Update: We Pivoted From Ads To Email And Have Big Launch Plans This Year
This is a follow up story for Grown Eyewear. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published almost 6 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
Hi, I am Jeff Phillips, the founder of GROWN® Sustainable Wooden Eyewear! Besides designing and producing handcrafted Wood and bamboo Sunnies, we are Australia's Original Wooden Sunglasses Brand and we have also set up in North America and Europe!
A lot of ups and downs have happened since 2019 when my original Starter Story was published. We have seen a lot of new challenges over the last few years and it’s been a whole new learning curve, we have been learning as we go!
Current revenue is $14,000 per month.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to. Has the business been growing?
Since the last Starter Story, we have had a rough couple of years and have seen an overall drop in sales from $25,000 to $14,000 per month.
It’s something we have noticed is affecting all online shops and similar category brands. At first, the decline crept up slowly, and we thought it may have been a loss of interest in the brand or products. So as a reaction, we started to increase our advertising and marketing spend, and even hired a google ads contractor.
Take baby steps with ads, and always experiment by making similar ads and running them against each other.
After talking to many other brands I could see that everyone was feeling this and ads were simply not working like they used to. We would spend more and get less, and it was very frustrating!
By Christmas, customers who would normally put a lot of effort and thought into shopping for gifts were feeling burned out, and depressed and if they even bought a gift at all they would go to Amazon, click ‘gift ideas’, and buy the first general item they saw. Who could blame them? The energy was at an all-time low and people were feeling financially stressed more than ever.
Once we realized that these changes in customer spending were spanning from the pandemic (and forming recession), everything became a bit clearer. Our plan then became something else; to slow our ad spend and divert that budget towards email marketing which is a higher quality and more profitable sales channel. This was in part due to good planning and procedures when compiling email lists.
The last thing you want to do is have people on your email lists that don’t want to be there because you’re just wasting money to reach them! Better quality email lists mean a much better result!
I guess you could say overall we started focusing our operation on a leaner budget, but the downside of this strategy was that our new customer base would not continue to grow if we only used email marketing.
What have been your biggest challenges in the last year?
As you can guess from above, our biggest hurdle in the past year has been a changing dynamic in the way we reach customers and in the way that potential customers interact with us. Being forced to think objectively about the business has been great, but the trial and error make it feel like we are growing the brand all over again.
Lately, we have been feeling more confident in the market and it seems like a better time to expand back into new customer acquisition methods like targeted ads and try to define our new operating procedures.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
What we have been working on is exciting! Coming up in June we are launching a whole new line of products that is going to shake up the industry and bring a lot of new eyes to the brand. With sustainability and product quality at the forefront of our minds, we have created something really unique and awesome! I wish I could say more, but we are keeping this one close to our chests until launch!
Last month we held one of the first photo & video retreats we have done in a long time and to finish it off, we are back in Sayulita Mexico this coming week. We will be focusing on getting a lot more fresh content as well as linking up with as many new creators, creatives, and brands as we can. We have done photoshoot collaborations in the past and find that the crossover works well. By including complementary brands in our shoots or vice versa, we can reach a whole new audience in a way that is organic and not as forced as traditional online advertising can be.
Honestly, I think 5-year plans are harder than ever to formulate. If the last 2 years have taught me anything it’s that you can’t rely upon the way you operate for that long because things can change quickly.
I am now consciously focusing on shorter time frames and not looking so far ahead. I suppose it’s also more efficient to think shorter term because these are things you know you can put into motion now that will help you grow your business. Just put in your best effort, go with your gut, and keep an open mind and good things will happen.
What’s the best thing you read in the last year?
The best thing I have listened to is a podcast called “We regret to inform you; the rejection podcast”. It’s done well and focuses on stories of brands, products, actors, and films that we all know and love, but they all have one commonality: they were all rejected.
I think it’s great for understanding hardship in business and how to persevere. One of my favorites is an episode about the rubiks cube. It’s also got great episodes on Hinge, AirBnB, and Colonel Sanders. I recommend you put it on in the background while you’re busy killing it!
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?
My advice is to take baby steps and be patient. I have been advising a few startup brands and the trend I see, especially in the last few years, is that if sales don’t pour in straight away, people tend to get frustrated and think they are doing something wrong. Then sometimes they overcompensate by throwing money into ads without really knowing their audience, objective, or having a good advertising strategy. It becomes a vicious cycle and it can end up costing you a fortune and leave you crushed!
The truth is, they’re not doing anything wrong, It just takes time. So take baby steps with ads, and always experiment by making similar ads and running them against each other. It’s ongoing but necessary. Once you are comfortable and find an audience or targeting that provides results, you can increase ad spend and explore adding more marketing funnels.
One more piece of advice on that topic is to avoid simply “boosting” posts. By hitting that boost button you are generally not targeting an audience, but casting an extremely wide net and I think you’ll again get frustrated with the result.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
We’re always on the lookout for creative people! Ideally, those who are on the pulse of current video and social trends, but who are just regular people and not connected to an agency.
We do have several content creation excursions coming in 2023 and 2024 and always love bringing new creatives to join, learn together, and network. That being said we are always looking for complementary brands to shoot with as well! If you are a creative or a brand and interested in aligning with us, please send us a quick message on instagram.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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