Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Similar to Building A Brand -- Las Vegas Market August 1 2012 Kiersten Hathcock
Similar to Building A Brand -- Las Vegas Market August 1 2012 Kiersten Hathcock (20)
Building A Brand -- Las Vegas Market August 1 2012 Kiersten Hathcock
- 1. Building a Brand From the Beginning Kiersten Hathcock Founder/Designer
- 2. “We must be willing to get rid of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” Joseph Campbell
- 3. corporate job nanny/kids mod toy box idea “You wanna do WHAT?”
- 4. Complicated Mathematical Equation That Launched Mod Mom Furniture = 2 Days Of Nanny Work Profit from One Toy Box
- 6. Fast Forward to Today….. • Sold throughout the US, Canada, Australia, and Hong Kong. • Featured in press in over 17 countries. • Sought after by families, celebrities, interior designers from around the globe. • Creating line extensions and co- branded opportunities with companies like Crate and Barrel. • Made in the USA by Amish manufacturer.
- 7. 100% of magazine, design books, newspaper and TV press came from exposure through social media
- 8. What I’ve learned along the way…. Trust your intuition.
- 10. What I’ve learned along the way…. Know your brand before reaching out to public, media, retailers.
- 11. brand ? how do I build my without money web design professional photos marketing collateral barter & trade help each other
- 12. Be yourself. Be open. Share.
- 13. be open • Figure out your writing tone • Share good and bad • Create a dialogue not a sales pitch • If criticized, don’t let someone else craft a response. That’s my Dad!
- 14. Make your brand stand out. Keep it simple.
- 15. How to Make Your Brand Stand Out tips from the experts Liz Gumbinner In the advertising world, Liz Gumbinner is a creative director behind campaigns for brands like Mitsubishi, Old Navy, and Universal Studios. She is also co-founder and editor of COOLMOMPICKS and has her own award–winning blog, MOM101 and lives in NYC. www.coolmompicks.com Carrie McBride Carrie is the managing editor for the www.Ohdeedoh.com – part of the massively popular, award winning design site, ApartmentTherapy.com. Carrie lives in also lives NYC.
- 16. How to Make Your Brand Stand Out tips from the experts Liz Gumbinner Quick personal pitch to gauge interest is better than a press release. It must be relevant – don’t just buy a list! Consider “tiering” your pitch list . Don’t follow-up too many times…and use emaileditorofphone) when you do. Carrie McBride Carrie is the managing (notfor the www.Ohdeedoh.com – part the massively popular, award winning design site, ApartmentTherapy.com. Get involved with editors and publishers Carrie lives in NYC. through social media. Be part of the conversation.
- 17. How to Make Your Brand Stand Out tips from the experts Carrie McBride Are you a good fit? Keep it short. Include a link to your product/design. Be honest about your story. Don’t attach Carriemillion photos the managingemail for the a McBride Carrie is to your editor pitch. www.Ohdeedoh.com – part of the massively popular, Have good size-appropriate imageswinning design site, ApartmentTherapy.com. award on your website. On Apartment 600-800 pixels Therapy, we run 540px wide. Carrie lives in NYC. is a safe bet for most blogs.
- 18. Develop relationships with like-minded companies/designers
- 19. in Pre-Oscar Gifting Suite 11 Bev erly Hills – February 20 Darryl Masterson gift bag
- 20. Don’t be afraid to reach out for help
- 21. The Power of L&J Woodworking, Dundee Ohio
- 22. What I’ve Learned About Building a Brand 1. Trust Your Intuition 2. Know Your Brand. 3. Be Yourself. Be Open. Share. 4. Keep it simple and relevant when contacting media. 5. Develop relationships with like-minded companies/designers. 6. Don’t be afraid to reach out for help.
- 23. “Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.” Joseph Campbell
Editor's Notes
- This was about the age I started to plot everything out. At the time we lived in a small town in Ohio so naturally I would move to a big city and wear high heals and a briefcase and do important things with my stunning smile. Funny when you think back to what you thought your life would be, isn’t it? As I grew I was so sure that my plan would work. Afterall, I saw my parents do exactly what they thought they’d do growing up. Both became teachers and had two kids and lived the life they had planned. Funny thing about plans…
- I just recently was introduced to the work of Joseph Campbell after watching a documentary called Finding Joe. Smart man, that Joseph. If I had to give a quick “Why did Mod Mom come about?” This would be my answer.
- I know some of you might know a little bit about my story so bear with me if you do but for those of you who don’t, here’s the cliff notes version. After college, I left for the big city of Charlotte, NC to pursue a training and ed job and start following that plan I’d made all those years ago. I worked as a training and ed specialist in Charlotte, Birmingham, and Atlanta ffrom 1995 to 2000. My husband’s job kept us a moving a bit. In 2000, we moved to Chicago and I was still on plan!! Now we had a child – our son Noah – and I was looking for work but not finding training and ed jobs that fit. Industry was changing, traning and ed jobs were being cut left and right, so I had to start over. Not in my plan but I was still wearing heals and carrying a briefcase so not too far off. I landed a job with A&E and the History Channel in Ad Sales and then was promoted to an integrated marketing position within the department my last year there. I loved that job and the people but along came the second child and we started to wonder how long we’d be able to keep up the pace of raising kids and having careers in downtown Chicago. My husband landed a job in Cincy, OH and off we went. I was scared but relieved. I’d have more time with my kids…but still, I was scared I wouldn’t be a good stay at home mom. I’d always been a corporate mom. Nothing felt right from the beginning of this trip to “what we thought we should be doing cuz we have kids”. And we were right. Company went under shortly after we moved there and left us without severance or healthcare. We made the decision on new years eve of 2004 to sell everything and pack up and move back to a bigger city. Not NYC. Done Chicago already. So naturally, LA seemed promising as Scott was getting interviews there but wasn’t getting the jobs because they knew they’d have to move us. So without jobs, we moved to LA. And I was scared to death. This was soooooo off plan it wasn’ t even funny. I thought I ’ d eventually go back into the workforce but he was making me than I was when I left my marketing job, so naturally, we figured he stood a better chance of helping us survive in LA. He got a job but we realized we were still LA poor. Anywhere else in besides NYC, we ’ d be fine and I wouldn ’ t have to worry about working now that I ’ d had a year of being a stay at home mom and didn ’ t want to put my kids through the reverse transition again. But we still needed income to live in our 1000 sq foot rental house in Sherman Oaks. So I did some contract work but it wasn’t enough. I did what I knew I could do from home and make money: babysit. I put an ad on craigslist with my picture saying I could take care of one child while taking care of my own and I became a stay at home nanny for two years. The nanny gig was ending (and I was burned out )and thankfully we were in a better financial position due to my husband’s promotions but I still felt like I wanted and need to work. At the same time, I was plotting a surprise birthday party for my husband in our backyard. A Luau. He’s a great singer so natually we needed a stage. I’ve always been a do it yourself girl so naturally a friend of mine and I decided we’d build what we need with a circular saw and cheap plywood. And it worked! And it was fun! Soon after, we needed some toy storage and my daughter wanted a barbie house. My Dad had built my Barbie house as a kid so naturally, I figured I’d do it for her.
- It became clear to me that building was fun….and I might be able to make money but I needed to do it with the right tools and the right market. And frankly, I would nanny if I had to but I was ready to use my creative mind again. I started researching the kids storage market for Modern/mid century lovers and there was one toy box. It hit me…this looks easy to make. If I don’t kill myself on the table saw, I should give this a shot because I knew what plywood cost and I also knew that particular toy box was retailing for $400. I started building toy boxes to test my skill and I sucked. But I knew intuitively I was onto something. So I kept at it. And then the old marketing side of me came rushing back in. I knew the name of the company very quickly, the look it needed to have to attract high end clientele. Thankfully, this worked as design blog after design blog started writing about the furniture I was selling on my website (via Etsy). And just in time because Scott got laid off from his VP job. So we needed the money more than ever.
- 2007 was the official launch of Mod Mom Furniture so I proceeded to build over 325 toy boxes on my own in my hot, old garage until January 2011 when I secured an Amish manufacturer. I did this because I couldn’t keep up with the volume AND I was having severe carpel tunnel. There were many days that I thought about quitting between 2007 and 2011 but something inside me to keep going. So I did. And we endured Scott being laid off 4 times in the past 7 years and Mod Mom help us get through those times.
- Talk about what MMF is doing today.
- I’ve learned a lot on my sometimes bumpy road and hope that sharing what I’ve learned, what worked, what didn’t you’ll be able to apply them to your own personal and business brands… First, I have to say trusting my intuition was key for me, even if it’s unpopular. Trust your intution: What it is to me…how I learned to recognize it: Whether you believe it’s a higher power guiding you or if it’s your brain storing all kinds of past experiences and helping you discern best next steps, there is a physical reaction happening in your body. Once you start to recognize what that feels like, and TRUST it, you are on the right path. Stomach feeling. Paralized, can’t make decision. Keeps coming back to the forefront of what you’re thinking about. Examples of how I;ve used…. Past: Sticking with MMF. Examples. Present: This year I made some decisions that on paper, didn’t make sense. I knew I needed to grow and needed the capital to do it. But I resisted loans being offered, etc because they didn’t feel right to me. Then in June I received a large investment from an amazingly giving man who believes in me and the mod mom brand. And when I ignored it: i.e. bought too much stock against my intuition at advice of colleague, having scott write my response to mean design guy Timing is so critical and if it doesn’t feel right, i.e., you can’t make a decision, you have a heavy feeling in the pit of your stomach, it’s not right.
- Intro shark tank Scared to do it but felt like I should try…ect
- Intuition played a big part in crafting the brand…what it looked like, etc. Know your brand before reaching out… and a big part of that is developing your website/online presence.
- In order to get my website up and running, I used barter and trade. I found a woman advertising her services on Craigslist and reached out. I told her my story and gauged whether she’d be up for barter and trade and she was! I built two toy boxes for her daughters in exchange for a simple website with a link to my online store which I set up on Etsy.com because it was inexpensive alternative to setting up an e-commerce site. I knew I needed a web presence to get my goods into local LA stores but I honestly had no idea folks in NYC would somehow find my tiny company. I underestimated the power of social media big time!!
- In addition to knowing your brand, you need to know who you are and if you’re willing to be open and honest.
- Started my blog in 2007 partly therapy and partly because I wanted to be open about life as a work from home mom who builds furniture in her garage. I write about having to drag the kids to the lumber yard, Date nights which sometimes include polyurethaning toy boxes while watching a movie, Not showering….falling asleep covered in saw dust… Getting on Shark Tank Cutting bangs at 1 am in the morning. Glue-on toenails. My writing tone is very conversational and while it’s not the best writing in the world, it’s me…it’s real.
- Make you brand stand out when approaching social media, etc.
- I have been very fortunate to develop relationships with some amazing women writers who are well-known and well respected. I reached out to them to get their tips for getting your brand noticed. Explain who they are… Liz Carrie
- Relevant – Know who they are and what they cover. Ex. I get emails asking if I’ll review a product and I’m not that kind of blogger. Don’t follow up too many times – 100s of pitches a day, unlikely they missed your pitch twice. Tiering – reach out to influential sites first – offer exclusive offer or scoop. Ex. Daily Candy When a writer “knows” you they’re more likely to give you a shake when you’ve got good news for them.
- Lots of pr and marketing firms forget to attach a link to a pitch. Honest – created a line of baby blankets story. No magical backstory needed, just honest info about what your makes your product a good one. Someone sent Carrie a pitch with 48 images!! CLICK TO SLIDE 22 -- #4 – Develop relationships with like-minded companies/designers
- TRANSITION: Your brand it out there being covered in the press, what else can you do? Develop relationships with like-minded companies and designers
- Talk about the pre-oscar gifting suite Darryl Masterson is a Lumberjock that I met online. Explain lumberjocks. KLT – love her work, see her on the same sites MMF is on and reached out to her. Lucky Diaz – spotted my work early and volunteer to help me with marketing stuff. Even built an early website for me in exchange for furniture in 2007. HE’s a brilliant musician with a big music career ahead of him – music for kids that doesn’t make you want to drink or shoot yourself. We support each other.
- TRANSITION: Which brings me to the last lesson I’ve learned.
- Now here’s a good story for you. Over the past four years, I had reached out multiple times to various folks about ways to expand manufacturing that didn’t include cloning myself and I was getting nowhere. Then I got the call from Shark Tank and realized I had NO IDEA how to acquire quotes for mass production. I got onto Linked In and started looking around. I saw Katie’s profile and took a chance. I explained my very “Only in LA could this happen” scenario with Shark Tank and that I had to figure out how much I needed for manufacturing in order to figure out how much to ask for in THE TANK. She called me almost immediately and when I returned her call, she couldn’t have been more helpful, sincere…real. We hit it off and I feel so amazingly blessed to call Katie a dear friend and mentor. She was the only person in four years that had the idea of contacting an Amish manufacturer. And the right Amish Manufacturer at that. In addition, she helped me prepare my valuation for Shark Tank as well as provided CAD drawings of all of my work and new designs…out of the goodness of her heart. She’s put her faith and even money behind me. We’ve been working together since August and ironically just met each other in person yesterday. There’s no doubt that without reaching out to her, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
- Recap I hope what I’ve shared today can be applied to your own brand building. Trust Your Intuition. Know your brand before reaching out. Be Yourself. Be Open. Share. Keep it simple and relevant when contacting media. Develop relationships with like-minded companies/designers. Don’t be afraid to reach out for help.
- SLIDE 24: Talk about how following my bliss (Which I had to figure out what that was first)..which I’ve determined has more to do with using my creative gifts and feelling good about putting out a great product while also helping others through giving back than it does actual design of furniture. Leave them with the another quote to think about. Once I figured out what my bliss was..those things that really set off that spark in me and followed it….doors started opening. Really think about what your bliss is and how you can incorporate that into what you’re doing and you’ll always be on the “right path” …even if it means you have to ditch the plans you had for yourself in the beginning.