892. The Power Of Social Media & Why We Chose To Be Direct To Consumer

Social media is so powerful because social media is where you are going to create who you are. This is where you're going to put your brand out into the world and create its identity. And you have all of the brand control in the world. On social media, you get to decide how you're going to approach it. You get to decide how you're going to introduce yourself to the world. You get to decide how you're going to appear to the world. Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of behind the Scenes of Building a Business. And I always record these episodes with my amazing co host, Lauren Kuhlman, who is also my incredible chief of staff. Right hand woman. Couldn't do this life company without her. Lauren, how the heck are you? Feel like I'm a car salesman from the Midwest right now. How the heck are you? Wait, that's Boston.

Well, whatever it is, I really like it. I am doing amazing. I don't know how. It's Friday already and I feel like we just catch up a lot on these. So I'm super excited to chat with you on our podcast. How are you?

Really funny. I was just thinking that yesterday I was like, I'm so glad we have these podcasts in place now, especially now that I'm living in California for part of the year, because it's a really great catch up point for both of us. And not just that the whole reason that we wanted to start this was to keep you guys on top of what we're doing and where we're at. We are super excited. We'll just give you a couple quick updates. We have officially finally signed with our co packer, which is absolutely insane for our alcohol, which, if you guys don't know, we actually have had to kind of figure out all of the internal struggle that we're dealing with is trying to figure out who's going to do the non elk, who's going to do the alcohol. We were trying to find a co packer that could do both, but a lot of people don't. So we actually are going to have a separate co packer for the non elk and then we're going to have a separate co packer for the alcohol. We're just starting the licensing process, which can take 160 plus or minus days. So what we're dealing with right now is just a lot of uncertainty. But I think that we've settled into the uncertainty. If you would have told me a couple of years ago when I was doing all of my courses and coaching and events like you have to plan a launch without actually knowing the day that you'll be able to launch. Meaning we don't know when we're fully going to have our licensing, because it's kind of just. They're going to let us know when it's gone through. And we still have to move ahead and plan a launch with this guesstimated time frame. And it's been really crazy trying to juggle that because some people need actual dates, like, to build the website and to do our different things with Shopify and warehousing. So I just want to remind you that things can still move forward even when you don't know the answer, because that's what we're having to do. And we're watching how it truly can move forward. And when people say no to you or, no, we absolutely need this date, it doesn't always mean that you have to dig and be like, do you really need it? Is this really the final date? What does this really look like? Or can we still move things forward? I think what it's taught me is that so much of what you're being told needs to be questioned and you need to ask for forgiveness. Like, hey, this is what we're working with. This is where we're at. This is what we need. Can we pretty please have some grace? Or what is another way around this? So, Lauren, what's one of the biggest things that it has taught you? Dealing with so much uncertainty with what we're in. Like, what are some of the big takeaways or one big takeaway that it's taught you? Working in so much uncertainty.

One thing that was coming to mind when you were talking was a lot of the people that we work with are not used to our situation. They're used to, like, most people having more ducks in a row that they can have control over. And we're kind of a unique company that's coming to a lot of these companies, like building the website or whatever, different part, whatever agency we're working with for whatever it is where we are out of control on a lot of things like licensing and everything else, that they've never really been asked these questions before. So they tell you up front how it is and how they're used to working. But when you explain your unique situation, they're like, okay, we're able to change what we told you initially a little bit because we understand they're human too. They understand we're doing the best we can. But there are so many things out of our control that we are pushing but we can't really, like, do more than what we're already doing. So that's one thing that has been nice because you don't just. What I've learned is don't just, like, take something that somebody's giving you and say, okay, well, we'll do exactly this. So, like you said, questioning everything, asking a lot of questions, telling them your situation. And another thing with uncertainty is getting very creative on what else we can do that we're not thinking of. Like, we're very good now about thinking outside of the box with every situation that we're in. It doesn't mean that there's a stopping point or a ceiling that's put on us where some people might think like, oh, this outside thing that I can't control is limiting me, stopping me, and I can't do anything about it. It's like, there's always something you can do about it. It's just, how do you get creative? Do you need to have a conversation with somebody? Maybe just take like a little moment to step back from everything that you are working in and think about the goal again. Where do you need to be and what are some doors that you can open or have other people open for you? Because that's how I think most successful companies get successful. They don't do the same thing everybody else is doing. They get creative, think outside the box, and find a new way to build their business in a time that doesn't seem like they can actually build a following or something like that if they're not launched. Like, that's one of the things we're going to talk about is the power of social media for your brand. And we've done an amazing job at that with being delayed over and over and over and over again. We're not like, oh, shoot, maybe we should put a pause on everything while we get our shit together. We're not doing that at all. We're like, how can we build up as much as we can when we don't know when we're launching still, oh, man, so good.

And I think that this can also be applied for people right now because the world is uncertain. And honestly, it's a really uncertain time in the world. And we just got out of a really uncertain time, kind of moving into another uncertain time. But the thing that I want to share with everyone is it doesn't mean that this is not the time to do things. It actually means that right now in the present moment is always the most important time for you to do things. Because we don't know if we're moving into even more uncertainty. And this is the peak time to begin. Like, you know, I think the most successful people in businesses come out of uncertain times because we really look at it as an opportunity. Like, yes, it's uncertain, but it's also a time when a lot of people stop and they freeze. So if you keep going and you keep getting creative and you start to keep looking at where the world is going, you're going to adjust your sails with it instead of, you know, and you'll be so much further, even though it's like turbulent and you're not sure as the person who just sits on the shore and never, ever leaves. So, yeah, it might be a little bit slower, but you're going to get to where you want to go quicker and you'll learn how to navigate those rough waters, which is just going to make you so much more successful in the long run. So that's how I know that you and I feel like. We just feel like no matter how rough the waters get, we're just going to take a beat and figure out how to navigate or turn the ship or whatever we need to do. So. Talking about the power of social media for your brand, it doesn't matter if you have a coaching business, a product, an online business, whatever this looks like, or actual physical product, social media is so powerful because social media is where you are going to create who you are. This is where you're going to put your brand out into the world and create its identity. And you have all of the brand control in the world. On social media, you get to decide how you're going to approach it. You get to decide how you're going to introduce yourself to the world. You get to decide how you're going to appear to the world. And if you have a physical product, what can happen is the reason that we decided to go online and do direct to consumer, it's called D2C direct to consumer and why we decided to do direct to consumer sales for our beverage at first, even though it is way more challenging with beverage because of the weight for shipping and also shipping alcohol, shipping wine is still not the most popular thing. There's a lot of rules around it, there's a lot of regulations and not everybody is trained to shop for their beverage online. So we are butted up against a few things. But the choices between us going into retail at first or us going direct to consumer. Direct to consumer is so much smarter for us for so many reasons. So when you Think of taking your physical product and going into retail. If people don't know who you are yet, if you get into a store and they decide that because you're new and they've never launched your brand, you are going to go on the very, very bottom shelf, because that shelf space costs less, and they want to have the optimal shelf space for the brands that are flying off the shelves, for the brands that people already know, love, trust, and recognize. So you already take a chance of getting out there as an unrecognizable brand and then getting hidden behind all of the other brands. And what happens is that, let's say you get into Target and this happens where you go to the bottom shelf. You're brand new, you haven't really introduced yourself online. People don't know yet, and you're all coming out at once, and your brand literally goes on the shelf, doesn't sell after a certain amount of time, they will not let you take up that shelf space anymore. Whether that's 30 days, 60 days, or 90 days. They say, get the hell out of here. You're taking up really important retail space that somebody could be making a lot of money on, and you're just sitting there. So now you are never welcome again, right? You get evicted because you did not make money. So with that said, I was like, well, I don't want that to happen to us. It's called dying on the shelf. I don't want to die on the shelf. So what are the ways that we can make sure that people know, love and trust our brand before we go into these retail spaces? If we go into these retail spaces. And the other thing that people forget is that when you go into retail spaces, oftentimes that means that you need a team who's going to control that arm as well. So if you've never made these relationships with the people who sell these retail shelf spaces, if you've never managed your product with that, if you've never, like, really understood how to do that and you are also going direct to consumer or you're also having an online arm, this is like opening two businesses at once. So whenever you add another layer to your business, it's like having a whole other business. And that's the thing that in the beginning, when I first started, it sounds so romantic, right? Like, oh, my gosh, we're gonna be in all these stores and people can just go to targets and do all this stuff and get your product and more is better. This is the moment when you need to look at it. As a whole and say, how much money do we have and how much energy do we have and how much team do we want initially? Like, how many things do you want to have to put your arms around that are new, that you don't quite know yet, that you're upping your possible risk in the beginning and saying, you know, more is better, bigger is better? No, you want to be able to like get your hands around how people are perceiving you. You want brand control, you want brand recognition, you want to make sure you're fricking Shopify or website really works well. You want to make sure that the user experience on that website or in that one store that you're going to launch into is a really good experience because you do lose control when you go into retail. So that was the whole reason why we wanted to go direct to consumer at first, was because we have so much control on our own website, on our own text list, on our own email list and on our own social media. Of course you lose some control when people start sharing and doing all the things and leaving reviews and all that fun stuff. But that's very miniscule in the grand scheme of how powerful it is to really get your legs under you when you're launching direct consumer or just social media. So talking to all the coaches and people who have online courses and things like that, really being able to have that full control of who you are and how you look and how you are touch basing with your consumer.

Yep. And that's where your internal team or you yourself, you get into the DMs, you get into the comments, you see what people are saying, what they're asking for. You have that actual relationship with your consumer where at a store you don't.

Have that really at all.

You have no idea who these people are that are buying at all. You don't know their age or anything. No one's getting that at the register and then reporting it back to you when they're checking out. So that helps to then create maybe some other program or product depending on what they're missing from what you're currently selling or what they love that you should do more of. So I think that is the best way. Even if you do want to go into retail, I think you should always have that direct consumer arm as well to understand who your people are so you can create what they actually want.

Oh my God. And there's so many different things that you can do with direct to consumer. Like you said, just with testing, like right down to why did they abandon cart? Like at what point? You know, there's just so many things you can do with testing, but also like a heat map. Like at what point on your meaning it'll show where you lost them, like where they scrolled and where their, their cursor was. So maybe it was upon when they realized the price for shipping or maybe and then you realize that you might need to tweak your shipping. Maybe it was like really confusing on the front page so you lost them right away. There was too much copy on the front page. Maybe it was just your IM imagery. Like you're gonna get a lot of different information on the website. So yes. Like having that direct to consumer arm, just like Lauren said, or that you know that website so you can really get that information from them is huge. You know, the power of social media, something you said, Lauren, that I don't even have in my notes but is so, so big for anybody who is selling anything online, is that we underestimate the power of the DMs. When I was doing network marketing, all of my money was made in the DMs. It was never made on comments or in posts. It was literally the post was an attraction post. Meaning it was a post that added value that made people stop and say, oh, that's so me. Or that is such a problem that I have too. And the comments were always like, it's me, it me, that's me, this is who. And I would go and I would comment on that comment. But then I would DM them and be like, hey, I saw your comment. And I would start building a relationship. Sometimes I would say, you know what I had to offer in my story in the dm. Sometimes I'd record a voice note like, hey, I saw your comment. I just wanted to share real quick that I used to struggle with this too. I know this is like so out of the blue, but this is my story really quick, whatever. And just leave it at that and see if they bite on that or if they respond to that and then let them know what the thing is that you have now. I feel like now so many people have like this exact.

Like this is what you should do.

If you're selling X, Y and Z. In the grand scheme, I became like an expert salesperson because I put more emphasis on the relationship and trying to relate to their story and understand who they were and where they were and what made them tick and listening to what they wanted that, you know, the DMs are going to be your Most, most powerful place for sales. I was just talking to a friend who has a consumable product and it's not network marketing. And they literally go and respond in the DMs to every single comment like, hey, we're so excited about this. Just wanted to give you a 10% off coupon. I'd love for you to try it and hear your thoughts. This particular person that I know did not launch their company that long ago. Probably within the last. I think it's the last two to three years. And they have a really good size audience, but not huge. It's not in the hundreds of thousands. I don't even think it's in the hundreds of thousands at all. And I know they make a million dollars in their DMs, which obviously that is not normal. But when you have the right audience and you really have those relationships, it's very possible. So, yes, that's somebody doing that every single day in the DMs, sending links, making these relationships. But how much would you pay a person if you knew that you would even make $200,000 a month or that you would make $100,000 a month? How much would you pay a person to be in those DMs all day long making those relationships if you knew that that was even a possibility? So that's why I think conversations about money and what is possible and what other people are doing is really important, is you need to get a bar, like have that bar set for you, that maybe you'd be like, I don't know, maybe I could make $10,000. Okay, but what if someone else. What if you know for a fact that someone else is making way more? So I just want to point out again the power of the DMs for your brand. Whether that's a consumable product, whether that's coaching, whether that is an event. So many people I know struggle with filling live events. I have filled all of my live events majority through the DMs. Like, the best time to sell an event is off the back of another event live. But if you can't do that, it's definitely reaching out to people and letting them know, hey, girl, I'd love to see you here. I think it'd be the perfect fit. Here's why. Here's the value and the things that you're going to learn. Does this feel like it resonates? It sounds like it's a fit based off of what I know about you and what you need. What do you need and Then they respond what they need.

Great.

That's exactly what we're going to be covering. If you truly are, here's some other girls that I know are coming who are kind of in that same boat. You should meet them. Here's the link to sign up. I'd love to see you there. And that's how you're going to sell. And whether you think that now people are not doing that or the best, people are still doing this and it's still the best approach because it's relationship building. Like Lauren, you and I have been relationship building for so long with light pink in the DMs and on our Instagram page. And when we go to live events, when we're out in the world talking about it, when we're answering about podcasts.

It'S always like, thank you so much.

For sharing or what do you want to know about? So when you are out there building your brand, making sure that you're putting your best foot forward, you have a clear identity and also that you have some way to convert your list into your text list, some sort of opt in or into an email list.

100%. That's what I was thinking too, is like converting them for sure. So yes, use social media, but then also make sure it's not only social media. So you have their email list when you have all these other cool things to share with them. And another thing too that came up for me when you were talking about all of this was if somebody's so connected and obsessed with your brand, they're going to tell all of their friends about it versus them. Just maybe like picking up your product somewhere or finding your service without really relating to you or knowing much about you. For one, it's going to be harder for them to even buy. But for two, they're probably, if they're not feeling that connected with you or your brand or your mission or any of that, they're maybe just going to be like a one and done, whether it's a product or service. So if you can create and understand who they are, like you said, listen to what they want, what they need, what are they asking for and cater to them, then they're going to be like, oh my gosh, I actually feel seen and heard and I know friends who are similar to me who are going to want this service or product and they're going to share it everywhere on social media and in person when they're out with their friends, then those people, it's just a ripple effect. You're going to be way more successful. And it's free. You're not paying them to go. I mean you can with influencers, but you're going to have all of that organic reach and all those extra sales coming in that are repeat customers as well.

And one thing I know we're going to do when we launch is that when we find those people who are like naturally already sharing, those are the people that I want to either create a partnership with or pour into or give our attention to. Because one true fan is worth a thousand so, so people. And like who are those true fans and identifying them and pouring into those people who will just, they tell five people a week about you, they tell 10 friends to go buy it right now. They host parties and are so obsessed with your brand that it's almost like you're a frickin sponsor for them. So identifying those people and this is all through the power of social media. You literally can see it because they're sharing and tagging. So how do you think in terms of how do I want to reward and ignore Acknowledge those people who are already organically sharing your product. And again, this is the power of social media. Like if you can find these organic people and reward them with small things, like some of them just want like a free four pack, some of them just want to be shouted out and put on the Instagram page. Like it's insane how amazing these humans are. I know when I first got sent a bunch of kombucha that I love, I was so obsessed that I probably for like three months, every time I drank it, uploaded it. Now if I were to get paid for that, we could be getting paid anywhere from who knows, like maybe it's 1000 bucks a story, maybe it's 1500 bucks a story. Like if you think of how much you would have paid someone else who was an aligned fit, which I was, you know, I just did all of that marketing for what, 10, $15,000 for free? Like that's really crazy. So you want to find those people because you have to realize their value. And when you really realize their value, that's when your company will really start to grow.

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So true. And also just like creating a brand that whether it's a product or a service that people are going to post about regardless if you're yes, you want to reward people but you probably can't reward everybody and it's probably a certain amount that you can reward them. So also just keeping in the back of your mind like what is something that they'll share even if it's a quote from your page that they're going to share just to get that brand awareness out there because it really resonates with them. And you always talk about this Lori, like being the hero, what is it that this person would share because they're the hero of sharing this quote that everybody's going to love. So thinking too maybe even of just like every little aspect, every post that you're putting out. Don't just put a post out to put it out. Put it out because you want it to be shared or saved a lot or whatever it is that's actually making an impact rather than like shoot, I didn't post yet. I know I have to be consistent. I'm just going to put something up that's not really going to resonate because it's kind of a waste and it's like it's kind of that view of what your brain looks like is going to get a little messy if it's not super intentional. So have that intention where people are going to share it regardless of what you're doing to reward them. And then you'll have those people maybe, maybe you won't. Where you are paying them money to share and post like as an ad for you become an obsession worthy brand. Whether it's the product or service or just the message you're putting out there or all of it.

I love it so much. This was such a great conversation. Lauren, always, always love our chats. There's endless things to talk about. We always like sift through all these different topics and there's a million things to say and we're like what feels relevant right now? So with everything just, even just the uncertainty in the world, we are so blessed right now. I want you guys to grasp that this is such an incredible time in history that we have social media to use. So many people are like, yeah, but the ads have changed and it sucks now and you can't see your views. Okay, well what would make people see you? How do you create more interesting content? Maybe you need to shift your energy from thinking it needs to go over in this area and you need to really understand that social media is the new marketing and how are you going to become undeniable, become so interesting that people want to follow you, people want to share your stuff and it's not going to happen overnight. You guys, you got to test everything. You got to try multiple posts a day sometimes to see what's hitting. And even the most viral brands do not have seven posts a week that hit right. Sometimes it's just one. So don't stress yourself out thinking that every single day you need to be a freaking genius. You just need to be consistent with splashes of genius. That's it. So we can all do that. I can splash genius once in a while, just not every day. Okay? All right. So we're sending you so much love, Lauren. What do they text?

Text the word Light pink. L I T E P I N K. Any questions?

Sorry, two words. So light pink.

Yes. 2310496, 8363. Any questions you have? Anything you want to hear us talk about? Anything at all. Whether whatever your business is or if it's managing teams or whatever it is. We would love to see what you are interested in listening to and we.

Will shout you out so make sure you put your. I believe we get their name anyways. So we'll shout your question out and we always love to know who is listening. And until next time, earn your happy and we'll see you next week. Bye, everyone.

Bye.

Sam.