Bushbalm: How This DTC Brand Grew 1000% in One Year with David Gaylord, CEO of Bushbalm

This week on the pod, we talked all things growth with David Gaylord, CEO of Bushbalm.

Bushbalm makes “skincare for everywhere” 🍑 and is currently one of Canada’s fastest-growing DTC brands.

‍The Takeaways: 👇

🚀 How Bushbalm grew over 1000% in one year:

“For the most part, we found our unique value proposition and how to position the product.”

Simple, right? 

Well, it took about 3 years to nail it.

But once they did, they grew their sales from ~$150K to $1.8M in just one year. Now in 2021, they’re on track to do ~$10M. 

‍
“We’re kind of recession-proof when it comes to pubes. They just never go out of style; you’re trimming them, you’re grooming them, or you’re waxing them. Whatever you’re doing, we’ve got products for you.”

🔎 A unique way to increase search volume:

Put search terms in your product names!

“...we’ve actually gone with solution-based names, which has helped on other parts of the business we didn’t even realize, like SEO.”

For Bushbalm, these terms are things like “ingrown hairs,” “razor burn,” and “dark spots.”

Plus, this makes the benefits of their products loud and clear to customers.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 The importance of customer service when growing a brand:

In order to cut costs, many brands will outsource CS when they’re starting out. 

David took a different approach, and it’s paid dividends… Especially when it comes to new product development.

The Bushbalm CS team is constantly engaging with customers, asking for feedback, and gathering ideas for new products.

In fact, one of their SKUs wasn’t even on their product roadmap until customers started asking for it!

That’s one killer way to create brand loyalty. 💛

David’s Twitter thread talks more about the value they get from customer service and the beauty of having it so close to the team.

📈 The 80/20 rule for ads:

Bushbalm is all about ad velocity. They shoot for 10 new ad variations every week.

🤯 How do they keep up with it?

The 80/20 rule: 

• 80% are iterations on ads that are already running (changes to copy or new creative).
• 20% are brand new ideas.

And the ads that hit? They’re usually the 2nd or 3rd iteration.

In other words, ABI: Always be iterating. 👊

💀 The death of a DTC brand:

Why do most DTC brands fail to grow?

Stagnation.

“As a DTC brand, you have to innovate a lot. You have to bring out new products. You have to nurture your audience and keep them engaged.”

David’s Numero Uno strategy for scaling revenue: Constantly launch new products *that customers want.*

If you’re still in the testing phase, consider budgeting out smaller short-term product launches, like exclusives or limited-time offerings.

If the product sells well, bring it back as a full-time SKU.