016 as a mobile app on Android and iOS. DragonFruit set out to make dating easier for “geeks”. The mechanism for matching on Dragonfruit set it apart by matching users by their unique interests. Giving users an easier way to connect on topics they are both passionate about.
Target: 18 - 35 year old adults in the United States with expressed interest in “geeky” culture. Technophiles, gamers, cosplayers, film buffs etc.
Primary Marketing Channels: Twitter, App Store Search, Dragonfruit website and podcasts.
Challenge: The challenge for Dragonfruit app was erasing the stigma of being a geek as well as showing our audience that we are one of them. We focused on messaging that told our audience to be proud of their geekiness and interests. As an audience that is particularly reluctant to be marketed to we had to make sure our messages spoke in their voice and was heard in the places they existed online.
Methods:
PR/Podcasts/Influencer Outreach
A challenge for the Dragonfruit App was being trusted by our target audience. The group is particularly reluctant to be advertised to from “outsiders”. To make the app more appealing to our community we made many efforts to enmesh ourselves and the Dragonfruit brand in the world of the audience we were trying to reach.
Influencers: I would conduct weekly interviews and features with prominent Cosplays in the video game/anime convention circuits. Giving our audience a familiar face to connect the brand With.
Podcasts: I would schedule regular podcast appearances for our CEO Orie Enav, to speak about Dragonfruit on podcasts by popular hosts in the community.
PR: Had the app featured as part of a game show segment on the Comedy Central show “After Midnight”.
Events: Part of enmeshing ourself in the community was attending events, conventions and premieres. We travelled around the country attending comic cons and gaming events to promote the Dragonfruit app and engage with current users. In addition to attending already established events Dragonfruit also hosted speed dating events in New York, DC, and Omaha.
Social Media
At the time our target audience was concentrated on Twitter. We were extremely active posting to promote the app while also engaged in others content in an organic way.
Organic SEO
A large part of marketing the Dragonfruit website organically was the blog on our website. We would regularly feature content relating to dating advice within our community as well as news and features of current events. The large amount of traffic the blog garnered allowed us to partner with familiar faces in the “geeky”scene.
App Advertising
Apple Search ads, Google App Ads, Facebook app ads.
Highlighted above is an abbreviated pitch deck. I helped design and execute this pitch deck for use in short form pitching as well as networking opportunities.