This week on the pod, we talked all things growth with David Gaylord, CEO of Bushbalm.
Bushbalm makes âskincare for everywhereâ đ and is currently one of Canadaâs fastest-growing DTC brands.
âThe Takeaways: đ
đ How Bushbalm grew over 1000% in one year:
âFor the most part, we found our unique value proposition and how to position the product.â
Simple, right?Â
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, theyâre on track to do ~$10M.Â
â
âWeâre kind of recession-proof when it comes to pubes. They just never go out of style; youâre trimming them, youâre grooming them, or youâre waxing them. Whatever youâre doing, weâve got products for you.â
đ A unique way to increase search volume:
Put search terms in your product names!
â...weâve actually gone with solution-based names, which has helped on other parts of the business we didnât even realize, like SEO.â
For Bushbalm, these terms are things like âingrown hairs,â ârazor burn,â and âdark spots.â
Plus, this makes the benefits of their products loud and clear to customers.
đ§âđ¤âđ§ The importance of customer service when growing a brand:
In order to cut costs, many brands will outsource CS when theyâre starting out.Â
David took a different approach, and itâs 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 wasnât even on their product roadmap until customers started asking for it!
Thatâs one killer way to create brand loyalty. đ
Davidâs Twitter thread talks more about the value they get from customer service and the beauty of having it so close to the team.
đ The 80/20 rule for ads:
Bushbalm is all about ad velocity. They shoot for 10 new ad variations every week.
𤯠How do they keep up with it?
The 80/20 rule:Â
- 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? Theyâre usually the 2nd or 3rd iteration.
In other words, ABI: Always be iterating. đ
đ The death of a DTC brand:
Why do most DTC brands fail to grow?
Stagnation.
âAs 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.â
Davidâs Numero Uno strategy for scaling revenue: Constantly launch new products *that customers want.*
If youâre 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.