Understanding the Raw Dog Food Market: Key Findings from Bubblegum Search's Latest Organic Search Report

In this episode, Clayton interviews Matt Cayless, founder of Bubblegum Search, who specialises in helping challenger DTC brands, particularly in the pet wellness sector, scale their businesses through an integrated approach to SEO and digital PR. Matt discusses the importance of niching down in a competitive market, the evolving landscape of SEO in the age of AI, and the need to align marketing strategies to drive organic growth.  KEY TAKEAWAYS Integrated SEO and PR Strategy: Successful brands are leveraging an integrated approach that combines SEO, content marketing, and digital PR to build brand authority and drive organic growth. Importance of Brand Authority: The report highlights that brand authority is crucial for ranking well in both Google and AI search. Brands need to focus on getting featured in high-authority publications to pass valuable links back to their sites. Challenges of Paid Advertising: Many brands are experiencing rising customer acquisition costs through paid ads, prompting a shift towards organic growth strategies. Opportunities for Smaller Brands: Despite the dominance of larger, VC-backed companies in the pet food industry, smaller brands can still find success by identifying niche opportunities and focusing on specific keywords where they can compete effectively. Evolving SEO Landscape: The SEO landscape is changing with the rise of AI and new search features. Brands must adapt by creating high-quality, human-edited content and avoiding over-reliance on AI-generated material to maintain their rankings and visibility. BEST MOMENTS "We help challenger DTC brands scale to six and eight figures using our integrated SEO and PR system." "The panic towards AI is a lot bigger than people realize." "Digital PR is a great way of not only driving demand but also capturing it." "If you have got a PR agency, yes, they might be getting some features, but if the goal is to move up in organic search, it has to be aligned." "You can rank number three or four, and in some instances, you will rank first and second."  HOST BIO Clayton Payne is an industry veteran of three decades of working in the pet industry. Brought up working in his parents' pet store, Clayton has seen the industry evolve over five different decades and has been on the cutting edge of the industry since the nineties. Building pet businesses from scratch, establishing multi-national distribution chains and having worked in every aspect of the industry, Clayton has a rare insight into the Pet Industry that is rivalled by few. Clayton has been the spearhead of many of the industry's changes and has introduced numerous new concepts to market with a trail of success behind him. He has worked in numerous countries within the pet industry, speaks four different languages and has established both import and export relationships on all continents (excluding Antarctica). As well as being COO of one of the UKs fastest growing insect technology companies, Clayton is a Pet industry consultant who has consulted for many household brands and delivers sales training to pet trade professionals. https://www.linkedin.com/in/clayton-payne-a6772244/  https://www.tiktok.com/@petbusinessdisruptors  https://www.youtube.com/@PetBusinessDisruptors  This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/