#26: The Power of Ambassadors and Building a Beloved Brand | Morgan Lerner, GoNanas

Hey everybody, we are back with another episode of Local Marketing School, and today I am bringing you Morgan Lerner, who is the co-founder and chief creative officer at Go Nanas, which is the fastest growing baking mix company that that uses bananas to make indulgent, vegan, gluten-free, and allergen-friendly baked goods. By having the consumer add ripe bananas to their mixes, they're making baked goods taste homemade from a mix and reducing food waste. So cool, right? While they launched their mixes online in 2020, they've now expanded into over 4,000 retailers, including Whole Foods and Target nationwide. Morgan spearheads their brand marketing and R&D. She also grew their social media presence to over 90,000 followers as of this recording. And their influencer ambassador program to 3,500 members with over 10 million online monthly reach. Morgan and her co-founder Annie most recently also made the Forbes 30 Under 30 2024 list. In today's conversation, we really dig into Morgan's story about how GoNanas came to life in college and the pivot that 2020 created for their business, which feels like for the best, um, for them to expand nationally, like you heard just now. And we also talk about what does it take to build a social media presence and community and a strong ambassador program. So those of you who are interested in the nuts and bolts of that, you will love this episode and Morgan's perspective on that. We talk a lot about the core identity. How do you think about brand as you expand nationally and have less control over what people's perceptions are of you when you're not, you know, directly giving someone a product to, to try? Um, and the conversation is just so fun. Morgan is such a positive lady and brings so much, um, goodness to this industry. So let's dig into the conversation. Hey Morgan, welcome to Local Marketing School.

Thanks for having me, Emily.

Yes, we finally got this on the schedule. Um, anyone who's like, you know, runs a business, and I think both of us at some points were like, oh, this doesn't work, no, this doesn't work, and it's usually me, but we're here, we did it, we're recording, we did it, we're here.

What matters?

My gosh. Okay, well, tell me about your journey to co-founding GoNanas and what inspired you to, to to do this?

Yeah, it's been a wild journey. So my co-founder and I were neighbors in the dorms at the University of Michigan. So we honestly bonded at brunch one day in a food club. We both loved food and health and baking, and we were baking one day kind of near campus and decided to healthify banana bread again. Like, we loved baked goods, but a healthy version. Of them that actually tasted good didn't exist. Um, you know, our only options on the way to class were Starbucks pastries. So kind of unintentionally we wanted to change that. And, um, in the car ride home, we came up with our name and got an LLC on campus and decided to launch it. So I don't know if we as much set out to launch a business as much as we were passionate. And, um, it kind of came out of that passion and exploration with each other. Um, and that was pretty much 8 years ago. It was a side hustle for many years, just as students, you don't have time to have a full-time job. Um, although we were baking as much as possible in business class. Um, and we've been doing it full-time for about 4 and a half years now. So, um, COVID was a big turning point for us when banana bread was blowing up and we basically took our recipe. Yeah. Remember that?

Yeah.

Um, yeah, we like to say it still is, but we took that recipe that we had made as students on campus and launched a mix and that's what really took off. So that was a big turning point, but it really started as students. Um, yeah, just the need and passion.

Yeah. So you're baking this on campus. Are you selling it? Are you like, how are you getting it out to fellow students? Assuming that's your first audience of buyers, right?

Yeah, we launched with a bake sale on campus, like really old school classic. How else do you sell baked goods? And we were kind of like, how do we sell this? So we started basically getting a commercial kitchen and driving these loaves, these handheld kind of on-the-go banana bread loaves to coffee shops, cafes, juice bars. So ultimately self-distributing to food service, a very small amount of shops. We don't do that at all anymore cuz we're all dry mixes. But, uh, yeah, that's how it began.

Yeah. Okay. So you get to the point where you're doing this, it's definitely like a side hustle. Is one of you or both of you like, I really wanna make this full-time? Are you both thinking that? Like, cuz obviously like you do this in college, you don't necessarily are like, oh, this is my career path. Right. Otherwise you probably would've just quit college to just do it if you knew.

Yeah. You know, we did have slightly different views on it. I mean, we always wanted it to be our full-time job. Like that would be the dream. I think it took a while to actually get to a point where we had a real, uh, I don't like to say a real business, but something that could support us. And so, you know, in college you get asked the question, where are you working? What's your next job? So, um, you know, I went into consulting post-college and she went into kind of CPG to learn the ropes. So. It took time to get there. I think we always wanted it to be. Um, and for me it took a little bit longer to kind of see the real proof. And I think that's, I don't think that's a bad thing cuz I think you have to listen to the market's response. And so I was not gonna like push for something that wasn't there. Um, until it was.

Yeah. Especially cuz you're like a turning point was 2020. You couldn't have predicted like this moment. What happened? So it's like, what was happening at that point? You were both working full-time elsewhere and still like making this on the side, or were you like, oh my gosh, have you seen all this content around banana bread? Like, do we need to re— like, reinvigorate this? Like, what is happening at that time?

Uh, yeah, so we'd actually started moving to a manufacturer with these ready-made loaves because we were, you know, we graduated, had jobs, and couldn't do it. Um, yeah. Knew it was kind of time. We had more demand. I think we were in about 60 stores at that time. Um, but this was also when shipping was kind of, for lack of a better word, a shit show during COVID And so we realized we actually can't ship these ready-made baked goods. Like, they're gonna arrive unwell. So we pivoted, and we had all these extra ingredients because our coffee shops and cafes and juice bars shut down during COVID So we really pivoted. We launched our first mix then, very small batch, and those started quickly taking off with social media. And, you know, the Detroit News randomly picked us up. If you ever want to see the segment, I can send it to you. It's kind of hilarious. And then we used that— those and brought those to our manufacturers instead of the mini breads and kind of ditched the ready-made. So it was this kind of crazy, um, storm, and we just completely pivoted everything and ran with mixes because that's, um, what really started taking off.

Yeah. Okay, so this is happening 2020 and you're getting some traction. Are you basically— I mean, you have to go a totally different route then. So do you sell then e-commerce-wise the mixes? Are you just like, hey, we're gonna try to get into local grocery? Are you doing both simultaneously?

Um, no, we were basically exclusively e-com. Um, we started diving in a little bit more to social media and our goal was, you know, how do we pay ourselves and be profitable? Just because, um, you know, we were hoping now that this could be a full-time job. So we created our ambassador community. We launched that and we started with 25 and then became 50 and started just amassing, um, you know, more and more ambassadors that helped us get the word out organically. So I would say it was, it was social media, our ambassador community, and then we started doing these like flavor drops where we would launch limited edition flavor and see kind of a spike in sales and excitement. So that was really how we launched D2C. Um, and now it's core of what we do. I love our flavor drops, but it was all just this experiment to try to—

Yeah. Okay. I wanna ask you about ambassadors, but I wanna ask you like what's been like The most surprising flavor drop that did you, that maybe you didn't anticipate would do as well as it did, or was like a unique flavor combo?

Apple cider donut has completely popped off every single year. And I just didn't expect that. I mean, it's such a fun, I think it's 'cause I'm not like an apple pie gal or I'm not like an apple dessert gal, but people are crazy for that flavor. And it, every year I'm like, is it gonna do that well? It's like our best selling coffee. People love it. So it's your pumpkin. Oh, cool.

Yeah, you definitely like— I usually gravitate towards like a pumpkin, like I would assume in fall, but you got your apple people.

So I like that. Yeah. Yeah. You can make donuts. So people love making something else with it. It's almost like they feel like they've made a donut from scratch when they used our mix and put it in a donut mold, you know? Very satisfying. But it makes you feel— yeah, exactly. You're like, yeah, that's me.

I, yeah, I was like, I was wrestling with this. Um, so you spin this up, e-com, DTC, and you're like, hey, we're gonna, we're gonna use ambassadors. Are you like, hey, people on social media, like, here's some free, free stuff. Like, will you talk about us? Is that kind of the initial, or you like, no, we built out a program. We knew exactly what it was gonna be like to grow it. Or like, how did you? How does that start for you?

So funny. I feel like people always assume you have it all figured out and really you're just like totally figuring it out as you go. Yeah. So no, we definitely didn't have a whole program structure. I, and I don't even have a marketing background. For me, it was all about community and people. And so I just started making connections with our most loyal and excited consumers. And even our social content is and was just spotlighting our community and tapping into what they want and asking what they want and looping them into the behind the scenes. So it was kind of, um, I think they went hand in hand. So it was really tapping into those loyal engaged followers online, inviting them to the program and looping them in on kind of all that was going on and giving them some fun perks, but not actually free products. So our ambassadors get a discount to purchase their own product and can earn all these rewards. But it's very much like make, you know, choose your own adventure, make your own adventure.

Yeah. Yeah. That's so fun. So would you say the persona of an ambassador is someone who loves baking or like who are some of your most successful ambassadors?

Yeah, I think the foodie community for sure. It does not have to be someone who is a big baker just because I almost feel like we're targeting the people who love baked goods but aren't necessarily or don't identify themselves as bakers. But we make it easy and possible because the mixes are easy and taste so good and are made with simple ingredients. So it tends to be more of just the foodies who love, you know, putting something out on the table, making it look good, sharing it with people.

Um, yeah, yeah, that makes so much sense. So essentially, like, it would be an affiliate marketing structure as ambassadors, right? Like a lot of DTC brands— um, do you build out a community for them to like offer like, um, trainings or keep them motivated, or is it really self-sustained once they sign up?

Yeah, it's a little bit of both. I think there's some great softwares and platforms that help really automate everything, but I think you always have to be providing new opportunities for them to get involved and still focus on the community aspect, cuz I think that's what keeps people in long term. Um, so it's kind of a little bit of both.

Yeah. Do you feel like you've done anything that's been like, if another CBG brand's listening, like how, what can they learn from your experience of building and kind of investing in community?

Yeah, I think, you know, people, there's a lot of things you can do to give people perks and fun benefits and free things. And I think there's an element that that's just how humans work. But you can't forget the— like, they just like free stuff. They do. Yeah, they do. And that'll keep you in. But long term, it is that community play. So how can you offer something that's unique? For us, it's early access to our flavors and then layer it. Is it, you know, the founders emailing and setting up events? You get that personal touch. Are you keeping them in the loop on exclusive behind the scenes and what's really going on? Are you asking them for feedback? So I think there's that additional layer, even in social media, that is so important and that will help you stand out because everyone has their own flavor and authenticity and way of doing it. So get clear on what makes you as a brand and you as leaders or whoever's running the program authentic and unique. Lean into that and then layer in the incentives and the, you know, giveaways, yada, yada.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's super helpful. So, okay, we're stage 2020 and you're kind of going the direct-to-consumer and now you're in 4,000 stores, right? So like something changed. What happened?

You're growing great. Yeah. Oh my gosh. A lot has happened in the past 4 years. I think the biggest turning point was, you know, D2C, we saw a lot of healthy growth, which is exciting, and we got all this data from Shopify to be able to then start pitching grocery stores. Um, and we joined the Mondelēz accelerator. I don't know if you're familiar with Mondelēz. They own, um, you know, Toblerone, Ritz Crackers, Oreo, all these big brands. So they basically gave us an MBA in CPG and taught us a lot of what we needed to know going into retail because it's just this whole other world. And yeah, you know, once you get on the shelves, it's super competitive and you have to stay on shelf. And I don't think people realize that. So we wanted to get really smart on retail and then started pitching retailers. I believe it was like 2021, 2022. We raised a little bit of capital to be able to also go into grocery because it's such a pay-to-play space. Unfortunately, or better, I would say unfortunately. And then that takes a year to actually get on shelf. So when you, you know, submit or pitch yourself to Whole Foods, if you get accepted a year later, you'll be on shelf. So it's this whole process. We just started hitting the shelves in 2023. Yeah.

So what has that experience been like? Because it feels like you're You're further removed from the customer, right? So you're like, okay, well, I hope you're buying it and liking it. Like, what is that? What does that do to your psyche? I feel like that would be hard to not release control because it's like, it's such a great growth path.

Yeah.

But, and you lose that kind of like, you can't just email them cuz you don't know who they are necessarily.

Yeah, I know. That's so true. I think I've always stayed really close to our D2C. Business and I still do. So that keeps me feeling connected. I think they're totally different worlds. What's cool about grocery, especially being nationwide, is the discovery. So I love, you know, even still checking our posts or our tags or random outreach, um, outreaches from people and they've found us from Target or Whole Foods. So I think it's just the coolest discovery and there's nothing like walking in a store and seeing your product because ultimately that is where people shop for food and shop for baking mixes. Businesses. There's still a market for D2C, but it is all in retail. I think the coolest part too was, you know, if you can do it well in retail, you can have, you have a large business on your hands and can really reach a lot of people. I think D2C for the most part for food has its limit. And so retail is kind of this test of are people really going to like you or do you really have something that can be in grocery stores nationwide for good, which is our goal. So seeing the data and the numbers after being in retail, um, for, you know, a few years now has been so exciting because then it's like, okay, like, we are actually reaching people and people are coming back and we're, you know, in the top of the category. So that's been so, so exciting because it just shows how much potential we have.

Totally. And you're doing something like— people are familiar with baking mixes. The differentiator for you is banana that goes in as the wet ingredient, right? Is that pretty much the biggest thing?

Like, yeah, I mean, that's a huge part, right? Um, and we're often placed next to bananas in the grocery store because you can pick them up together. But I'd like to say it's way more than that. It's the formula and the flavor behind it. So, um, you know, the formula that we were kind of testing for all those years as undergrads, when you taste GoNanas, it's not like you're classic banana bread. It just has this really indulgent, yummy taste that you would never know that it's vegan and gluten-free. So I do think it's the formula with the banana, and then you layer on the brand and all that other fun stuff that— yeah.

And it's like such a fun brand, right? You see like all of the products on the shelves and you're like, oh, this actually, this stands out. It feels like— do you get a younger demographic based on like the playfulness and fun ness of the brand, if you will, like, please take a seat.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think packaging, like you said, when you're just on shelf and you're so removed from the customer, packaging is everything. And it's something we consistently, pretty much every year, we're changing something. So it's really fun. Um, yeah, I think, you know, our customer is female, so our branding plays to that really well. And the funness, I think helps us stand out on shelf and attract new customers. But some of that you're like, I have no idea.

I hope you like it. Hope you grab it. Thank you.

Yeah. Yeah.

So any, any advice for anyone who's like getting retail ready, getting ready to pitch to like the Whole Foods, the Targets of the world? Like, what do you feel like you did right? What did you do wrong? Anything you'd do over?

Yeah, I would say two things. I think One is building your case study from the very beginning. Any data we could get, even if it was a mom-and-pop shop and we got any kind of sales data, we started building our case study and then using that to pitch retailers. And we're consistently updating, refining, improving that quote-unquote case study. And that's so key when you get into retail because that just only becomes more and more important. Um, and then also just use the feedback and lean on the feedback from your customers and continuously be improving and doing something different because the product is the most important thing. And that's ultimately, if you have a good product and then, you know, can really learn how to do retail, you'll be a lot more successful than if you're just throwing a lot of money at something that isn't really there or isn't really different or isn't offering something unique and valuable. So I kind of like to say pair those two things. It's like build your data and listen to it. Like really, um, yeah, try to improve and do something different.

Cool, cool. That's super helpful. Um, when it comes to your social media presence, you have so many followers. You're gonna hit that 100K mark if you haven't already, right?

Soon, hopefully.

Let's just plan on it. Anyone listening, go follow GoNanas.

Like, come on, let's get that 100K.

I would say, I mean, that's super impressive. What are some of the strategies you use to build that type of following and like, is it what you would've expected it to be at such a high follower count?

Mm-hmm. No, thank you. Yeah, I think we're always trying to brainstorm new ways because social media is just always changing and I never wanna be stale as a brand. Yeah. So I don't like just doing giveaways, for example. I'm like, okay, can we grow in a more, yeah, innovative, authentic, organic way than just throwing giveaways out there? So I think. Layering lots of tools. Um, you know, giveaways is a simple one if you're just getting started, but I love brand collaborations and just basic innovation. So we do a lot with influencer and brand collaborations at the product level, and that gets so many eyes and you're naturally combining networks to get more people. I think, you know, paid ads help as well. That's something we've layered in over the years, but I love the kind of growth that comes from true innovation, whether it's partnering with a brand or influencer or just making really innovative content and reaching people in that way. Um, so there's so many ways.

There's so many ways. Do you spearhead that effort or is that someone you partner with or how does, what does your kind of marketing team composition look like?

Yeah, we're still a super small team. Yeah. Um, do all of our partnerships and product innovation, which I love. Uh, we do have someone who helps us on the paid social and organic social side. We have, um, someone also who does our email and SMS marketing. Those things were really big and important investments because I am by no means an email or SMS or ads expert.

Yeah.

So, you know, we've built that kind of small but mighty team, but I still do our partnerships and product.

Oh, cool, cool, cool. So. That's super helpful from the socials perspective. And then you kind of shared earlier on in our convo, like your ambassador community was like, you started with 20 people and now you have like 3,500 people who are ambassadors, which is incredible. Again, like how do you think about building that community? What's, what are some lessons other people can learn from your experiences, your mistakes, your wins? Yeah.

Oh my gosh. So many. Um, people love to feel seen and feel valued. So from the very beginning, and it's something I, I still want to do more of, that's the challenge as we get bigger, is spotlighting our ambassadors and just like hyping them up. So when we had 25 ambassadors, I truly believe and still do that they're like the coolest people, right? Like, I can't believe these people want to rep our product. And so I would take them up, share them on social, DM them, become their best friends. Like they were just super important, still are. So we try to invest in them and spotlight and hype them up. And then it became known that we have these ambassadors. It was kind of dual marketing and really supporting and retaining those ambassadors. So we tend to get a pretty healthy, you know, inbound outreach of people just applying on their own, and we still put it out there. That we have this program. So I think that was really key is just making the people in the program feel really special and valued and having that kind of feed itself.

Cool. Yeah. I mean, easier at 20 than 3,500, but there are ways to— there's like, there are so many great tools and also just like prioritizing with your time. Like, yeah, you show up for these people in a way that makes them feel validated and seen and appreciated. And it does go a long way. I don't think people I don't know that as many brands really own that. They'll be like, yeah, our customers are really important. I'm like, you have a weird way of showing it, or not, like you don't have a way of showing it, you know? So like, yeah, you're like, are you actually listening to them, right? Are you really doing what it takes to build that stickiness and brand experience, you know? So it's—

yeah, well, it is easier when it's smaller, and I think like Yeah. So a lot of people think it's almost in tension with scaling of like, how do you reach a lot of people and grow, you know, your sales, but then also make every single person feel valued? And I do think that gets harder as you grow. That's why I'm always still talking about it. Cool. Because it's like, how do you do this? Um, so it's just kind of recognizing that both are important. Yeah.

Maybe. So I was thinking through like, how do you balance your authenticity and who you are at the core as you scale nationally? How do you think about that? Because that has to be, you know, when you're in 10,000, 20,000 stores, like, do you do things differently? Like, what does that look like as you, you scale?

Yeah, it's such a— I think it's such a challenge, and I, I don't have a perfect answer because I think it's something I think all the time because that is the marketing that I know and love, is that authenticity piece. And I don't think you have to lose that as you grow. I think it's just you have more to consider. Um, I think your audience gets bigger and you're considering all different kinds of voices. Um, maybe you have retailers who are watching your social media. So I just think there's different considerations. Um, like professionalism is some, is a real thing because it comes with trust. So, um, I think the honest answer is I'm still figuring that out, you know, um, and just considering both and kind kind of trusting my gut along the way and leaning on people who have done it. I think I'm kind of in this phase of reaching out to bigger people in the space and learning how they do it because, um, yeah, I only have my one experience of it.

Right, right. And being open to be like, how do you do this? By the way, I don't know that I know yet. Can you help me know? Yeah.

I'm like, oh, what's a brand strategy? Okay, I'll do that.

Like, You're like, I know this mix and I know like our packaging is great. Now it's like the next level, you know?

Right, right. I know it innately.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So cool. So as we wrap, I would love to hear what's next for Gonanas. Like, anything on the docket that you can tell us about? Any way we can continue to support you? Um, tell us all the things.

Oh, I love this question. Um, you know, consistently growing in retail, so hopefully we'll be in more retailers near you, although I can't disclose any just yet. Follow along, go underscore Nana's on Instagram. So yeah, I think continuing to grow in retail and build our team. We're still pretty small, but just continuing to grow that. And then let's see, fun flavor launches. We're launching a holiday menu in December. That's going to be really great. We have pancake mixes and cookie mixes now, so lots of fun flavors coming up. I'm gonna have to send you a big fun care package.

It's like, I will order right after this. Absolutely. And everyone else listening too better do the same.

Uh, and if you're not hungry after this, I don't know. I'm like, I want some banana bread. Um, yeah.

Yeah.

So lots of fun flavors, collaborations, new doors, grow on the team, all the things. Yeah.

Cool. Well, So fun getting to know you and just hearing about how you invest in community, how you've taken this from dorm room to online to 4,000 stores. Like, we didn't even unpack probably all of, like, the stuff you've learned in the trenches, you know, but there's so much more. So maybe we'll just have to do this again once you can make your big announcement. But, um, no, I appreciate your time on the podcast today, and I'm sure everyone listening will get a lot of benefit from your story. So thanks, Morgan.

Oh, thanks for having me, Emily. Yeah, we'll have to do a part 2.

Part 2 sounds good. All right, that is a wrap on today's episode of Local Marketing School. Thank you so much for tuning in. Please don't forget to subscribe, rate, leave a review in your favorite podcast app, and we'll catch you on the next episode.