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Loyatii
Loyatii is Finland's first loyalty app built for small local businesses. Founded by three immigrant women in their mid-20s who quit their stable jobs to solve a problem they experienced firsthand: loyalty programs are broken for local businesses.
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The Challenge
Launching a tech startup as first-time founders with zero venture capital came with brutal obstacles:
- The two-sided marketplace dilemma: Needed to attract both businesses AND consumers simultaneously - businesses wouldn't join without users, users wouldn't download without businesses on the platform
- Starting from zero: Launching with only 3-4 businesses and minimal offers meant no immediate value proposition for users - just a promise of what could be.
- App fatigue in oversaturated market: Convincing people to download "another app" when promotional messages bombard them daily - especially one that was still in development
- Product-market-fit uncertainty: As a brand new concept, Loyatii needed to find their unique selling proposition, identify their target audience, and even decide which geographic markets to prioritize beyond Finland. With an incomplete v1 product, they needed real user feedback and validation to guide development.
- Funding pressure: With only €5,000 in personal savings, they needed to demonstrate traction (app downloads, user engagement) quickly to attract outside investment for continued development
Meridian’s Approach
Beyond just social media service provider, we acted as a strategic marketing partner to help Loyatii find their USP, identify their core audience, and gather user feedback. Instead of traditional app marketing, we built a movement through founder-led content and community co-creation.
Strategic Foundation
- Identified the real USP: Positioned Loyatii not as "another loyalty app" but as the only loyalty solution built FOR small businesses, BY small business owners who lived the problem
- Dual-audience content strategy: Created distinct content pillars targeting both consumers (B2C) and small businesses (B2B) to solve the two-sided marketplace challenge
- Geographic market validation: Used content to test international appeal and gather market insights from global audiences, helping Loyatii identify expansion opportunities beyond Finland
Full-funnel Content Strategy
- Brand awareness + virality driver: With content series “Quit my job to build an app with me”. Raw, emotional storytelling about the founders that created parasocial investment where viewers became emotionally invested in the business’ success
- User acquisition + Product feedback: With technical content series "Build an App With Us" and positioned TikTok as their "CTO". Developer-led content showing real-time feature implementations based on user comments. Gamified app downloads by making users feel like co-developers, not customers. Every comment became a feature request, every roast became product improvement
- B2B acquisition: With educational series "Loyalty & marketing 101 for small businesses”. Showcased small business owner struggles with loyalty programs and positioned Loyatii as the affordable, small-business-first alternative
Meridian’s Results
Meridian’s Results
In just 1 month of social media management and content publication, here are our results:
- 1,000+ app downloads in the first week of content posting - with an incomplete app and only 3-4 businesses
- Zero advertising spend - every download acquired organically through storytelling
- TikTok: 0 to 2,900 followers, Instagram: 0 to 1000 followers
- 18 pieces of high-quality content published
- 1,500+ comments indicating direct app downloads, product feedback, B2B interest, and international expansion opportunities
- 100+ DMs from supporters, potential business partners, and users showing genuine investment in the mission
- International market validation: Organic interest from USA, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Spain - helping Loyatii identify viable expansion markets beyond Finland
- Brand differentiation: Established Loyatii as the authentic, community-first alternative to corporate loyalty apps
Loyatii went from complete unknowns with an incomplete product to a recognized brand with 1,000+ users, validated product-market-fit, and international expansion opportunities - all in 4 weeks of posting content with zero ad spend.
Drop us a line...
Our team’s all ears (and ideas).
If you have a company or project you'd like to get some marketing help for, we've got you covered.Let us know who you are and what your context is — we'll get back to you within 48 hours.
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