Most brands want to measure success too early. They launch, post a few times, then rush to ask, “Where are the sales?”
At Monarch, we see this every day. Founders look for sales ROI before their audience even knows who they are. But here’s the truth: awareness is ROI groundwork. It’s what gives your brand recognition, trust, and staying power.
That’s why, when we built the 2025 social media strategy for Monark Wild Rice, our goal wasn’t sales. It was awareness. We wanted people to know the story, the roots, and the value behind the product before ever asking them to buy.
And it worked. Without e-commerce, ads, or discount codes, people are reaching out organically to place orders. We’ve had inbound requests for wholesale and bulk purchases, and orders valued at over $1,000 have come purely from organic reach.
That’s what happens when your brand builds trust before it sells.
Awareness isn’t a vanity metric. It’s the starting point of every sustainable sales strategy.
Before anyone can buy from you, they need to know you exist. Before they trust your product, they need to understand it. And before they share your content, they need to connect with what you stand for.
Social media isn’t just a billboard for your products. It’s the space where your brand personality, purpose, and promise take shape. It’s how people decide whether to trust you.
When founders skip the awareness phase and push straight into conversion, they’re effectively selling to strangers. The result is high ad costs, inconsistent sales, and low trust.
But when you take the time to build awareness through consistent storytelling, education, and community interaction, you create recognition. And recognition is what drives long-term ROI.
At Monarch, we call this “playing the long game.” You can’t measure awareness on a short timeline, but you can feel its impact as engagement, shares, and referrals begin to grow. It’s the first layer of momentum that turns visibility into sales.
When we started managing Monark Wild Rice’s social presence, we had one clear intention: make people care before we made them buy.
We focused on education, storytelling, and cultural context, showing the why behind the product. Each post gave people a reason to understand the heritage of wild rice, the harvest process, and the community that sustains it.
We never led with “Buy now.” Instead, we built awareness through storytelling that humanized the brand.
Because we had full creative control, we were able to take our time. No pressure for instant ROI. That gave us room to focus on substance: strong visuals, clear narrative, and consistent engagement.
And the results have spoken for themselves.
This is the organic power of awareness-driven content.
When your brand story resonates, people find ways to buy even when you’re not selling.
Founders often underestimate how much education it takes for someone to feel confident purchasing.
Especially for products or services that carry cultural, health, or lifestyle significance, awareness is the education. It’s what builds qualified demand; the kind that doesn’t need convincing when it’s time to buy.
For Monark Wild Rice, that’s exactly what we’ve seen:
People who reach out already understand the product’s value. They’re not asking, “Why is it different?”, they already know.
That’s because awareness content does more than generate impressions. It shapes perception. It creates trust. It positions your brand as the authentic source in your space.
This is what we call trust-based marketing; selling without selling.
Instead of pushing urgency, you let curiosity and connection do the work.
And once you’ve built that foundation, the sales that follow are stronger, longer-lasting, and far more efficient to sustain.
At Monarch, we’re organic first, paid second.
That means we test everything (content, messaging, visuals) through organic channels before running paid campaigns. If something performs well organically, then we know it’s ready for ad spend.
This saves budget, but more importantly, it ensures your paid strategy is built on proof, not hope and guesses.
Too many agencies treat organic social as a checkbox or an afterthought, when in reality, it’s the clearest measure of what your audience truly cares about.
We collaborate with paid teams often, and while we value the partnership, we’ve learned that organic and paid only work when they support each other; not compete.
Organic growth may take longer, but the payoff is lasting brand equity, because when people discover you organically, they remember you.
We’ve spent the past year building awareness for Monark Wild Rice. Not rushing it, not forcing sales, but setting the stage for sustainable growth.
Now, as we head into 2026, we’re entering the next phase: expanding wholesale relationships, exploring retail partnerships, and continuing to grow a brand people already recognize and trust.
Because that’s the real return on investment; being known before you ever ask for a sale.
If you’re a founder ready to build trust before you sell, let’s talk strategy. Your next phase of growth starts with awareness.
Next in the series: We’ll share a behind-the-scenes recap of how we drove awareness this year and what comes next for Monark Wild Rice’s 2026 expansion.
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