Hashtag Influencer

Deepa Prasad is the Director of Brand & Content Marketing at Feeding America, the largest-hunger relief organization in the United States, whose mission is to advance change in America by ensuring equitable access to nutritious food for people who struggle to put food on the table. Prior to Feeding America, Deepa has worked at many national advertising agencies on food brands such as Kool Aid, Capri Sun, Velveeta Cheese & McDonalds. In her role at Feeding America she works with partners to create and distribute public service announcements to generate awareness for the issue of hunger. Many people are not aware of the scale of hunger in this country and that it affects people in every county in every state. It can be difficult to create a sense of empathy with the issue overall as there is still stigma around hunger in America. Deepa brings her experience in advertising and brand building to bring awareness of food insecurity and for people to take action.

Kristen Thomas is a former Foster Youth and Foster/Adoptive mom. Currently residing in Raleigh North Carolina, working towards her License in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She is working as the Social Media Manager for One Simple Wish, whom has many programs to support those affected by foster care and also part-time for a program called Hope and Vine that employs and mentors young women who have aged out of foster care. Kristen really loves adventuring with her teen adoptive daughter Elise, always being outside, and snuggling with her sweet mini Labradoodle, Honor. Recent media appearances include being a guest on several foster care-related podcasts like "Fearless Fostering" and "A Longer Table" and having her story featured on a PBS Special with Lidia Bastianich. Kristen appreciates opportunities to advocate for foster youth in and out of the system, along with the amazing programs that are making real differences for those affected by foster care. 

Dylan Katz is a volunteer for One Simple Wish

Bari Baron is a Sales Specialist at Multipet International, Inc, a company that designs and supplies unique pet products throughout the world. Being part of a family run business means the creativity and innovation of pet toys has always been in her DNA. She focuses her sales on dog toys, cat toys, and reptile accessories to major retailers. While working primarily on sales, Bari has also made it her goal to support Multipet in its social media presence. Additionally, she has prioritized the company’s environmental sustainability goals by helping to further promote eco-friendly practices.

Stephanie Harris is the owner & CEO of PartnerCentric, the largest woman-owned performance marketing agency in the US. A veteran of the space, Stephanie got her start as an award-winning affiliate program manager, personally managing at one time some of the largest programs in the PartnerCentric portfolio today. Her tenure in the industry, and philosophy that in order to lead you have to know how to do every role, has given her a comprehensive view of the industry as well as the ability to propel it forward with vision, innovation and drive.

She has been named a PerformanceIN Top 50 Industry Player three times and has held multiple speaking and moderating engagements at industry conferences such as Affiliate Summit (East and West), CardCon and Capital One's Women in Business Panel.  Her writing has been featured in FeedFront magazine, PerformanceIN and numerous other publications, and you may hear her speak on trends in leadership, culture-building, and the future of affiliate marketing through social networks such as Forbes Agency Council and LinkedIn.

Stephanie Harris lives in New York with her husband and four children.

Michael “Mike” Arons started working at Carriage House Imports, Ltd. straight out of college in the fall of 2006 (University of Indiana, Kelley School of Business). He began as a Marketing Assistant learning all aspects about sales, marketing and the regulatory complexities associated with the alcohol industry where he then progressed to become a Marketing Manager and now I'm the Director of Marketing for the company. Mike works directly with Carriage House Imports’ regional sales team to develop and implement marketing strategies that benefit both B2B and B2C objectives. Carriage House imports, markets and sells products from Europe, including their flagship brands of Verdi & Sparkletini and Figenza Mediterranean Fig Vodka. Mike was a part of the original team (2010) that helped conceptually develop and market Figenza which has now become the Fig Vodka market leader in the U.S. distributed in 24 states, with double digit growth year-over-year.

Hashtag Influencer is back! Brought to you by BabbleBoxx. CEO, Founder and host, Sherri Langburt, connects with brands, experts and content creators alike to discuss hot topics, advertising and industry trends, best practices, and more. 

Meg Harrell is an entrepreneur, influencer and creator of megforit.com. She is a mother of two and runs her MEGFORIT digital brand from home in Central Florida. In addition, Meg provide tips to the medical community through TikTok from her experience as a Registered Nurse (RN). Meg loves to practice minimalism in every way, including travel, fashion, home design, and parenting. Her blog and social media presence inspires mothers to pursue their dreams and find joy in simplifying life. She will encourage you to take your ordinary life and make it extraordinary!

So right now I am in central Florida. We just moved here a couple of months ago.

Awesome. 

Yeah, I'm loving it. 

Where did you move from? 

Well, we were living in a tiny house RV, so we were kind of moving around constantly before COVID and everything. But we had like a little main base in North Carolina. So we would always like go back to North Carolina. 

I would say it all started in 2015. It was just a really, really rough year for me and my therapist suggested I start a journal or a blog just cause I express myself so much better writing. And so I did, and I wrote about everything I was passionate about and what stage of life I was in all of that.

I literally just dumped it and That was the Meg for it brand. I don't know where that name came from. It just like came to me one day. I thought it was funny and kind of cheeky. And that was the first blog that I started, the first brand that I started. And then I just started to learn SEO and best practices in the industry and started following other big bloggers and saw what they were doing.

And it, it grew and exploded. And then about two years ago is when I really did start the nurse Meg. Brand. I just wanted to reach more nurses. I was working as a night nurse for the last 13 years. Oh my God. We just wanted to reach more nurses. I had so much knowledge and so many successful little resources that I saw my little baby nurses use and I just wanted to reach more people.

So I just decided to copy paste, start a blog and do all the same things that I did with the first brand. And now I'm here doing two different brands. So I have so many questions. I don't even know where to start. Let's start with the fact that you actually started with a blog because so many people now don't.

It is a lot more to maintain, but it is yours and. In a second, an entire platform can disappear. Like we saw, I think it was in 2018 where Facebook and Instagram were down for a whole 12 hours platforms will come and go.

But your blog is your blog. And I think even if you just want to be an Instagram influencer, I really think you need to own a space and have a blog and maintain it. If you really want to be a true influencer and transition from a hobby to a business.

I'm a big believer in YouTube university. There's some, I mean, I even learned how to drive, stick shift on YouTube. Like there's so many free resources and if you want to support, you know, a creator and buy their course and, you know, kind of get their story along with it.

That's super valuable, but if you're just starting out and you don't have a budget to like invest in, in big courses, watch as much YouTube as you can, like replace any like entertainment, Netflix, Hulu, whatever, with learning on YouTube. It's so, so great. There's so many great resources of people that are ready to share their knowledge.

It's so funny. Cause you forget, like I'll be in the midst of something. And then I forget, I could just go to YouTube and I'm like, how do I do this? And then it's like, oh. Let me just go to cute. Even if it's like a stupid computer glitch, it's always there. There's always a video for literally everything.

Even like, I had some trouble with my RV of like how to empty a certain tank or do something and I was Googling it and it didn't make sense. I needed a visual. So then I just, I found a YouTube video. It was like two minutes long and walked me through it and it solved my problem. Like. Yeah, I'm doing that because last year I planted all these seedlings and none of them survive, even though I grew a lot of leaves, but this year I'm like, okay, I'm going to watch the YouTube videos.

I'm going to figure this out. Yep. We're in the age where knowledge is free. You guys. So I'm just thinking that this is like, making me think you might launch a third channel. I think you are, you still are being at all or no. No, we sold it. I grown up and we bought a house. Now I'm officially adulting. Yeah, that's always good.

So they are totally and completely different in their content. And that is because the audiences are so completely different. So for the Meg Fort brand, it is really 30 to 40 five-year-old. Millennial females. They're mostly mothers. They mostly have kids under 10, and they're interested in things for their home things for their family and travel.

And minimalism is kind of like the big home thing. So that's like that audience. So everything I make, I kind of like think of this one, avatar. Female who's a mother, who's a millennial who's interested in travel and minimalism and loves her family. But then the nurse Meg side is completely different.

So my audience there is healthcare workers, not just nurses, it's ages 20 to 30. So they're a little bit younger. They're a little bit hipper. That's why there's more on tech talk. And it is also mostly female, but there's a good percentage. There's about like 30% that are male in healthcare that, that follow that channel.

So the content is completely different. The audiences are completely different. So when I think about. Creating content and like, what can I provide that will be beneficial and will be valuable. I like to imagine my entire audience as one person. So I create this like mental avatar of that person. And what do they want to hear?

What do they need? What would be valuable to that person? 

Absolutely. I think everybody. I mean because of quarantine and things like that, everybody kind of went online to socialize and to get human interaction. And I mean, nurses and doctors and healthcare workers did the same. Everybody kind of went on there and I think. My Tok Tok account that I started for the nurse Meg.

I really did start late, but the brand has been around for two years, but I just started the tick TOK in November of 2020. And it like exploded. We're almost to half a million followers and pliable. It really says two things. It really talks about how generous the algorithm, the Tech-Talk algorithm is compared to, you know, Facebook and Instagram and Twitter.

They are so generous. They will show your video to who wants to see it. And it really shows that when you niche down to a very specific thing, to a very specific audience, it will explode. You will have success.

I did have a couple of Tok Toks go viral. I mean, like in the millions of views. Wow. I do have one tech talk that has 10 million views right now. Oh my God. It was because I talked about like a paranormal thing that happened to me at work. It's a segment that I do on my talk scariest things that have happened to me as a nurse.

Yeah. I feel like that like intrigue of just a relatable thing that happened. And then also the intrigue of something, little paranormal and stuff. I like, I don't care how long you have worked in healthcare. Like every night shift. Healthcare worker has a little bit of like an interest in the paranormal.

Like there's just things you see that happen that you're like, I can't explain that. So that was, so now, like I want to ask what they are. Give me an example. Could you share one just equipment going off. Well, like a call bell going off in a room that's completely empty or seeing the bedroom by itself.

God. Okay. I have tons of stories. Like that was the most viral thing that happened that I was like so proud of. But I think the most exciting, crazy collaboration was in 2018. When I started to write about my passion for Disney, because I, we had season passes and I went as a kid and I just wrote about like what it would be like when you first go there and.

Tips and tricks that like many people didn't know about and Disney actually reached out to me and they were like, would you like to go on a cruise and write about it and make a video? The ultimate, I always wanted to work with them. I never imagined that I could with my little tiny blog in my little corner of the internet and they loved it.

They sent me and my family on a cruise, and then I created content for them. They loved it. They shared it on their channels. And then. Later that summer, they said, can we fly you out to LA? We're doing a movie premiere for Christopher, Robin, will you also create such and such content? And I was like, over the moon, I was like, that's it mean it's me acknowledged that I'm a content creator.

That's it? I could die. That is amazing. Use the work with them now. I do. Yes. I do work with them every once in a while. They have something new coming out in the parks they'll invite me and my kids to, to come down and take a peek at whatever's happening or a new festival or something. That is so cool.

I remember the first. Paid one that I did. It was a blanket company and they said, we're gonna pay you money.

I think it was $200, which was just astronomical. It was such a big deal. I'm going to pay you $200 to write a blog post and take four pictures. Of our blanket, like you using the blanket, my kids using the blanket and I was, oh my gosh, I was so excited to like, get paid money, to be creative. It was the first time that that had ever happened to me.

Cause I had been a nurse in it. You know, you didn't, I didn't realize that you can get paid to be creative and do a good job on the last day. Do it again. That was the most exciting time ever. And that was in. 2016. So I had had my blog for about a year. Wow. Only working on it before I ever made a penny.

You have to get the roots before you get the fruit. So it does mean that you're going to work hard on building your audience and building your platform, whether you choose to do a blog or social media or both, you really do have to put the time and effort.

Before, you're a valuable billboard because that's what brands are paying. They're paying for your social media expertise. They're paying for your photography skills or videography skills. They're also paying for your audience and you have to provide value for brands to want to work with you. So you can start off by pitching them and seeking them out.

But when you do that, you really have to come with. I have this valuable billboard instead of saying, oh, I love your chocolate. And I really want free chocolate. And I will, I'll post a picture on Instagram and it's not quite the right angle. But if you come with my audience, saw me eating this chocolate on stories.

They expressed all this interest. This is exactly who my audience is. And I think it aligns with your ideal customer. Let's have a partnership.

I mean, there's so many ways to do that. There are companies that will do affiliates, you know, with, oh, you get 2% of the sale. There are companies that give 50% of the sale with no cap, and that's obviously more valuable, I think in every way you get what you pay for.

So, if you just want to work with, you know, people who will take your free product and it's something that isn't. Super valuable. You may not get great engagement. You may not get great return on investment if you're just willing to give out your product or just work affiliates. But if you do want to reach more people and you want your marketing to be valuable, I think you have to pay.

I mean, no one would walk into an advertising firm and say, Hey, I'll give you a chocolate. If you create a billboard and hire a model and hire a photographer. You know, like you, you do have to pay for quality advertising. Yeah. And it's the audience, but like what you just said, there is so much that goes behind the scenes, the writing, the photography, the staging, it's just, it's the list goes on and on.

Yeah. And that's why I think. Digital marketing is the future. And influencers are the future of advertising, especially with what we learned in COVID. I mean, an influencer is literally everybody. They are an entire advertising firm in one person. 

And a lot of people realized, wow, I. Got great return on investment. Look at how many people purchased because of using influencers. It's a huge gap. If there's a huge translation, if you're just putting ads in magazines and newspapers and commercials versus somebody that people love and follow and trust saying, Hey, I use this, my kids used it.

I think it's pretty great. Why don't you try it out? I mean, conversion rates through the roof. 

Yeah, I've seen a lot of virtual events Disney it, speaking of Disney Disney had a virtual event last week where they sent some influencers a box and it was advertising their new cruise ship.

That'll come out next summer and. You know, almost like a little virtual. Press release kind of thing that they would usually do in person, but everybody watched at home. I've seen a ton of that kind of thing. Launches where they invite influencers and they'll send them something in the mail and they'll say, let's hop on zoom all together and we'll do a presentation something like that.

So, yeah, I've seen a lot of that because of COVID, but I've also seen a lot of people choosing influencers because they can't hire out a studio and a photographer and a model. 

Oh, an increase for sure. It's a lot less, I guess, chasing and pitching on our end, especially when I talked to other influencers. I do have a couple of groups of influencers that we kind of just share tips and talk about where we are in our business. It was definitely a lot of chasing at the beginning of honey.

And then now it's like, We're turning down work and saying this, I literally don't have time to accept another campaign. Can can I do it maybe in the next quarter or can we find some other type of partnership? But I do see a huge explosion. 

Yeah. Yeah, life around here is very calculated. I literally have a schedule of what happens every hour. For my business for my kids or everything and this is the first year that I decided to start hiring things out. So a video editor somebody to do SEO for YouTube. Somebody to help me manage emails and to pitch someone, to do my Facebook ads someone to handle my Pinterest.

It is a lot of moving parts. That's amazing. But yeah, now I've gotten to the point where I can ask for help and hire out, help. 

My main website is Meg for it. Dot com, M E G F R I t.com. And it's pretty much the same across the board.

On Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tik TOK. You can just find me by typing Meg for it. And then my second brand nurse, Meg, R N. Dot com and it's the same on Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok. You can find me just type in nurse, Meg RN. And you'll see me. 

I love that question. I definitely have no hate in my heart for any influencer or like creating it on my business or building the future of this industry.

But it is a little bit embarrassing, like how obsessed I am with the bucket list family. It's like a family who constantly travels. And right now they live in Hawaii and I'm like obsessed with them. Every time they update any platform, I get an alert. I get a notification. I'm obsessed with the mom, Jessica.

I admire her as an influencer, as a mom, as an athlete. I just want to be best friends with them. 

Dylan Kim is the Head of Marketing at Brevite, a direct-to-consumer backpack company that makes fun, functional and innovative backpacks designed for everyday life. Dylan co-founded Brevite in 2015 with his brothers Elliot and Brandon after searching for a bag that could support their everyday needs, function as a camera bag for travel, and still look good. Over the last six years, the brothers have bootstrapped Brevite from a prototype they designed in college, to an Instagram famous brand with six products and over 2,000 five-star reviews. Today, Brevite is one of the top camera bags on the market, focused on creating sustainable bags that support their larger mission of giving back to the greater good.

I think a lot has changed, right? Like the, world moves very quickly now and I think because we've been around for so long kind of identifying those changes you know, even some of these platforms, like Tik Tok and we're seeing a lot of success there. Tik Tok wasn't even a part of the conversation 18 months ago, I don't even think I really, necessarily knew what it was. I kind of seen some white advertising. So the fact that it's, you know a bigger part of our mix today is, is really interesting. So I, I would say that's the biggest thing I've noticed over the past six years is that there's just, you know, the plans change the emphasis just where people spend their time. All of that has just shifted so dramatically. 

So we are actually available on Amazon, but that's part of this. There’s just like meeting the consumer where they are something that we really, really focus on is is really kind of cultivating a community. So that's, you know, Instagram has been amazing for that and just cultivating a community of, you know, very avid, you know, photographers, filmmakers, and just really passionate people, I would say. And really just having like a place for them to kind of showcase that and then of course, you know, like our email lists, our SMS lists. Once people are kind of like in our community, making sure that we're really communicating with them and making them feel included as well.

So the, the very startup-y story was about six years ago, I was traveling abroad. I was looking for an affordable bag that could hold my camera and other things that looked nice. And so taking those kinds of. Three simple aspects, you know, affordable you know, could fit things besides your camera and then it looks nice and I couldn't find anything. So my older brother was trying to get into design school at the time, and he's also a phenomenal problem solver. So I went to him and I was like, Brandon, can you help me find this bag? He couldn't find it anything either. And he was like, why don't we just, you know, why don't we just make one?

And so like that day, or very soon after we went to a thrift store, got a sewing machine, went to Joann's fabric and we're off to the races. So he actually taught himself how to sew, made a bag. And then we kind of just were off to the races from there launched a Kickstarter that became organically kind of fully funded. And then before we knew it, we were shipping out 300 bags all over the world and then it just kind of never stopped. And so even today we no longer sell that bag, but kind of the the core of what we do on the product front is very much the same.

So designing these kinds of, you know, fun, functional bags, they can hold your camera, they can hold other things. And they come in a bunch of different colors. So really kind of never losing those core tenants, even though the product has evolved pretty drastically over time. 

So we just reached out to like pretty much anyone we could find, you know, like we reached out to other Kickstarters where you're shut to other brands and, and maybe it was part like naivete. But we ended up getting a whole kind of myriad of responses. So you know, everything from, oh, here we are. Here's who we use. We'd get no response or some people would be like, I'm not telling you who I use. And then, so we kind of using that approach, just reach out to a bunch of different people, figured out the names of a couple and then kind of just went from there. And then we're no longer kind of with our original manufacturer as we've kind of grown in scale at our needs. And. Requirements have definitely changed a lot. But that was like kind of the great first foothold was just kind of reaching out to as many places as we could find, like learning kind of like the ins and outs and the jargon and all of that. And then kind of evolving from there. 

Yeah. So I think it's, it's great as a platform to validate an idea. So it's not like we came in like well funded or anything like that. Before we launched the Kickstarter. So the Kickstarter was our first real introduction to the world. And so I, it really validated the product very quickly. You know, people either will kind of pre-order the product or not.

And it's a phenomenal validation tool. So when we launched on Kickstarter, that was I guess like the overall point was trying to figure out, like, would this product actually live in the real world? Yes or no. And we were fortunate enough to become like overfunded. And then yeah, that kind of was our initial launching point.

Im sure that helps because you have these consumers who are excited and they're probably helping with seeding the message out there to friends and family, but when you finally were ready to start marketing this product, I'm going to assume that social was a big area for the push?

Yes. And specifically Instagram was initially was, was quite Important and it still remains you know, our most active channel. I think something that was interesting with Instagram in 2015 was it's so remarkably different than it is today. Like I would say a creator with, you know, a hundred to 200,000 followers in 2015 would be equivalent to someone who has probably like 10 million today or something like that. 

You didn't really come across like tons of accounts, nowhere near as many as today that had large followings. And so we actually We were doing kind of influencer marketing very much from like the early days before it was even called that necessarily.

There wasn't really like a coined term. We were just reaching out to people that had large followings, gifting them bags, asking really for nothing in return. And that's, you know, that was one of the ways we were able to achieve kind of growing a community very much in the early days. 

Yeah. So we haven't done any of those collaborations yet. They're definitely not out of the question for the future. But we just haven't really explored that. It's so interesting. I mean, I think that there's so much opportunity for a line like this collabs with influencers, collabs, with other brands, licensing opportunities. I'm happy to share all my ideas with you as well. So we have this call. I'll probably bombard you with ideas, big ideas guy, in terms of Instagram too.

Yeah. Yeah. So love white listing. I'm a, I'm a big fan of it. We, we do quite a bit of it as well. And then I think one thing I always find maybe a little funny about working with influencers or how brands typically perceive working with influencers is is expecting like everything to be like hyper performance driven. So like, I think a great thing for us is we still do a lot of gifting. And we love working with creators in that way. Just to really, you know, give them a bag kind of. You know, we'd love for you to post with it. If not like, you know, if you ever take photos, like send them our way. And so like, we're able to get like really nice content for our feed out of it.

And you know, that's more or less, the expectation is like, oh, this content that we have will now help us sell bags as opposed to like, I mean, yeah, Right, right. Whereas I think people don't realize that, like, you're not just getting the awareness when they promote, but then you could reshare it and then it's like a whole content division that you don't have to hire photographers and people, you have the content now.

Exactly. And I think a lot of, and that in turn, you know, for us sells bags right. Or sells your product, whatnot. Whereas I find that sometimes A lot of, some other brands that I speak with or things like that. They're they're so hyper-focused on like, oh wow. Like this one creator, like didn't work out for us.

So we're going to like scrap that or we're going to like cut it way down. Whereas it's, you know, it's fun. Say they didn't work it's because they didn't drive this many sales, but at the end of the day, they might've gotten a picture or a photo or a message or a video that is worth $20,000 or $5,000 or whatever.

Exactly. Exactly. And so I think it's much more so about the process then, and it's about the process and it's about, you know, treating these creators. Right. And that's, you know, why for us, like, we don't, we kind of give like light guidelines or, you know, best practices, that kind of thing, but it's never like, okay, here's exactly what we want and how we want it to look, you know, it's more just like this will make the bag look the best in your shot, you know?

That kind of thing. So much more kind of like guiding as opposed to kind of like forceful, like this is the box you must. 

Well, it's funny because I probably would have to have nano and micro defined to me, but we work with all sizes. So even, you know, we have people just with a few thousand followers, you know, and, and for us, it's like, if you're, if you're a talented photographer or a filmmaker or creator like we want to work with you and we're pretty like niche agnostic, I would say, I think like, We want a lot of our content is very, you know, kind of light and inspirational.

And so we, we try to find people that kind of exude that vibe. But yeah, we've kind of worked with so many different people across so many term verticals, you know, whether it's like travel photographers or. Fashion photographers or, you know just like fashion creators or things like that. Yeah. I think it can be inserted into anything.

I mean, you could, if you want to go more mainstream, you could do moms with kids who are older or college kids. It could be, you could, you know, everyone needs a backpack. Exactly exactly. And I, and that's, you know, very much kind of what like where we see ourselves as you know, is, is a value that you could, you know, bring to the office, but then a bag that you could also go to high school or college with.

And it's, it's not too much of a stretch or us trying to, you know, square, whatever square peg circle hole or whatever. There's so many opportunities. 

Yeah. So it's funny because I feel like we still have so much growth to happen and it's been quite recent. I would say, I think since we've been kind of blatantly active for about a year, just really kind of figuring out the platform, like kind of what works for us in terms of content. But I think what I love about Tik TOK is that it forces you as a brand or a person to really communicate a lot and really work on kind of the messaging that you're kind of crafting like your narrative with, so for us, we've seen a lot of success within the past two months. And a lot of that has come from just us really kind of telling the world like who we are. And I think Instagram kind of achieves that in a different way than let's say, like YouTube achieves that and then take talk it's used that kind of in like a completely different way as well.

So they're each kind of. Each platform is great for different types of messaging. But I think for us, like getting across a lot of like very quick messages has been great. And so and it's allowed us a really good platform to respond to any sort of criticism. So we reach a lot into kind of like, I wouldn't say like hate comments, but they're kind of like internet troll comments, you know, like.

Why would I pay this much for a backpack? And so we were just, we just reply. And so we kind of use that as a, as a, as a launch point to have a much larger discussion. So will a great example would be like, you know, people are like, why are your bags so expensive? And then we'll take that and be like, Our bags are expensive because, you know, we're using high quality materials, you know, it's our own custom design you know, made in a sustainable and ethical factory.

And you're, you know, your profits are the profits that we make are going to good endeavors such as like we just did a, a large bag donation. And then we've also just. Donated to a bunch of different charities over the past year. So kind of like allowing that language to kind of come out in a pretty organic way has been great.

It's it's interesting. Cause you know, that's where you see the white listing, like, and a lot of the influencers are hesitant. They're like they want to be let white listed cause they'll get more eyeballs, but then they're afraid because all of a sudden you get all these haters and comments and it's like, how do you just, so that's a great tip.

Like just feed into it. Yeah. Yeah. And I think Tik Tok in particular kind of allows for that a little more maybe than Instagram. But I, I completely, I mean, I feel like white listing is just, it's such a wonderful tool for influencers do have, and to be really able to expand their reach. You know, there's some creators that we've been working with for, well over a year.

I mean, it really comes down to the product. And so that's something that we really, really focus on is just having, you know, the best product, the highest quality that we can. That's really, really what it comes down to. So the idea is that we'll, you know, we have this like very light and fun branding, but then at the end of the day, the product speaks for itself.

And so we actually see a lot of recommendations. So a lot of it, a lot of customers are like, oh, my best friend had this bag and I loved it. So I bought it or you know, my cousin's obsessed with this, so I had to get it, you know? And so having kind of the product be almost its own marketing channel because we've really focused on delivering the highest quality at the best price we can has been amazing.

Yeah. So continuing, just within the bag space, we feel like we're kind of just getting started in that sense. We're really big on kind of like like feedback and, you know, we love hearing from our customers, things like that. So we have a lot of really exciting stuff in the future and then just, you know, continuing to.

To grow on Tik Tok and really harbor this community of very driven people. Primarily it's been photographers, filmmakers but really just, you know, we are, we do create backpacks for the internet creator, and I think we're just in such an amazing time where that internet creator can be really anybody.

You know, I feel like I laugh to myself almost cause like, even just like some of the, like, Creators that I've seen on Tik TOK that come to mind, whether it's you know, like a mother cooking in her kitchen and like, that is what she does, you know? Or just like, I think there was even one guy he came across and he has like, he's super passionate about like, Raising goldfish.

And I, I know nothing about that, but it's amazing that at this, you know, in 2021, that you can really kind of follow your passion. And that's really kind of who we want as our customers is just this unbelievably passionate group of people. Yeah, so very, very excited. You are very, very inspiring and I'm smiling from ear to ear.

Yeah. So we're just at brevite B R E V I T E. On all socials. And then we're brevity B R E V I T E.CO. That's our website. 

Oh man, I'm trying to think. That's a, that's a great question. What I like, I'm going to take out my phone. I feel like it's probably someone on Tik TOK. See, I just have easy ones. Like I follow all these Snoopy accounts cause I'm obsessed with Snoopy. So it shows how nerdy I am. But yeah, I'm trying to think.

You can get back to me if you want. I'll have to. I've never been asked. So I, I don't, I don't know. That's a great question. Maybe it's like the mother cooking in the kitchen. Yeah. Oh my God. Or there's this goldfish guy, the goldfish guy, but I'll I'll I have, I have a good answer. So I'll let, let me get back to you on that, but there's definitely some like, you know, awesome.

Well, thank you so much. We're wishing you the best of luck and please stay in touch and you know, we're always here for you. Yes. Thanks Sherry. Thank you.

On this episode of #Influencer, Sherry is joined by the dynamic, senior brand marketing leader in the healthcare industry and one of our brand partners, Dave Goodman, who’s known for his work with Bayer Consumer Care managing brands such as Aleve, Alka-Seltzer, Miralax and Bayer Aspirin. Currently, Dave is managing Kerasal’s brand portfolio on behalf of Advantice Health. 

Kerasal is an emerging, fast-growing foot care brand that has a variety of solutions to hydrate, repair, and protect your feet and help tackle common foot problems like dry and cracked heels, calluses, and nail fungus. 

Through his vast healthcare experience, Dave’s success stems from his ability to develop high-impact strategies and innovations for brands as well as securing transformative mergers and acquisitions.

Yeah. You know, that’s it, it’s a great question. About 20 years ago, I was at a little bit of a inflection in my career and I had actually popped out of brand management for a couple of years and I was about to get back in and I actually was down in Atlanta and I had a unique opportunity where I was choosing between two different roles. One was in the healthcare space with Novartis consumer care, and the other one was for a company down in Atlanta that makes some really sweet bubbling drinks.

And I thought to myself, why would I rather work on brands that help people and facilitate healthy lifestyles? Or would I rather not work in perhaps what might seem like a sexier waiting area of carbonated beverages and more recognized brands, but I said, you know what, let me, let me go in the healthcare space because that’s clearly going to be around for a long time and just, you know, not to sound corny or cheesy, but the, the idea of helping people improve their lives was, was it, you know, It’s amazing. 

Yes. So it’s a really interesting brand. So carousel is in the foot care space and it, at the time it had two primary areas where it offered consumer products. One was for a post-op ring from nail fungus, and the other one was more for dry cracked feet.

And they were nice little businesses, but one of the things that inspired me was the opportunity to try and take them to the next level. And they seemed a little bit under marketed as me. And I felt like if we got more marketing muscle and investment behind them, as well as innovated, I thought we could take it to the next level.

And, and now we close to doubled over the past two and a half years. Through increasing our efforts, both in TV and traditional marketing vehicles like TV, but then also working with, with folks like yourself, the digital and social space. And then on top of that, we’ve also launched a really exciting new products that are extending the carousel brand name into other areas of foot care, such as what washes, what soaps.

But masks. So really catering to consumers, desire for care. And it’s been really exciting because just over the past year or so, as much as the pandemic has been such a tremendous drain on a lot of businesses and vibes from a category perspective. But care has really and self care has really taken off as people have had more time to engage in, in taking care of themselves, but also because a lot of traditional means salons and pedicures and things like that.

Haven’t been quite as, quite as accessible. So it’s been kind of an interesting intersection of. Of opportunity and growth to make the brain into an even higher level. 

Yeah, I think, I think that’s been a big part of the trend that we’ve been able to, I think, promote as well as leverage. So it’s been somewhat of a rising tide for us in that consumers, just not having access to the lines.

And then also just taking more time to take care of themselves, I think has really contributed to a lot of our growth. And I think with a lot of consumers, Migrating to shopping online has been another really positive trend for categories like foot care, where it’s a little bit more of what we call like a shy to buy type of category, where it’s nice to be able to go online and make a discreet purchase versus making a separate trip to the store.

And maybe being a little bit embarrassed to put a nail fungus. Brought up the, on the, on the on the cash register and, and, and pay for that. So, so it’s been, like I said, this really neat intersection of opportunity and trends and then leveraging that has really been fantastic for the growth of this business.

There’s, you know, there’s so many different ways that consumers can take care of their nails and there’s also by the same token, a lot of different ways. Nails can be damaged can be anything from nail fungus can be causing the damage too much gel manicure, your processes and also damage.

Now, sometimes it’s just a function of, of, of age that could cause you know, then an age it could be nail psoriasis. So we came up with a product that helps consumers who are kind of confused about. Like, gee, I mean, I’ve know what’s wrong with my nails, but I know I need to do something about it. So we actually came up with a specific product called Kerasal multipurpose nail repair that helps consumers address this confusion about what’s going on with their nails and how to properly remedy those, those challenges.

Yeah, it’s been nothing short of remarkable. It’s been breathtaking at me. I come from the traditional world of. Having a certain expectation each year for how much product I’m going to sell through Walmart or Walgreens or CVS target.

And when I first started know two and a half years ago, which now seems like a lifetime ago, the amount of business we were selling through Amazon was a very, very small fraction of what we’re doing in a. That’s a by-product of Amazon’s growth in general, but I think also the pandemic putting that growth on warp speed and just contributing to this hyper-growth where people that are much more on the Amazon platform and then this category in particular of foot care and nail care lends itself even, even more.

So, so now to the point where. No Amazon, I spend at least a third of my time working on my Amazon business. And that is highly appropriate for, for me as a resource and for my team in terms of allocating their time, because Amazon has just become this enormous beast and incredibly important. That’s wild.

I I’m not in the, so do other pharmaceutical companies, are there too many regulations that they can’t or do they sell on Amazon or because you’re over OTC, like, that’s a great point. I mean, all over the counter products can definitely sell on Amazon. So, so if something’s in Walmart or Walgreens and CVS, And is available over the counter.

It’s just as accessible online, but that being said, we still have to operate by the same rules and regulations that we would of the bigger pharma. Yeah. Actually, technically our Kerasal products are actually technically cosmetics. And so from a regulatory perspective, we’re actually technically not a drug.

So we operate under the cosmetic. Guidelines because we, they people’s nails and feet look better, but we don’t actually deliver a drone if that makes any sense. No, I get it. It’s just interesting. Is there so many nuances that I can imagine, like the big pharma companies, even if you’re one of their OTC brands, you might still not be able to be on Amazon because the broader company, you know, you have to abide by their rules.

It was insane.

We went from settling. Let’s say, and I’ll just make up numbers for conversation’s sake, 5,000 units of, of one of our products a week to all of a sudden, since selling 25,000 units or one influencer. Yes. And so actually before my grants, because this was such an incredibly new dynamic and completely unknown, I was.

Entirely missed by what was actually broadening it. And it took a lot of digging and investigation to actually figure out that it was coming from an influencer, a celebrity quote, unquote dermatologist who was on YouTube and did like a 30 minute video on all different types of foot care products. And about five minutes of it.

Because on my product and it really, it was, it was stunning to see the reaction and what we call almost like a direct response. So I’m so used to thinking of direct responses, like when you’re up in the middle of night and you can’t get to sleep and you see one of those PBS that says, I just bought an air fryer a few weeks ago.

Yeah. It’s sitting in a box.

So really what we’re seeing now is if a, an influencer with a high degree of credibility or a high following, or some combination thereof really lands a message. I’m seeing some incredibly respond to. And, and of course, mostly on Amazon, because it’s so easy for them to just search it up on Amazon and buy it immediately.

Like I’m actually even seeing the power of influencers transcend. Retail channels. And I’m seeing not just spikes on Amazon when influencers post about my products, but even I’ll see the spikes at a Walmart or a target as well. Hmm. And spikes and search too, for your products? Probably. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it’s insane.

I mean that first video came and I thought that was a lot. And then about a month later, I thought we had reached a new, higher level of baseline sales based on that first influencer. And then maybe a month later, I actually had to double, triple check orders I was seeing and the sales levels because they didn’t even look real.

I was so stunned by load, and that was a tick tock video where somebody. Who had a following posted a before and after of using my products and it wouldn’t make the overuse more completely viral with millions of shares and lights. And I completely blew out of stock of the product. It was unbelievable.

It should happen to everyone. Yes. Yes. It felt like a lottery ticket. It did. 

Yeah. Great question. I mean, I think, I think you can be compliant and you should be compliant and be influencers.

Yeah. Great question. I mean, I think, I think you can be compliant and you should be compliant and be influencers.

She had open these, talk about the products. And when we work with companies like yourself, we of course guide people and the influencers you speak about the prominence in only the most truthful, inappropriate ways. And I think that’s important for a variety of reasons. Number one as a reputable organization, we don’t want to get into trouble with FTC.

So we want to follow it and be compliant with all the guidelines and regulations. Number two, you certainly don’t want to over promise. Or consumers, the last thing you want is claims being made that can’t be delivered on. We guarantee this is gonna, you know, you’re going to lose 22 pounds in two days.

Exactly. Right, right. So, so why over promise and under deliver that, that that’s just the very short-term path to success. It’s certainly not sustainable. So I think, I think you can certainly play by the rules and win at the same time. 

Yeah, that’s interesting because it’s actually from a variety of sources. So this celebrity dermatologist, I think we were 300,000 followers at the time YouTube video had I think about a hundred, 150,000 views. So fairly robust amount of followers and.

The person had 30 and that’s the one that really went well. What’s out of stock and that’s, that’s basically a micro-influencer because it’s like someone who doesn’t even have a hundred thousand followers, which is crazy. Yeah. And that was, that was stunning because it was counterintuitive, right. Because you’d expect the larger following the yield, the higher results.

But there was actually a situation where somebody with a smaller following ended up yielding the breathtaking results. It just, they just had very strong authenticity and credibility. And I think. By showing a video of how they use the product, what their foot looked like before, and then showing the after and the dramatic difference that carousel and sensitive foot repair made for them really ended up being incredibly compelling and very sharable.

Yeah. Yeah. And so there’s no environment reason. I mean, we always talk about. You know, is it, do you work with the nanos you work with micros you work with, so you’re taking like an approach to kind of testing and trying, working with all different sizes of influencers. Yeah. It’s almost kind of like a portfolio.

If you think about it, it’s like you don’t buy the same stocks, right? Different types of stocks and hear different types of influencers to diversify and give yourself a chance to win. Across a variety of different approaches. Okay. And so in that, you know, cross functional cross, you know, what are, what are some of the categories of influencers?

Because you know, to me, I’m naturally going to say, Oh, well, you know, beauty and lifestyle influencers, but then when you start to talk about the products, there’s gotta be other types of contact criteria that you’re looking for in the types of influencers beyond just beauty and lifestyle. Yeah, I, I think that’s a, that’s a great point.

I mean, I think what I’ve seen work is when the person has the credibility and the authenticity. So the folks that have moved the needle so far have ranged from obviously a dermatologist has a high degree of credibility being a doctor, but. The woman who had 32,000 followers on tic-tac, she was the nurse.

So that probably helped, but I don’t want people to think that because it’s a healthcare product, they had to be a healthcare expert. I’ve seen folks that just are very down to earth and very authentic and believable, who we just talked about the product in a really natural sort of way. And. What it did for them and how it made their ebook better, how it made, make their nails look healthier and shiny, or like it wasn’t necessarily one particular category, as much as it was more about the personal approach and their delivery. 

Yeah. I think more are brought up. I think, I think both video and static could work. I think. I’ve seen video work where people talk about the product and if they do it with passion and authenticity and they show literally, Hey, here’s what my quote looked like before. Here’s what it looked like after I’ve seen that be successful so far.

I’ve seen it be more successful in video than in static, but I think we kind of live in a little bit of a video society. But if people love looking at video. So I think that helps, I think a lot depends on the product. So one of my products is very experiential, so I’m looking to see that more in video.

One of them is more about the before and afters. So static images might be okay for an outline. So I think it just kind of has to be thought through. And what is your product? What are the benefits? What is compelling, and then looking at your product again to customize you. And what’s the right way to tap into an influencer to bring that to life.

Super helpful. 

Yeah, I mean, you know, Kerasal is interesting. Having worked on more households, high awareness brands that I mentioned earlier, the weaves the outfit, so to respond can here.

I was like really unfamiliar with the brand, but it turns out. Yeah, that’s really, really good distribution. And so that certainly wasn’t an area of opportunity. You could put a Kerasal like pretty much any major drove store or mass merchant, like Walmart and target were online. And I feel like it’s this little best kept secret out there.

And I, I think that’s one of the reasons why I think influencers have been so successful for us because. There’s this share-ability and there’s this untapped potential. And whereas I don’t think that influencer would be really telling anybody anything new. If they said, Hey, you know, or you already know that.

But if an influencer says, Hey, I’ve tried this Kerasal stuff. And wow. It made my feet go from dry, cracked and flaky to baby smooth. Or this problem now I’ve had is now. Nice that I can wear sandals. I feel like it’s this, it’s this secret that is starting to get unlocked and shared. And so that’s, what’s been really exciting for me as a marketer and, you know, working with folks like yourself and tapping into influencers to share the secret and spread the word that’s, what’s been so exciting and inspiring and rewarding for me.

Well, I will say that, you know, it’s been a very hard year for everyone. And when I look back on the year, we kind of started working together right before COVID. So I’m truly, we’re truly blessed to be working with you. We love your passion and your energy, and it’s just been just so nice to have you as part of the Babel blocks family, as we say, well, I mean, we, we, we thank you guys for the partnership.

We’ve learned so much from you guys and, and it’s been one of those ideal agency relationships where, you know, there’s just been a natural chemistry and, and a really great synergy and a lot of, a lot of positive results. So, so thank you. Thank you. 

Oh, yeah. You know, it’s Jenna Fisher. I don’t know fanatic. I do admit, even though I’m happily married to my beautiful wife, I have a little bit of a crush for, for Pam Beasley. And I think she’s such a great parasol endorser because I just love when she posts her videos, it always feels like she’s talking to you one-on-one and letting you in on a little secret.

So. And she’s just adorable and fun. And so, yeah, that’s my that’s my painful hate to admit, but, but that’s who I follow. All right. So we’re going to tag her when we share the podcast. Thank you, Dave, for everything and great to have you on the show and wish you lots and lots of success with Karasal. 

JJ Yosh is a multifaceted entrepeneur who is not only an influencer and content creator, but a TV-host, adventure filmmaker, producer, and owner of Higher Earth Media, an entertainment and film production company based out of Boulder, Colorado which strives to educate, empower, and inspire people around the world to help build a more sustainable path for our current and future generations.