Lessons Every B2B Veterinary Marketer Can Learn from the 3 Little Pigs
A bedtime story for marketers.
Once upon a fiscal quarter, three little piglets started their first jobs as marketing directors in the animal health industry, anxious and excited to build their very own marketing strategies. The three little pigs were good friends, though their ideas on marketing strategies were very different. They were lucky enough to land at the same company, each responsible for a different business segment. They could still pig out at lunch together, but their professional lives were segmented into three very distinct swim lanes.
The first pig, Ron Swineson, wanted fast results. He didn’t value storytelling or education; he was more of a “build it, and they will come” type. His campaign message houses were built out of the proverbial straw: 100% AI copy, a feature-and-benefit approach to messaging, and “thought leadership” content that was suspiciously missing…thoughts.
The second pig, Ted Oinksso, wasn’t at the top of his marketing class, but he attempted to overcome what he lacked in natural talent by sheer effort. He harnessed industry buzzwords, developed content that was well-crafted but not original, and had a gut feel for where his marketing successes were coming from. He did an average job at brand awareness but lacked the chops to drive real value.
The third pig was Don Porker, commonly regarded as the “Mad Men” of marketing. Don understood the value of building a strong brand foundation, a real pro. He didn’t chase trends; he set them. Click-chasing? No way. Mister Porker built full-funnel campaigns that lived rent-free in the minds of his prospects. While the other pigs were building message houses and quick-win campaigns, Don was building brands that could stand the test of time and the Big Bad Wolf.
Then one day, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, along came the Big Bad Budget-Cutting Wolf, Scrooge McSnout. It was budget season, and he visited each of the three little pigs on the same day. Scrooge McSnout didn’t understand the finer workings of marketing; he spoke one language: results. ROI, CPL, ROAS, CPA, CAC, LTV, and NPS. Essentially, he spoke in acronyms.
Let’s see how our new friends fared with the huffing, puffing, and budget-slashing Sir McSnout.
Ron Swineson’s House of Straw
Ron’s marketing campaigns communicated sales and product features well, but they fell short when it came to telling a story and building value in the brand and product. The result?
Expensive cost per lead (CPL in McSnout speak)
Shrinking margins since all the sales made were at a lower-than-normal average selling price
Low brand loyalty since revenue was brought in from price slashing, not value building
Barren pipelines that were dependent on the next quick hit of “leads” that came for the sale, not the value
Poor attribution tracking. Ron didn’t take the time to set up campaign infrastructure properly.
Scrooge McSnout huffed, puffed, and blew in a gust of change, a demotion for Ron and his poorly constructed house of straw. Mr. Swienson quickly learned that fast, cheap, and easy was no way to build a brand strategy.
Ted Oinksso’s House of Sticks
Ted was trying—really, really trying. And in five years, under the leadership of a good mentor, Mister Oinksso would be a great strategic marketer. However, during this particular performance evaluation, his house of sticks was stable enough to fool an outsider but not sufficient to fool McSnout. His performance evaluation showed:
Below-average click-through rates. His subject lines were good, but the content was just not quite there.
He was A/B testing open rates, and his visuals looked familiar. Unfortunately, they looked too familiar and didn’t leap off the page to inspire action so his tests were inconclusive and his results…lackluster at best.
His messaging lacked a congruent thread across campaign assets and channels, leading to a fragmented experience for engagers and a lack of action.
A meager funnel of leads resulted from the uninspired content strategy.
Poor customer loyalty. Poor Oinksso was so focused on top-of-funnel lead generation that he neglected the middle and bottom of the funnel, and unfortunately, his oh-so-precious customers.
After his performance evaluation, McSnout allowed him to stay in his role, but on a performance improvement plan. He also challenged Ted’s “gut feel” that he seemed to have on everything, including ROI reporting, and told him to be prepared with concrete numbers next time, or it might be his last. Ted’s house of sticks was left barely standing with a clear instruction: you need to build out of stronger stuff.
Don Porker’s House of Bricks
And then there was one. Don Porker. Scrooge McSnout sauntered into his office with his shiny cufflinks, a spreadsheet full of acronyms, and a gleam in his eye. But Porker was cool as a BLT. He didn’t crack under pressure. Besides, his strategy was solid, bring it on, McSnout.
Don’s house wasn’t built on trends; it was built on truths. His brand had a precise positioning, consistent insights, and a well-oiled go-to-market execution plan. Indeed, Don had the legendary P.I.G.³ foundation.
When McSnout flipped through the campaign reports, he didn’t find vanity metrics. No gut-feel or price slashing. Instead, he found strong ROI, impressive brand equity, and a marketing plan that rolled over a whole 12 months (oink!):
High engagement and recall across every stage of the funnel, and every marketing channel
An educational strategy that drove leads and brand value
Live event strategy that fit seamlessly into brand strategy and drove impressive ROI
Marketing. Automation. Wow, the marketing automation. For every stage of the funnel. McSnout was huff and puff-less
An impressive use of social media to drive engagement and lead generation
Solid ROI reports in Salesforce.com that informed strategic and tactical marketing decisions
Loyal customers who could recite the brand’s tagline like a favorite quote and acted as a strong customer referral source
A healthy sales pipeline for the next two consecutive quarters
A sales and marketing team that worked together hoof in hoof like a finely tuned machine
Documentation. OMG, the documentation. Don had briefs for every campaign that included goals, target metrics, and…results!!!
Sales teams with consistent, value-driven messaging to close deals
And the one metric even McSnout couldn’t put a number to: trust.
McSnout huffed, puffed, and scrolled through line items looking for waste — but alas, there was none to be found. Brand awareness was driving meaningful connections. Lead generation was driving an impressive CPL. Bottom-of-funnel automation sequences were successfully re-engaging stalled deals. Post-purchase onboarding was creating raving fans. And customer loyalty was at an all-time high.
Don got a fist bump and a begrudging grin from McSnout, complete with a sigh that sounded strangely like relief. He had done it. Don survived the budget review without a single cut.
When the fiscal winds of budget cuts blow, it’s not the loudest, the fastest, or the safest campaigns that survive—it's the ones built with bricks.
The Big Bad McSnouts are Always Lurking
The Big Bad Wolf shows up in many disguises other than the fabled Scrooge McSnout budget cutter:
The Rebrand Bandit who thinks a new logo or look and feel will fix it all.
The can’t you do more with less wolf who doesn’t get it. At. All.
The exec who only speaks in 90-day turns. You know, the one who lives and dies by the quarter and struggles to see the strategy that anchors it all this quarter, and far beyond.
The mixer-inner who wants to look like everyone else and copy competitors. Focused on mixing in, not standing out.
The economic huff and puff and blew my marketing budget down.
The chasing shiny object wolf who lacks focus or a long-term strategy.
The vanity-metric wolf looks at the pretty top-level numbers but doesn’t follow them long enough to really understand the impact on revenue.
The “we’ve always done it this way” wolf who is too risk-averse to try something new.
If your brand isn’t built differently, the endless winds of change will blow your house down. Stick to your story. Build real connections. Craft creative and meaningful campaigns. Because wolves will huff, markets will puff — but brands built with bricks don’t blow down.
Get Started Building With Bricks
At Red Brick Partners, we help B2B brands in animal health, technology, and beyond build marketing foundations that don’t crumble when the wind changes.
From strategy and messaging to creative and campaign execution, our team builds with the materials that matter: clarity, insight, and guts.