Do You Have The Tenacity To Land A Licensing Deal? With Wendy Fennell

10/09/19 • 32 min

If you’re interested in learning about what it takes to land a licensing deal—this is the episode for you! It can be a difficult process where it often seems impossible to get a licensing deal in place. However, there are some tricks of the trade that can increase your chances of getting the deal done.

On this episode of Wingnut Social, Darla and Natalie chat with Wendy Fennell of Bohemian Bungalow Design. Landing a licensing deal requires tenacity, drive, and a unique vision for a product. They’ll talk about how involved the process is, the power of networking, and how you’re never too old to be relevant!

What You’ll Hear On This Episode of Wingnut Social

[2:15] Event coming up
[3:05] licensing deals with Wendy Fennel
[5:20] How Wendy made the switch to interior design
[11:30] Her beginnings at High Point Market
[13:00] Reaching out to Mitchell Black
[17:10] The process from brain to paper
[18:20] How to market differently
[20:30] Where to start with a licensing deal
[24:45] What surprised Wendy about the licensing journey
[28:30] Where to find Bohemian Bungalow Wall coverings

Connect with Wendy Fennell

Resources & People Mentioned

You’re never too old to make a career change!

Wendy spent years in the apparel industry. She started her career at Calvin Klein in the leather division and stayed there for almost 9 years. She also spent time working for a private label manufacturer that produced custom cashmere men’s socks. Everything changed when she decided to adopt a child from Russia—she couldn’t continue traveling as much as she had been.

So for a short time, she became a stay-at-home Mom. While she loved raising her son, she was itching to get back into a career (and ready to have conversations with adults again). She enjoyed design and had often assisted friends and family with their homes. After a conversation with her sister, she decided to give interior design a shot, and actually start charging for it.

For 3-4 years it was a part-time gig. When her son started preschool, she started seriously researching what to charge and how to create a legitimate business. Keep listening as the ladies chat about High Point Market and the networking opportunities available.

How pagoda wallpaper and tenacity paved the way for her licensing deal

Wendy absolutely loves wallpaper and using it in her design. Her journey towards her licensing deal began because she had a vision of a pagoda wallpaper—but it didn’t exist yet. The week after attending High Point Market, she reached out to Mitchell Black. After multiple attempts at connecting, she finally spoke with her and was able to pitch her idea for a small collection.

Wendy originally thought she was going to pay the fee for the work they did and list the product on her site. In the end, Mitchell Black loved the collection so much that she requested to sell it on her website. Wendy was ecstatic and agreed to the deal immediately.

But it wasn’t easy—it took about 4 months of back and forth to nail everything down. She had to transpose all of the ideas floating around in her brain unto paper. She worked with the graphic design team to create a pagoda from a conglomeration of about 25 different options. She never realized how many different shades of black and blue exist!

To hear Wendy’s advice about narrowing down your niche, the surprises along her journey, and much more—listen to the full episode of Wingnut Social now!

Connect With Darla & Wingnut Social

What You’ll Hear On This Episode of Wingnut Social

[2:15] Event coming up
[3:05] licensing deals with Wendy Fennel
[5:20] How Wendy made the switch to interior design
[11:30] Her beginnings at High Point Market
[13:00] Reaching out to Mitchell Black
[17:10] The process from brain to paper
[18:20] How to market differently
[20:30] Where to start with a licensing deal
[24:45] What surprised Wendy about the licensing journey
[28:30] Where to find Bohemian Bungalow Wall coverings

Connect with Wendy Fennell

Resources & People Mentioned

You’re never too old to make a career change!

How pagoda wallpaper and tenacity paved the way for her licensing deal

To hear Wendy’s advice about narrowing down your niche, the surprises along her journey, and much more—listen to the full episode of Wingnut Social now!

Connect With Darla & Wingnut Social

Previous Episode

Is TikTok the Next Instagram?

Just in case you haven’t heard—TikTok is the new app exploding onto the scene for kids and teeny-boppers worldwide. With over 500 million downloads, it’s projected to be the next “big thing” maybe someday passing the popularity of Facebook or Instagram. So what is this phenomenon we speak of?

TikTok is an app that allows you to record short 15-second videos whose content usually consists of a music video, comedy bit, or someone completing a challenge. So how does this remotely relate to the design space? Listen to this mini-poddy episode of Wingnut Social with Darla and Natalie to find out!

What You’ll Hear On This Episode of Wingnut Social

[1:10] Should designers be on Tik Tok?
[1:50] What is TikTok?
[5:00] Advertising on Tik Tok
[6:30] Do Hashtag challenges
[7:40] The Future of Tik Tok

Resources & People Mentioned

Join TikTok as an investment in your future

For those of you just mastering Instagram—watch out—there’s a new app that is going to explode in popularity. Not unlike Snapchat or the now non-existent Vine, TikTok allows you to connect with the world through video. It’s riveting and addicting and made oh-so-popular by Jimmy Fallon.

GaryVee even touts it as the “Training wheels for future influencers and content creators”.

So what should you do? Jump in the kiddie-wagon, now. Just like every other app geared towards a specific demographic, it eventually skews towards an, ahem, slightly-older less-trendy generation... Join Gen Z and build what audience you can, now. Then, when it morphs—as every other social media app does—it’s AI will have you up and running.

Create a hashtag challenge to build a following

Hashtag challenges are the big thing trending on TikTok. It can be anything from lip-syncing a song like a Disney princess to Jimmy Fallon’s #TumbleweedChallenge. So why not embrace the space and post a design challenge?

TikTok Recently integrated a “Hashtag Challenge Plus” feature that allows sponsors to create a hashtag challenge. Their featured hashtag has a shoppable tab that allows users to make purchases in-app. Kroger took advantage of this approach when they sponsored a ‘TransformUrDorm” challenge, asking users to post dorm-room makeovers featuring products purchased at Kroger.

Come up with a catchy hashtag and challenge tweens to design their room. There are budding designers who would be crazy about sharing their space and getting some air-time. Take this opportunity to get ahead of the curve and create a niche among the next generation.

Connect With Darla & Wingnut Social

www.WingnutSocial.com
On Facebook
On Twitter: @WingnutSocial
On Instagram: @WingnutSocial
Darla’s Interior Design Website
1-877-WINGNUT (connect with us for your social media marketing needs)

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Next Episode

Why You Need to Create a Branded Hashtag for your Business

Hashtags are all the rage—which is why you NEED to create a branded hashtag for your business. A hashtag is a fun and effective way to build an authentic following. It also allows you to bring your voice to social media.

So are you ready to take your social media presence to the next level? Do you want to build a community for your followers? Listen to this minisode of Wingnut Social with Darla and Natalie to find out how to create a branded hashtag, and why it’s so important.

They share their brand new hashtag in this episode—don’t miss it!

What You’ll Hear On This Episode of Wingnut Social

[0:40] Monday Marketing Mini-sode
[1:00] Branded Hashtags
[2:15] Help separate you from your competitors
[4:20] Creating a branded hashtag 101
[5:55] Designer example
[7:00] We reveal our new branded hashtag

Resources & People Mentioned

LuAnn Nigara - LuAnn Live
LuAnn on Instagram
O’Hara Interiors on Instagram

Build a dedicated community that’s all yours with a branded hashtag

A branded hashtag is one of the best ways to separate you from your competitors. Not only that, but it gives your community a way to connect with you and each other. You can interact and share relevant content that everyone can see by visiting your hashtag.

Find fun ways to draw them into your community.

Ask them to share photos using your special hashtag, like “#WingnutWednesday”. Or post a challenge asking them to do something—like showing off their fall porch decor! The end goal is to give your followers a platform for their content.

Be creative, quirky, and clear!

Your hashtag can’t be boring. For example, “Miami Designer” is just too generic. Martha O’Hara gives us an example of a great branded hashtag: #OHMyStyledLife. It’s fun, it’s catchy, and above all it’s memorable. So give it a shot and see what fun hashtags you can come up with!

You also want to be clear with your followers why they should use your hashtag

You need to offer them value.

So what does that mean? Be clear how you will reward your followers. One of the easiest ways to do that is to share their posts on your social media when they use your branded hashtag. Your follower gets all the credit, and it will help new designers get a reach they wouldn’t have. Who doesn’t want that?!

To hear more—and finally find out what our brand new hashtag is—listen to our minisode now!

Connect With Darla & Wingnut Social