DTC POD: How The Best Brands Are Built

In our conversation with Kevin Lavelle, he shares his ingenious approach to building his company, Mizzen+Main, into a fashion industry success. Initially, Kevin recalls the brute force marketing efforts that shaped the early days of the brand, from going door to door to attending events to get the product in people's hands.

As their digital marketing and PR strategies matured, Kevin leveraged the power of strategic partnerships and influencer collaborations. Specifically, he cites the company's visibility boost through sponsorship deals, like the one with Tim Ferriss's podcast, and endorsement deals, like with athlete J.J. Watt.

Looking into the future with his new venture, Harbor, Kevin discusses the strategies his team is taking to enter the market of baby monitors and pediatric telehealth.

Episode brought to you by More Staffing

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On this episode of DTC Pod, we cover:
1. Influential Partnerships for Brand Growth
2. Sustainable Growth Strategies
3. Influencer and Celebrity Collaborations
4. The Tim Ferriss Effect
5. Retail Strategy Insights
6. Prelaunch Strategies and Inventory Management

Timestamps
02:13 Transitioning from Mizzen+Main to Harbor
07:20 Lessons from building a customer base for Mizzen+Main
12:42 The Tim Ferriss Effect, how a podcast propelled Mizzen+Main
14:15 Signing an endorsement deal with J.J. Watt
16:36 The necessity of authenticity and passion in successful partnerships
20:06 Making personal connections for business success
26:00 Creating technically complex, life-critical electronics
29:03 Growing Harbor by creating valuable content for parents
32:36 Wholesalers and their impact on business growth
37:11 Preparing for the pre-launch of Harbor
38:45 Building a waitlist with a refundable deposit to gauge demand
42:17 Harbor’s vision to transform sleep and wellness for parents

Show notes powered by Castmagic

Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.

Additional episodes you might like:

• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth

• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content

• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views

• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands

• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook

• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands

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Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?
Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you.

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Projects the DTC Pod team is working on:
DTCetc - all our favorite brands on the internet
Olivea - the extra virgin olive oil & hydroxytyrosol supplement
Castmagic - AI Workspace for Content

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Kevin Lavelle - CoFounder and CEO at Harbor, Founder and Chairman of the Board at Mizzen+Main
Blaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Castmagic
Ramon Berrios - Co-Founder of Castmagic

1. “Even though there was a lot to learn as first-time founders but I think our lack of experience has led to innovation and belief we can do it.” @DeeCharlemagne #DTCPOD
2. “Storytelling is really powerful especially in a world where most brands are focused on performance marketing.” @DeeCharlemagne #DTCPOD
3. “One of our first meetings was writing down the values of our company as much as it was writing down the recipes for our product.” @DeeCharlemagne #DTCPOD
4. “We traveled around in an AVEC-branded 1995 Chevy van and that content outperformed our fancy photo shoots.” @DeeCharlemagne #DTCPOD
5. “For gaining press, research your targets and share why the product is relevant to them and why it’s relevant to their audience.” @DeeCharlemagne #DTCPOD

We Speak About:

• [01:05] About AVEC
• [03:50] How Dee and her co-founder, Alex, got into CPG
• [06:30] Where AVEC’s name comes from and the brand story
• [10:40] The elements of a great brand story
• [13:35] How to create sustainable growth and brand equity
• [14:50] Dee’s strategy for generating press for your brand
• [18:00] Culture and brands that have inspired AVEC
• [22:00] Dee on overcoming challenges AVEC has faced
• [24:25] What’s next for AVEC

Building brand equity starts with a great brand story

Dee Charlemagne, Co-Founder of AVEC, joins the DTC POD to talk about brand storytelling.

A little about AVEC - it’s a premium mixer that’s all-natural, made with real juice, botanicals and spices, and low in sugar and calories.

Before AVEC, Dee worked at agencies and publishing companies. Her experience there allowed her to understand how brand communities are built.

AVEC leans heavily into storytelling in its own brand, even with its name. AVEC means “with” in French. An aspirational goal for AVEC is to have people order drinks with liquors and its flavors (i.e. Tequila AVEC Yuzu & Lime).

Many eCommerce businesses today are focused on performance marketing. While this is important, AVEC likes to lean more into storytelling.

One of the first meetings Dee and her co-founder, Alex, had revolved around brand values. These are incredibly important to build brand equity.

It’s important to give your brand personality (and be personal)

In addition to writing down brand values, Dee thinks brand personality is important. Dee suggests writing down three words that describe your brand.

The best brands are part of culture. Think about how your brand can take things from culture and include it in your story.

Pick cultures that share the same values as your brand and draw from those. For example, Supreme draws heavily from the skateboard and hip-hop culture.

As you add personality to your brand, it’s also important to be personal yourself. Dee and Alex put time every day into crafting media relationships. They even hand-deliver items themselves.

Relationships should also not be transactional. Having a very honest approach can go a long way to building brand trust and brand equity.

By continuously putting time towards building relationships, AVEC has been able to gain a lot of press.

Stay tuned as Dee also talks about how AVEC has tapped into their local community to grow, what challenges they have faced and overcome, and what’s next for the brand.

If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for influencers and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Mentioned Links:

AVEC’s website: https://avecdrinks.com/

AVEC’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avecdrinks/

Episode brought to you by Trend & Finaloop.

On this episode of DTC Pod, Izzy Joins Blaine to lead a masterclass on saving on shipping.

1. What are the most common mistakes when negotiating shipping rates?

2. What surcharges and hidden fees most commonly drain shipping budget?

3. What are the most common overlooked details that make brands lose money on shipping?

4. What type of shipping carrier is best for my store?

shownotes powered by castmagic

00:04:28 - Shipping costs = 10% of revenue

00:09:31 - Create account, leverage resellers

00:14:08 - Consult peers, ask for transparency

00:18:01 - Use lightweight services, regional carriers

00:24:41 - Optionality and reduced rates with regionals

00:28:03 - Service, volume, contract negotiation = cost

00:31:34 - Know carrier, understand data, negotiate everything

00:37:41 - Negotiate discounts; be proactive about rate increases

00:42:21 - FedEx EB increasing costs, offer discounts

00:46:16 - Negotiate for peak period costs

Episode brought to you by Finaloop, the real-time accounting service trusted by hundreds of DTC Brands. Try Finaloop free - no credit card required. Visit finaloop.com/dtcpod and get 14 days free and a 2-month P&L within 24 hours.

Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.

Additional episodes you might like:

• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth

• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content

• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views

• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands

• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook

• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands

-----
Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?
Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you.

Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?
Check out our newsletter here

Follow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!

DTCPod Instagram
DTCPod Twitter
DTCPod TikTok

Izzy Gewirtzman - Founder of Shiplion
Ramon Berrios - CEO of Trend.io
Blaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

In this episode, Jay discusses Facebook’s newest feature, Facebook Shops, and how it will impact eCommerce and influencer marketing.

Facebook has been slowly creeping into the eCommerce world with features like Marketplace and Instagram Shopping. Now they are launching arguably their biggest step into the eCommerce universe, Shops.

It comes at a time when small businesses are reeling due to the COVID-19 pandemic and as Facebook continues to add offerings to help small businesses.

This free feature will allow any brand or business to set up an online storefront on Facebook and Instagram for free, and customize it to their brand.

We’ll discuss the top reasons for why you will want to set up a Facebook Shop. We’ll also dive into what are all of the available features for Facebook Shops.

For more information on this topic, check out:

https://trend.io/blog/facebook-shops

If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for users and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

1. “In the first couple of months we focused on getting everything up and running, and as we've grown a little bit, it's more so figuring out which one of these verticals is worth us investing more time and resources to. @Lillie__Sun #DTCPOD
2. “All small brands can really benefit from investing in customer experience” @Lillie__Sun #DTCPOD
3. “The customer journey is all about awareness, acquisition and retention.” @Lillie__Sun #DTCPOD
4. For us, it's all about aligning the campaign on the core product and the core benefit, and making sure that comes across in all elements of the campaign.” @Lillie__Sun #DTCPOD
5. “Having a community ambassador program is a great way to get that one on one communication with your customers in a timely fashion. They feel they're involved and you don't have to do so much guessing because you're getting that feedback from them.” @Lillie__Sun #DTCPOD

We Speak About:

• [02:16] Lillie introduces herself and Three Ships Beauty
• [03:54] Setting a business foundation and seeing what works
• [06:02] Testing different marketing channels through trial and error
• [08:14] Elements outside of digital marketing that led to brand growth
• [12:59] Testing and tweaking the SMS marketing strategy
• [16:56] How Three Ships Beauty segments the market
• [19:38] Steps to optimize the customer experience
• [24:06] How to enhance product promotion
• [19:09] The company’s successful approach for achieving customer retention
• [26:46] A unique strategy for product launching
• [30:53] Benefits of an ambassador program
• [35:01] The process for implementing technology and resources for brand growth
• [37:31] What’s next for Three Ships Beauty and where to find Lillie Sun online

Three Ships Beauty steps to startup success

Lillie Sun, leader of growth for Three Ships Beauty, joins the POD to give some insight on the direct-to-consumer business’s growth, product launches, and the customer journey.

Three Ships Beauty is a Skincare brand that creates effective, natural, and affordable products.

Lily recognized that when it comes to startups, implementing an ambassador program will help the brand to effectively engage with their customers and organically drive awareness, leading to growth.

A unique approach was taken for product launches by limiting a creative marketing that would not exemplify what the product is about, and instead focus on orienting the campaign on the core product and benefit.

Lillie recognizes that in the first stages of growth, it’s okay for your brand to test out everything to see what works and then dial down and what processes are delivering the most benefits.

In DTC, it pays to be personable

Three Ships Beauty stands out as an eCommerce skincare company that develops 100% natural plant derived products at an affordable price.

The brand has experienced growth by experimenting with numerous marketing channels to see what works and curating a personable customer experience.

Lillie takes a unique approach to achieving growth by not only personalizing the customer experience but also the product through a skincare quiz on their website.

The brand takes additional steps to personalize their brand by segmenting their SMS channel into categories, based on what their consumers would like to hear.

Lillie recommends having a good foundation in business experience before jumping into growth roles.

Stay tuned as Lillie discusses non-digital marketing factors that led to growth why you don’t always need to be too creative with your marketing strategy.

If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for influencers and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Mentioned Links:

Three Ships Beauty website: https://www.threeshipsbeauty.com/

Lillie Sun’s twitter: https://twitter.com/Lillie__Sun