Grace & Lace – Shark Tank Heroes

I first discovered Grace & Lace after watching founder Melissa Hinnant and her husband, Rick take center stage on ABC’s Shark Tank. After hearing about their business and seeing their products, I immediately checked out their website and ordered my first round of leg warmers and accessories. And let’s not forget that they closed a deal on Shark Tank with Barbara Corcoran for $175,000 for a 10% equity stake in Grace & Lace. Since appearing on Shark Tank, sales for Grace & Lace have exploded and they have been expanding their product offerings and lines to create unique items made with HIS grace and a lil lace! However, Grace & Lace was doing quite well before their appearance on Shark Tank through their strong social media presence and Etsy store front. 

See Melissa and Rick seal the deal with Barbara here:  Grace & Lace Shark Tank Offer

Brief History

Grace & Lace began back in 2011, Melissa, made her first pair of women’s boot socks. After being stopped by people everywhere where she got them, she decided to start selling them online through Etsy. There was an overwhelming response of people wanting to buy her boot socks and thus, Grace & Lace was born. Now, the company has sold over thousands of boot socks and leg warmers and has expanded their business to include additional accessories (scarves) and apparel items. Grace & Lace has trademarked designs, a studio and warehouse staffed by close friends and family members to help keep the business growing. 

Social Media Sharks

Social media has played a huge role in the success of Grace & Lace and they still utilize their pages heavily to stay connected to their customers and fans as their company continues to grow. Back in 2012, the Miss Molly off-white soft button-down leg warmers were labeled “A Best Pinterest Find” by Pinterest. This along with their official website, Etsy page and other social media outlets helped build awareness and generate sales for their products. Before appearing on Shark Tank, Grace & Lace had made 1.25 million in revenues through online and in-store sales (Grace & Lace products were in 400 stores).

Today, Grace & Lace’s presence and utilizing of their social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) has grow. As someone who follows all of their social media pages, I have personally seen this and I am a huge fan/customer of this company! They announce the launch of all their new products through all their pages, constantly hold Facebook giveaway contests for their new product, and keep fans and customers up-to-date on the major happens of Grace & Lace. On April 4, Grace & Lace had an update on Shark Tank and they created buzz for through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. From the update, the website was hit with almost twice the volume than they had from their first appearance and they launched many of their spring line products (many of which sold out!)

Also, Grace & Lace has done a great job at connecting and interacting with their customers, especially through their Facebook page. They regularly answer question and issues people have from sizes and colors to order issues and product concerns. It shows me and all who support Grace & Lace, that they care about us as their customers and fans. Seeing this love and care that Grace & Lace has for their customers makes me want to share my love for Grace & Lace and their products. These lil guys are my new favorite addition to my wardrobe

More Than Just Socks

Grace & Lace is more than just a boot sock and leg warmer company. The company is making a REAL difference in the world through every item sold with their partnership through Angel House to build help orphanages in India. Since this partnership, Grace & Lace (and all of their customers) have helped build two orphanages with at least 5 more on the way for 2015. You can learn more about Angel House by clicking here. 

 

Recommendation

If you are looking for a unique pair of boot socks, leg warmers, accessories or apparel items, I HIGHLY recommend you check out Grace & Lace and purchase one of their products. Not only are you getting a quality product, you are making a difference with every purchase you make. They are also excellent in getting back to their customers both through social media and their contact page on their website. I just wrote a thank you to them through their website and received a reply from Heidi in less than 24 hours! I can’t wait to see what else Grace & Lace has in store! Check out Grace & Lace on their website and connect with them on social media:

Website: Grace & Lace

Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Sources:

• http://www.graceandlace.com/
• http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/retail/2013/11/austin-entrepreneurs-net-175000-in.html

Sevenly – For the good of mankind

Sevenly is a weekly cause and marketplace platform that raises funds and awareness for various charities that advocate numerous issues. They do this by selling exclusive, hand designed products for one week.

Every 7 days, the company partners with a different non-profit to help these organizations raise much needed funds and awareness. Sevenly artists/designers create one-of-a-kind art and limited edition apparel and accessories. These products are sold exclusive on the company’s website for 7 days and for every product sold, the non-profit of the week receives $7 from Sevenly. After the 7 days, Sevenly partners with a new non-profit, designs new art/apparel and the previous weeks limited edition items are gone – meaning one cannot purchase them after the 7 day campaign ends.

E-mail Messages:

Every Monday afternoon, Sevenly sends an e-mail out to all of their e-mail list subscribers informing them of the new campaign for the week. The e-mail contains a brief description of the week’s cause, non-profit Sevenly partnered with, pictures of some of the designs/apparel for the cause, links to the site to purchase the week’s collection and to their various social media pages. Other content that may be included is video stories about the cause and links to purchase additional limited edition products for that week’s cause.

This Monday e-mail is a call to action to notify people of about the new cause, share it on social media – generating awareness, and to get them to click to Sevenly’s website and make a purchase to support the cause as well as Sevenly.

In addition to the Monday campaign launch e-mail, subscribers also receive a Midweek e-mail and 24 hours remaining for the week’s cause e-mail. The content of the Midweek e-mails may include: updates about the campaign/non-profit, newly added products or designs, returns of fan-favorite products and/or other information about issue/cause of the week. The 24 hours remaining e-mail is a reminder e-mail to inform subscribers that only 24 hours remain for that week’s designs and it is now or never to make the purchase of those particular items.

Subscribers can also manage their e-mail subscription through a link at the bottom of any e-mailed received that allows a person to “sign up” to receive additional e-mails about cause and product categories one is interested in, thus receiving more e-mail communication from Sevenly.

Click for E-mail Layout example. 

Permission & Content Strategies:

To build their e-mail list, Sevenly utilizes explicit permission in which people chose to sign up to receive e-mail communication. Anyone that goes to Sevenly’s website is almost instantly asked (with a little pop-up block) if they would like to join the mission to change lives – enter their e-mail address and subscribe to Sevenly’s e-mail communications.

Sevenly’s e-mails are a mix of educating people about the new cause and a call to action to get subscribers to share the cause on social media – generating awareness – and to get them to click to Sevenly’s website and make a purchase to support the cause through action links throughout the e-mail. Because the causes only last 7 days and once a week’s design has completed its week, they are gone forever. So their Monday campaign e-mail and the 24 hours remaining e-mail reminder really encourage people to take action to make the purchase especially if they love the cause and design for that week as they are only around for 7 days. Also depending on the cause and the week, some of the e-mails contain video (multimedia) stories of individuals who have been impacted by either the cause or the organization Sevenly is supporting.

Effectiveness:

Overall, Sevenly’s e-mail strategies work for the business model and products they sale because there is such a limited time stamp on all of their products. Having communication with their subscribers 3-4 times a week help to create a sense of urgency in getting people to take action and make the purchase because if they don’t they will not get a second chance. The links in the emails take people directly to Sevenly’s website to learn more about the cause and see all the products that are being sold for the week. The content of the emails is also not overwhelming, easy to understand/follow and sparks people’s interest in terms of the feature items listed in the email and the cause they are supporting.

As someone who has personally purchased multiple products from Sevenly and is on their e-mail list, their e-mails have gotten me to go to their site to make purchases of apparel/designs and cause that I like and want to support. However, Sevenly could be a little more upfront with how often (frequency) they will send e-mails as it is not something that is explicitly stated when one signs up for their e-mail list. Also, getting 3-4 e-mails a week every week can add up so this may cause some people to unsubscribe to Sevenly’s emails. But I believe for the nature of their business, it is necessary to have the frequency of communication to generate sufficient funds and awareness for the non-profits they partner with for the week.

Sources:

• http://www.sevenly.org/faqs
• http://www.sevenly.org/terms

Julep At Your Fingertips

Company Overview –

Julep is a subscription based beauty company that sends subscribers boxes filled with different beauty products based on a style profile each month. For $19.99/month – Julep Maven members receive over $40 worth of products, gain first access to the latest beauty innovations by Julep and get free shipping along with 20% off of additional products at julep.com. One does not need to be a member to purchase products from Julep, but non-members pay a higher price. Julep sources the best beauty technology for their products – testing and refining all to benefit their customers. Through successful mobile marketing campaigns, Julep’s customer-base literally grew overnight.

Mobile Promotions Strategy –

Julep has launched an SMS promotions campaign through their “Mobile Insider Club”. This mobile club allows subscribers to opt-in to text message that contain promotions/deals of Julep nail polish and other beauty products. The reason why SMS is successful, especially for Julep, is that it lets the company connect personally to each customer by sending each of their mobile subscribers a text message with new deals, discounts or new products launches. Customers opt-in to receive these SMS from Julep which means these people chosen and want to hear from you. The important thing for companies utilizing the an SMS promotions strategy is that in order to keep those subscribed, they must continue to develop this relationship through compelling content and offers. If it is just advertisements, the efforts will fail.

Mobile Marketing Campaign –

When Julep launched their “Mobile Insider Club” marketing campaign back in 2013 with its SMS promotions, this mobile effort generated 5,000 new mobile subscribers in less than 24 hours. Prior to this SMS promotion, Julep never had a mobile phone number database. This means that their mobile subscribers grew from zero to 5,000 in less than one day. Anyone who signed up to be a Julep Mobile Insider by texting “Julep” to 33733, received a new Mobile Insiders reward of 50% off their next nail color purchase. Customers received this offer immediately upon successfully joining the Julep Insider club and expires 7 days from when a person opted in to the program. They provided subscribers a compelling reason to go to Julep’s website, use the promotion coupon code and continue their mobile subscription. Customers were not just receiving advertisements, but actually offers and discounts that gave them a reason to stay in the mobile club. Julep Mobile Insider Club members continue to receive text messages, no more than eight message per month or until they decide to opt-out of the messages.

To promote the new campaign, Julep used both their existing email database and Facebook and Twitter to advertise it. They also work with their established media sources to create the necessary buzz around their SMS promotion.

Hitting the Target –

Julep’s mobile club is targeted specifically towards young, tech savvy women as they are an online beauty company powered by girlfriends. These are also women who are highly interested and seek out the best beauty products. They also know that their main female customers are constantly on the go and Julep wanted communicate with them in a way that best fit their lifestyle. The company developed an easy opt-in process that takes people only seconds to complete which also fits with the on the go lifestyle of its target.

Nailed It –

Personally, I had never heard of Julep before doing this case study. I opted-in to the Julep Insider Club and it was an extremely easy and quick process. This promoted me to browse the website to see all the different nail polish colors they had available as the offer was 50% off any nail color purchase. I’m highly considering using the coupon and buying a nail polish just to try their products as the discount is pretty nice. If you are not a Julep Maven, a nail polish costs $14, but with the 50% discount it is only $7 which for me, makes it worth the purchase to try it and see if I like it. From a personal standpoint, I say that this SMS campaign is successful because it got me to sign up for the mobile club, go to Julep’s website and figure out which nail polish I wanted so that I could use my coupon.

Julep partnered with Tatango, a SMS marketing company to create this mobile campaign and collected the necessary data. After the launch, the promotion produced a 10.7% redemption rate (107 of every 1,000 new Julep Mobile Insiders made a purchase/utilized the coupon). The SMS program itself maintained a 99% retention rate, meaning that only 1 out of every 100 people that joined the campaign opted out of it. The company also so insist success because more than 5,000 customers signed up within the first 24 hours.

Julep’s SMS promotions are also not a one time deal. They continually promote new products and offer additional deals to their club members. To market one of their new nail colors, Kai, Julep sent a mobile coupon for the nail polish to all of their Insider club members. Julep is social and continue to leverage both their mobile and social media outlets to communicate with their customers and reach new ones. The campaign is personal and not just advertisements, targeted to Julep’s primary audience and immediately received upon opting in. Overall, I believe Julep’s SMS promotion was very successful achieving the goals of the campaign.

Sources:

• https://sakai.ithaca.edu/access/lessonbuilder/item/100198/group/60bf8b21-2701-4b7d-b152-1fda65bc4a21/Mobile%20Marketing/Mobile%20commerce%20guide.pdf
• http://www.tatango.com/blog/online-retailer-grows-mobile-database-from-0-to-5000-subscribers-in-24-hours/
• http://www.tatango.com/blog/e-commerce-sms-coupon-generates-17-percent-purchase-conversion/
• http://www.tatango.com/blog/10-amazing-retail-mobile-marketing-examples/
• http://www.tatango.com/sms-marketing-case-studies/julep

Storify – Social Media Storytelling

It’s Story Time:

Storify is the equivalent of scrap-booking, telling a story through narratives, pictures, quotes, etc., minus all the the physical aspects that make up a scrap-book. The website (launched publicly in 2011) provides consumers a way to create online stories with importing items they have collected/posted on social media, news sites and more – like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Buzzfeed, NY Times, etc.  All stories created can be embedded anywhere on the Internet and shared through other social networks to generate buzz.

Users are able to find a voice online that matters by dragging and dropping content into their story. This online format makes stories come to life and interactive for all. Any element in one users story can be re-used in another users story. Storify also gives users the ability to write their own story (narrative) to make sense of all that you the material gathered.

Example: http://storify.com/ICMoreThanMe

Making Money:

Storify mainly utilizes a freemium model. There are currently two tiers: free basic account and Storify VIP for $99/month (there is a an introductory price of $59/month for new users of Storify VIP). Anyone can set up a basic account for free by creating an username and password or by using their Facebook or Twitter accounts. The free tier is really targets to the everyday customers looking to establish their voice and tell their story on the world-wide web. The Storify VIP is for those organizations, bloggers, or individuals looking for way to better integrate the idea of storytelling through collecting social content and narratives. The premium service provides additional features/benefits such as real-time story updates (live blogging), priority technical support, and more as well as full customization of the story display to Storify VIP users. This helps the company gain revenue for its service while still allowing free access to users that do not want any of the premium features.

Storify also employs labor exchange and zero marginal cost strategies. The company provides a free service (for most consumers) in exchange for users to generate their stories (content) using various online outlets – labor exchange. Storify would cease to exist of users do not provide the stories to share with the world. They company provides the method for allowing people to find their own voice by sharing their stories with the online world. Everything that makes up a storify story is all digital media content. There are billions of pieces of information users can use to help tell their story which is then shared (distributed) for all to view. Storify shares thousands of stories digital information to millions of viewers every day at not cost to the them and very little cost to Storify.

The company’s founder, Burt Herman, has expressed the possibility of implementing an advertising model in the future. Rather than having ads posted all of the site (like in the margins), Herman wants to come up with an ad that goes into the Storify stories. In essence, the ad becomes part of the story. His idea is for these ads to be something like a promoted quote, video, photo, etc. from companies looking to communicate their message, and do so through the users stories. This new advertising model is still in the works as Herman wants to ensure that it will work with the users. He even hopes that if they were able to move forward with this model, that their would be a way to share revenue back with those that are creating the stories. 

Is It Working?

As of now, it seems that Storify’s main freemium strategy is working. In the last year, the company has seen traffic rates triple with gaining 15 million unique readers per month. Storify has about 600,000 registered. With the Storify VIP service (paid), the company has attracted the attention and business major media organizations like the BBC, Yahoo, The New York Times and People. Storify also received a $2 million dollar investment from Khosla Ventures in 2011. At the time, the staff of four at Storify used the money to hire designers and developers to help build and improve their product.

Storify’s unique tools especially for those in the media industry (journalists, bloggers, etc.)  gained the attention of Livefyre – a real-time conversation and social curation platform and in September 2013, Livefyre acquired Storify. This acquisition allows the two companies to share its resources (customers) and technologies to better serve the publishing/media industry. Now, Storify users can maintain their content/stories from the same centralized dashboard as they do for Livefyre content. Even with this acquisition, Storify still offers the same services, both free and paid versions as before – they are just improved.

Storify’s strategies have proven to be successful thus far. The company has figured out a business model and a way to monetize their service. They have seen significant growth in this last year (2013), however, Storify is still a relatively young company. There is still time for more growth especially in the number of registered users and viewers, and technological changes/advances that will further test the strategies the company has in place. But for now, Storify has figured out how to successfully generate revenue from their business and it looks like their story may be on its way to a happily ever after.

Sources:

• http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/18/storify-business-plan/
• http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/04/tuesday-qa-storifys-burt-herman-on-entrepreneurial-journalism-advertising-and-finding-the-right-business-model/
• http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/28/storify-vip/
• http://mashable.com/2011/02/03/storify-2-million/
• http://finance.yahoo.com/news/livefyre-acquires-social-storytelling-platform-173000767.html

Vimeo: A video-sharing site with personality

When people think of a place to upload, share and view videos, YouTube is usually the first place that comes to mind. A prodigy of the Web 2.0 era, YouTube has taken the video-sharing market by storm, but they were not the only company. Vimeo is another major video-sharing based company that has also come out of this Web 2.0 generation and has established itself as a direct competitor to YouTube.  Vimeo has made a name for itself through its quirky website design/features and ability to focus on longer videos like short films and movies.

In this new digital age of Web 2.0, Vimeo capitalizes on its use of personal media strategies. Users are able to customize their personal pages by uploading their own videos, choosing how to share their videos and following people, groups or channels. Their videos are put first as Vimeo does not place ads before, after or during their videos. The site is about their users and their work. Vimeo is a place where people are a part of a supportive online community with a personalized collection of videos (both their own and of those they follow). Also, the community has attracted a large number of indie filmmakers and their fans. These filmmakers now have the ability to get their films out to the public; giving them the power to share their works that otherwise may have never been seen.  The individual users have the power. They get to pick and chose what they watch, who they follow, what videos they create, upload and share with the digital world.

The age of participation with its principles of wikinomics has changed the traditional model of creating a successful company. Vimeo’s success comes from their adoption of some of these wikinomics principles. Sharing is a major part of Vimeo. Users can have free access/usage of Vimeo and only are obligated to pay if they wish to upgrade their account for additional features/benefits. Anyone and everyone can use Vimeo as they have created a user-friendly interface that easy use for the most technologically inept. It is a peer-to-peer network with individuals connecting and sharing their works with each other. Vimeo utilizing computer and Internet bandwidth to allow videos to be uploaded, shared and viewed. The company acts globally in that if people have internet connections and up-to-date web browsers, the can use Vimeo. There is one office in New York City that serves and supports all users around the global. All videos are uploaded to a high quality platform with HTML5 support and are encoded with the same video compression format, H.264. Videos are front and center without clutter of a lot of advertisements. Additionally, with the introduction of high definition playback in 2007, all videos that were uploaded before have since been re-encoded to fit this system. Vimeo has a more traditional hierarchical structure, with roles and tasks defined throughout the company. However, the company would not exist if there were not millions of individuals out in cyberspace uploading and sharing their work on Vimeo.

Vimeo has a created a unique business model that not only helps them get paid, but allows users to get paid for their works. The first level to their model is the different accounts users can choose:

• Vimeo Basic – Free
• Vimeo Plus – $59.95/year
• Vimeo Pro – $199/year
• Vimeo for Business – $199/year

Each account has its own features/benefits and Vimeo profits gains revenue from those willing to pay for additional benefits. Vimeo also wanted a simple way for their users to get paid for their videos. In 2013, Vimeo On Demand was launched.

The purpose of this new feature is it allows video producers to earn revenues from their works they distribute. How it works: Vimeo On Demand is for Pro account (paid) subscribers. These users can sell or rent their videos at a price of their choice. Vimeo takes 10% while the users keep 90% of the revenue. This rate gives them a competitive advantage that will attract significant attention in the market where Apple’s 30% (70% to the producer). It allows Vimeo to add to the revenue they generated from their 15 million paid subscribers and global audience of  over 100 million monthly viewers.

Another tool Vimeo uses to generate revenues is the “Tip Jar.” Users can ask viewers to “tip” or make a donation for their video. Vimeo users keep 85% of the profits while Vimeo only takes 15%. This feature gives viewers the option to compensate the creator for their work and also allows Vimeo to gain additional revenue. However, one of Vimeo’s competitors, Kickstarter has a more appealing rate of 5% with the producer taking 95%. While it has not been a major issue now, Vimeo may want to think about adjusting their own rates in the future to better match those of Kickstarter if Vimeo begin to lose out on customers to their competitor.

Overall, Vimeo has a good business model and strategy in place that has proven to be very successful for the company thus far. They are different and unique from their competitors like YouTube that generate revenues from advertisements. Vimeo creates an incredibly supportive community with a fun, easy-to-use interface for all to enjoy. The adjustments and additions they have made to their business model with the Vimeo On Demand and “Tip Jar” keeps Vimeo competitive in the world of online video-sharing. Will Vimeo be able to survive in the content-sharing world without relying on advertising for revenue generations? Will charging their users be enough? Time will tell, but Vimeo has a solid strategy and model in place that has allowed them to remain consistent, competitive, and customer-focused.

Sources:

• http://www.theatlantic.com/video/archive/2012/09/make-videos-get-money-vimeos-ceo-on-why-creators-should-get-paid/262557/
• https://vimeo.com/
• http://thenextweb.com/media/2013/03/12/vimeo-now-lets-video-producers-sell-and-rent-their-work-and-keep-90-of-the-revenue/#!tIXGi