Hawthorn Update: On Revamping Our Social Media Strategy And Reaching $50K MRR
This is a follow up story for Hawthorn. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published almost 4 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
We are Rob Williams and Tom Lovelace - we’re founders and directors of Hawthorn, a clothing manufacturer based in the UK. We specialize in helping small clothing brands and start-up businesses, and our main products are centered around casual wear, so our best sellers are accessories such as caps, and clothing such as tracksuits, tee shirts, shorts, co-ords/twin sets, etc.
Everything we do is completely bespoke, with customers coming to us with their clothing designs or visions which we then turn into reality.
Since the last time we spoke, we have had around a 30% increase in revenue and we have taken on an additional employee dedicated to customer service and being the front-of-house contact to our clients.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to! Has the business been growing?
The business is indeed growing, we’re in the process of upgrading our website, which has been quite an undertaking, and we’ve also been coming up with a revamped social media plan. We have a new series which is dedicated to showing processes inside a factory, which is what customers have told us that they want to see.
We have around 10 reel style videos that are currently rolling out to show everything from how fabric cutting and pattern development work, to printing techniques and sewing techniques.
This is something that has proved to be quite a task, but we’re very nearly at that point where we can launch it all now.
Word of mouth is one of the most important weapons we have in our success, as it is surprising how many small clothing brand owners know each other and connect. We have regular occurrences now of brand owners approaching us to say that they have heard of us either through others in the industry, or even tech pack developers, or 3D designers.
This tight-knit community within the industry leads to word of mouth and therefore more success based on abilities. As a part of the social media campaign I mentioned above, we've also started a TikTok account, dedicated to showing processes from within the factory. At the time of writing this, we're still flowing these videos out, but in time we will be able to provide a full insight into a clothing factory for our customers
We’ve come up with some new product plans for the future too, to make it even easier for a brand to start up with us. We aim to make it easier for customers to start a clothing brand with us, and this is all off the back of trends we've seen through inquiries in the last year or so.
Keep an eye out for new announcements on our social media in the coming months, but for now, it’s under wraps!
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
One thing we’ve learned is that there are things that people like to see and things that they don’t like to see when it comes to social media. We’ve enlisted the help of a social media consultant who has been an absolute godsend in the development of our strategy, and we’ve spent a lot of time implementing it.
At the time of writing this, it’s currently not online, but we are close, so keep your eyes peeled! We’ve also trialed employees in different roles, which has been a positive experience in learning what roles need to be carried out by us, and how they can be done by other people. Remote working is something we’re still keeping, even after Covid, as we’ve found the flexibility to be great for us as a business.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
As mentioned, we’re making our service available to an even wider audience and making it easier for our customers to start a clothing brand. With that being said, however, we’ll be staying loyal to our brand philosophy of bringing low minimum order quantity, and fully customizable clothing to small brands, who might otherwise be constrained to using pre-made blank items and branding them with their logo.
Keeping things as flexible as possible for our customers, to bring their vision to life is at the center of our business and it always will be.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?
We have recently had a great realization that the strategy we had for brand visuals was lacking, due to partnering with a new modeling agency and photography studio. Having the right people around the business is vital to keeping it current, and you shouldn’t be afraid to seek out new talent now and then to keep things fresh.
Where can we go to learn more?
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
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