In this episode...

Laura Hargrave: Welcome everyone here at Boss It, we would love to hear from you. Join us in our Boss It community by heading over to our website, bossitclub.com and join our mailing list. As we grow, we will be launching our community of fellow Boss It BFFs, and we like you to be a part of it. 

Okay, Sophia Noreen, let's dig into this. I can't wait to tell them all about how we got here. 

Sophia Noreen: Welcome to the Boss It Podcast. My name is Sophia Noreen and I took an Etsy startup and launched it in big-box retailers within 12 months. As a creative with an entrepreneurial drive, I left my full-time career in healthcare to find better harmony between career, family, and self-care. We believe you can have it all. Yes, you can launch and run a successful, scalable business while maintaining harmony in all aspects of your life. We believe, we can learn from each other and draw on many experiences to create the best life possible. During each episode, we will share proven life hacks that will keep you on top and striving every day.

There should be no hesitation. Make a plan. Take action. We are here for you.

Sophia Noreen: What's up everyone. Welcome to another amazing episode of the Boss It Podcast. My name is Sophia Noreen, if we have not met before, I am going to be your host. Now I'm trying something new. I'm using my iPhone to record. So let's see how that works out.

And I want to welcome you to the Boss It Club Podcast and YouTube channel. We are here to tell you all about business and entrepreneurship. And if we have not met before, I was lucky enough to start a brand and a business that went into Walmart pretty quickly. And now I have many people asking for advice. So this is a reason why we've developed this channel and then the end, this podcast. So we are looking forward to sharing lots of gems with you. Today, I am going to be telling you the reason why I opted to build a brand, as opposed to just starting selling products on different platforms because what we do with our Also Sophia brand is that we do white label some products, but we also ensure that we create products that serve our customer right from conception. So we will look to see what will serve our customers and then we build the products around our customer's needs. So the question is, why didn't I just go and put an Amazon store together and go ahead and sell my products that way?

What did that have been a lot more profitable and perhaps it could be in the short term, but what I've realized now over the last two years is that people are actually looking specifically for our branded products. And for a small shop like ours, that is huge. That means that we've developed a reputation within our community and beyond with big retailers. That we are the go-to brand for specific niche products. So I'm going to tell you the reason why we are doing this. Why do we opt for selling a brand or setting up a brand, building a brand as opposed to just grabbing some products and throwing it up on Amazon or on Shopify, or any of the e-commerce platforms? And I want you to understand that it might be worth your effort as well. We want to make sure that if you are starting a business, a side hustle, you're in it for the long haul, perhaps you're just there for a quick fix, a quick cash injection. I'll tell you this, sometimes there are a lot more expenses and it may not be as profitable as you think.

Okay. Let's give you four reasons as to why you should be considering building a brand as opposed to just starting a business. And again, I know it is extremely, extremely tempting to just go ahead, grab a product, and put it on any type of marketplace, including Etsy or Amazon, Shopify, or any of the big marketplaces right now. You can just go and start making money off of e-commerce, not a problem. But taking the effort to build a brand will take an upfront investment of time and energy, but it will pay off in the long run.

The number one reason why you want to build a brand, as opposed to just building a business, is that you're going to reduce your customer acquisition rate. Now, the customer acquisition rate is basically the amount of money that you're putting up a front in marketing costs to acquire that customer with a sale. So for example, it might cost you a hundred dollars of marketing dollars to acquire your one customer. And if you can reduce your customer acquisition rate by having a brand name. Now, instead of me going ahead and spending marketing dollars for inviting customers to my brand and my store, they're coming in because of somebody else telling them, that this is an incredible brand, and I highly trust them. And it comes through a referral that is basically bringing my acquisition rate to zero. Right. And because they have such a warm connection, they're a warm lead to the brand because they've come through a referral. Because they can see that this is a brand. They can see that they trust the brand. They trust the story. They're more likely to purchase more and they're more likely to purchase sooner. So what happens next?

The second reason, number two, why you're going to want to go ahead and put the effort into making a brand as opposed to just a business is because you're going to have a really great customer return rate. We have a return customer rate of 33%, which is quite good as compared to our competitors. People are coming back over and over, and over again to purchase. And let's just say this, the products that we're offering are not the type of product that needs to be rebought. We are very diligent at Also Sophia. We really try to get products that are going to have a very long shelf life. Most of it is home decor or decoration. So once you buy it, generally for most of our products, you do not need to repurchase unless you drop something on the floor and it shatters, or you would like to give it as a gift so you're buying multiples for other people, which we've had many customers do. We do have the odd party supplies, but that goes with the saying, that party supplies generally need to be replaced if they are disposables. Generally, what I'm trying to say is to give a great return customer rate and that's likely due to the fact that customers really like us as a brand. And because we put effort into our brand, they trust us and they will come back, and they will continue to purchase.

So not only am I reducing my customer acquisition rate, I'm increasing their return rate to our store, which is great because I'm not spending very much money on marketing dollars. So again, another reason why you should spend the effort and time to build your brand and not just your business.

Okay, so let's go on number three, why you should be developing a brand and not just a business. You will develop a very close relationship with your customers through your brand. If you can instill your brand story, why did you start your business? What values do you have and how are they portrayed in your brand? That story is going to emotionally connect your customers to you and your brand. So when I say you, I know many people are like, well, I don't want to be the face of my brand. You don't have to be the face of your brand, but people want to connect emotionally to a brand. And there are countless examples of this. You will see it from Starbucks all the way to Coco Chanel. People connect to that brand. Right. And it's because of the brand story, it's because of what it stands for. It's what the emotion is when you think of the brand. Apple is a perfect example of selling emotion and they have done that so well that an apple user will remain an apple user. And you would like to emulate that with your branding. If you can connect your story, your values, and your mission of the brand to your marketing efforts, then your customer will emotionally be invested in the brand.

I have so many examples of this. I'm going to share one with you guys right now. So we have gone ahead and launched in Walmart for the third year in a row. And with a pandemic the two years previously, we had not had the opportunity to really show the demand for our product because we were in the middle of the pandemic. Every time we launched our products on the shelves at Walmart, there was a lockdown in Canada. This is a story that I'll say for another day. So make sure you subscribe and hit the bell. And eventually, I will tell this story on another podcast, if you have not heard it before or on this channel. But essentially our customers never had the opportunity to purchase the products off the shelf. So this is a first-year, year number one for us at Walmart, even though it's year number three. And I'll tell that story next time.

Pretty much, the customers are now the brand's spies in the Walmart store. So if the display is not being portrayed nicely in the store, or if it's in the corner, or if the sides are blocked, or something is happening, they are taking photographs of the half palette of the palette of the display, and they're sending it to us and alerting us that, Hey, this is not the way it should be. And the reason the customer is taking all this time and effort to do that is because they are invested emotionally in the brand. And so if you can get your community, your customers to be your ambassadors, not only are they going to go and tell people about your brand and refer others, they're going to be our Scouts.

And if somebody is saying something online about your brand in the future or if there is a retailer that may have inadvertently placed the product inappropriately in the store, like in our situation, they're our ambassadors. So my suggestion is that is in itself gold, right? Because when you're a small business, you're not going to have Scouts on, on the floor. We're not Pepsi or Coca-Cola. So we're never going to have that at this point in our journey and having a community look out for us is even better.

So I think number three is really, really strong. Build your brand story. Let everyone know what it is. Put your values out, put your missions out. And not only are you going to be reducing your customer acquisition rate because they're referring their friends. You may even get those Scouts out there watching your back when things might be going a little hairy because that's what happens with entrepreneurship. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

Okay, let's go onto number four, tip number four for why you should be building a brand and not just a business. Your loyal customers will always be with you. And you know how it is in business, there's competition and you may have your product, be it a trendy tie-dye shirt or a trendy headscarf, or whatever it is, it may go out of style. If you are not branding yourself and you're just going and selling the product because you want to make some side cash, it's a side hustle, your brain is no longer known. And once that trend is gone or they're priced out of the market, or many other reasons why your product is not selling, your business' is dead because you didn't build a brand. But if you built a brand around your business and you took the time, and the effort to brand yourself and socialize your brand.

And we'll talk about that in the next episode as to how you can socialize your brand, but this will carry your business forward. So without your brand, your commodity of whatever it is that you're selling is just the commodity and everyone can make your commodity unless you have some proprietary product or an IP intellectual property on your product, which many do not, it's a commodity in the end, right? For some decorative pieces that I make, somebody else can make the same decorative piece. But in the end, they come to our company because they know the mission, they know the values, they know the story, they trust, they've had a good experience in the past, and that is what your brand is. And now say, for example, I'm like, I don't want to sell that anymore. I'm going to sell something else, I have not lost my customer base because they know us as the brand.

And so tip number four is really strong because it basically protects your business from having to start over and over again. And I have seen businesses that have had to do that because for whatever reason the branding was off, they didn't put enough into the brand. The trend is done and then they're like, Oh no, we have to go ahead and start again from scratch. But if you have your customer list, you have your loyal customer, you stick with the same branding. You can pivot your brand. You can pivot what you're selling at any point. So that is tip number four.

And let's go from the top. We'll go through the four reasons again, as to why you should be spending time on building your brand and not just your business. Tip number one, you are going to be reducing your acquisition costs because your customers will be referring other customers to your business, and this way you'll be reducing your overall marketing efforts. You'll be inviting customers without having to put marketing dollars forward because you will have ambassadors through your customers who have had a great experience with you and identify with your brand.

Tip number two was all about your customer return rate and how as a brand, your customers will likely keep returning to your store because they've had such a great experience with your brand specifically, and you're not just a commodity. Tip number three connected with your customers with your story, with your brand mission, and your values. You want them to connect emotionally. We spoke about how Apple has done such a great job with this. And so it does take time and effort upfront, but eventually, this will pay off because tip number four was basically if your brand is strong, it doesn't matter what you're selling. If you need to pivot, you can do that and you will likely still retain your customer base. As long as of course, you're selling something within the same interest area. For example, if you're selling toys for a child and then all of a sudden you're selling home decor. You're not really filling the same customer niche. So I say tip number four loosely because I want to make sure that if you're pivoting, you're still pivoting within a category that your customer base would actually want to purchase.

Okay, guys, I hope this was helpful. And in the next episode, I am going to be sharing a couple of tips on how to go ahead and create a brand and not just a business because I realized today was all about why you should create a brand and not just a business, but how do you do it? Right? How do we do it? And how did we do it in such short order? And as a side hustle, I want to tell you how we did that. And you can use those tips and start that process immediately.

So ensure you do hit subscribe and follow. And you hit the bell if you are watching on YouTube and if you have any comments or questions, be sure to leave them below the YouTube video, you can always send us a DM on Instagram as well,

you can find us at Bossitclub. I'll link it below and remember guys make a plan and take action. And yes, you can have it all. We'll talk to you guys again next week. Take care. Bye.

Sophia Noreen: So my fellow bosses, did you enjoy that episode? Now, it's time for you to make a solid plan and take action. But first, remember to subscribe and follow the Boss It Podcast so you receive a notification whenever we drop an episode. Remember to leave us a review on iTunes. Take a screenshot of your review and share it on Instagram as a post or a story, and tag us at @bossitclub. If Instagram is not your thing, no worries. Email your screenshot to [email protected]. As a massive thank you, we will be sending you our top 50 tips for starting and scaling a business. This list is exclusively for podcast reviewers so don't miss out. Now remember bosses, make a plan and take action in all aspects of your life. Yes, you can have it all.