On this episode of Honest Ecommerce, we have Breanna Greenberg. Breanna is the VP of Marketing at Stratia, with over a decade of industry experience in the beauty industry and a pioneering background as one of the first social media managers, now leading innovative strategies to elevate brand awareness and drive DTC and Amazon growth. We talk about strategic gifting to test products and engage, growing a TikTok following to build credibility, using purpose-driven marketing with a scientific approach, and so much more!
Breanna is an innovation-obsessed executive with 14 years of experience in digital marketing, social media and leadership. She is an expert in pioneering impactful brand strategies with an affinity for the latest developments in beauty and e-commerce.
Through her expertise and stewardship of high-performing teams, she has spearheaded the launch of countless SKUs and propelled growing D2C brands to triple-digit success. Breanna thrives in the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing in the CPG industry.
Her career began as one of the first Social Media Managers working for celebrities & the hospitality industry. She has spent the last decade in the beauty industry working for Henkel, Toni&Guy, Em Cosmetics and CAA's beauty incubator.
She is currently StratiaSkin.com's VP of Marketing.
In This Conversation We Discuss:
Resources:
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Breanna Greenberg
You should try to at least generate a little bit of a following before you go too hard in terms of TikTok Shop or the affiliates.
Chase Clymer
Welcome to Honest Ecommerce, a podcast dedicated to cutting through the BS and finding actionable advice for online store owners. I'm your host, Chase Clymer. And I believe running a direct-to-consumer brand does not have to be complicated or a guessing game.
On this podcast, we interview founders and experts who are putting in the work and creating real results.
I also share my own insights from running our top Shopify consultancy, Electric Eye. We cut the fluff in favor of facts to help you grow your Ecommerce business.
Let's get on with the show.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Honest Ecommerce.
Today, I'm welcoming to the show the VP of Marketing at Stratia, Breanna Greenberg. Breanna, welcome to the show.
Breanna Greenberg
Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.
Chase Clymer
Oh, oh, it is so nice to have you. I'm excited to chat.
So let's kind of quickly let's dive in. You've been in the digital marketing world for almost 14 years now, maybe even longer. You want to give me a quick kind of synopsis of your career so far?
Breanna Greenberg
Yeah. So I started out as one of the very first social media managers in a time where that wasn't a common job or a term that we heard often. I was delighted to get to have one of my first roles in Los Angeles really be something that was so fun.
And then that was also the time where social media was also Ecommerce. It was Shopify merch stores, just like a whole host of things, reviews, community management. So all that was really wrapped into one, all the websites and ticketing and all that. So I worked for a bunch of comedians, comedy clubs, celebrities, hotels and things like that.
And then I got recruited to go to Toni &Guy right after that experience in agency and I've been in beauty and on the brand side ever since. So I worked at Tony and Guy with the founding family. I have worked at Henkle, which is the second largest beauty company behind L'Oreal in North America, Professional Beauty. I've been with Michelle Phan in cosmetics, which is very D2C native, as well as CAA's Beauty Incubator. And now I'm at Stratia.
Chase Clymer
Oh, that's amazing. Lots of fantastic brands there.
Now, let's talk about your job at Stratia. When you were hired, were there certain things that they were looking for or problems that they were really hoping that you could help them solve?
Breanna Greenberg
Yeah. So when I was hired at Stratia... So Stratia started out... We've been around for 8.5 years. Ali, our founder, Alli Reid, formulated it really in our kitchen as an answer to our own problem. She says it's like baking a batch of cookies. You couldn't just bake one, you had to bake a dozen. And so she was giving the extras out on Reddit.
People really wanted it. She launched a little side hustle and that turned into Stratia, which is now a huge brand, especially in terms of manufacturing everything in-house where my marketing office typically is. Today I got to work from home. And we ship everything directly to your door with our own warehouse system. So it was quite the journey.
And so when I came in two and a half years ago, they had just secured investment from Fable, which is a fantastic team. And they had had one marketing person that had been moving on to a new role. So they're really looking to bring somebody in who understood marketing, but also was very understanding of the science and that the science is king and that we're not going to be focusing on trends.
And at that time, they were very anti-marketing. So that was a super fun challenge for me to get to work for this brand and understand how I can just use marketing for a megaphone of greater education and the purpose.
So at that time, they were looking for somebody to head up marketing, but things were much different than they look now. We had a ton of agencies. Every little piece had an agency. Things are really disjointed. Now, almost everything is in-house and we're thriving more than ever before.
Chase Clymer
That's amazing.
I guess my first question would be: coming into a company that, as you said, was anti-marketing and that is more than 50% of the letters in your title is marketing, walk me through some of the first processes and projects that you took on.
Breanna Greenberg
Yeah. So my very first project was to do a brand new site. So they had wireframes. But that was it. I think my first week I saw the wireframes in a draft form. And they'd never had model photography. They didn't have any of the assets.
And they basically said, “We're going to launch this in six weeks. Can you do it?” And I said, “Of course I can.” So we did the whole website really, really quickly. I got to produce a bunch of content and do their first ever model images. So that was really interesting.
There were a lot of projects. I think there was a lot of auditing of what was happening and maybe restrategizing, refocusing the budget. Like I said, a lot of the agencies just weren't performing anymore. Additional internal hires that needed to be made. So a lot was going on when I first joined as well as an entire brand repackaging and a new brand book.
They had never had an official brand book, so I was doing the brand book and they wanted to move to sustainable packaging and with that, they wanted to do a refresh of all of the designs just so that it would be more retail friendly.
I had a lot of projects right at the jump, but it was amazing.
I was very drawn to a role that was very science-based and anti-marketing because my mom, I grew up with a single mother who was a genetic engineer, spending a lot of time on research for muscular dystrophy.
And her biggest pet peeve growing up was when people tried to use bits and pieces of science and spin it to make themselves sound smart or to sell something that they shouldn't. So I think I had a little bit, I had a lot of ease going into the role, knowing I have a feeling I know exactly what they might be looking for. Granted always more to learn, but it's been a pretty smooth ride.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
So you got, I would say all the ducks in a row, you got the brand book situated, which helps all over your marketing, but also a new website.
And then how do you... Well, I guess before you joined, obviously, the brand was born off of Reddit and referrals. What was the split like back then? Was it all 100% direct-to-consumer through the website? Was it a majority of Amazon? Was it a retail play?
Breanna Greenberg
Yeah. So it was all D2C. I think my second month or third month, we launched on Amazon with a partner. And we've also since taken that in-house. We took that in-house this year and we... Our sales have skyrocketed even though myself and my digital lead are not experts at Amazon. I think a lot of times when you put your own love and passion behind something, it naturally does better than if you're one of many in a big agency format, depending on where you're at.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
Going in with, obviously, not being fans of marketing, what was the first marketing thing you got them to agree to do?
Breanna Greenberg
Well, I think the first thing was having models and their imagery in terms of a new site coming out.
Chase Clymer
When you say models, you're saying human beings?
Breanna Greenberg
Yeah, real life people using their product, I think was kind of the first element to really humanize the brand and to help people understand touch and texture and how that might perform on their skin. So I think that that was really helpful.
Maybe four months in, we had a huge launch, which is now our second best-selling product after our hero Lipid Gold, which was for the face.
So I convinced Alli to let me take over our lab and we had a huge influencer party there with cocktails that were lit on fire and everyone was in this lab setting, where all the products were being made, but having more of a glow-in-the-dark type brave party that was science-based.
So there were a lot of really fun risks that she took with me. And it's been fantastic.
Chase Clymer
You alluded to having all these influencers there. And now you guys do great things with TikTok and partnering with influencers. Can you walk us through how that strategy evolved over the last couple years?
Breanna Greenberg
Yeah. So influencers have always been very core to what I do in marketing, just because they had started out in social. So I've seen firsthand the effects of those channels and how it can be a very... It can be a lot less expensive than other means of acquisition. So I was super excited about the possibility of influencer and just organic gifting in general.
But I will say when I first started the agency that we were working with, the influencer basically said, “We are so sorry. No one wants to try the product. Like you're gonna have to pay a couple people just to accept a gift.” And I was like, “Oh wow.” Like I was a little bit blown away, but I'm like, “Okay, let's try. Let's go talk to some people.”
And we turned, we found out that's not the case. And I think organic gifting was probably the very first thing that really helped us and catapulted us to that next level of growth in terms of new customers. And then the second thing that happened about 6 months later was really embracing TikTok and going all in on that platform. And that has been awesome for new customers as well.
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Chase Clymer
Let's dive in a little bit more on organic gifting and break it down and pretend I don't know... I have a clue what you're talking about and walk me through exactly what that was.
Breanna Greenberg
Yeah. So organic gifting has been a practice that I think has been going strong for at least the last decade. But it still tends to work very well. I'm so sorry. I have a needy little animal. I have a little bichon that hears me talking and wants to join.
So it's a tried and true practice. It's been around forever. It's nothing new. However, organic gifting is when you find people that might be part of your target audience or influencers who you think might enjoy your brand and you just ask them if they would be interested in trying the product and you send out a gift.
A lot of it was just one-off and we were either recommending a certain product or getting their feedback as to what their skin needs would be and we could send customized packages. And then there's also more of the mass seeding where there's a new product launch or product we're focusing on. So we create a PR box and then everyone is organically receiving that.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
So you're finding potential new customers or potential new influencer partners and just gifting them the product with no strings attached?
Breanna Greenberg
No strings attached. And I think that's the very best way to find the paid influencer partnerships too, because you're going to see naturally who enjoys the product, who wants to talk about it, who feels like it's aligned for them versus when you just drop 10k on one Instagram post from somebody and hope that it works out.
For starters, it's really disjointed for your audience and for their audience. When somebody mentions something for the first time and it's in a very paid and promotional way. It's much better if there is a slow lead in and people are seeing that relationship be built in real time. So that's always been fantastic.
And it's also a great way for the influencer if they are interested in working with the brand to show them, “Hey,” this is almost like their interview. When they post organic gifting, this is almost like their interview saying, “Hey, I am aligned. This is the content I can make for you. Do you want to proceed with a paid partnership?”
Chase Clymer
Absolutely. Now, my follow-up there would be...
I'm assuming it's like a numbers game. How many reactions do you get back, I guess? I just want to set expectations for listeners out there that think that they might want to try a strategy like this.
Breanna Greenberg
Yeah. So when we were first starting out, I'll talk about total send. We are only sending maybe like 50 a month, you know, then ground dumped to 100. Now we send about two to 300 packages if we have a new launch. And we would love to send a few 1000 packages outside of launches a month. We're not quite there yet.
But it is a very different game depending on what type of influences you're targeting. So people that are more of like the traditional blogger, Instagram influencer, especially if you have an account that looks somewhat professional and polished and they can tell that this is a real business, their response rate is going to be pretty decent.
I'd say about 70 to 80% response rate. And as people see you either doing some sort of event or seeing this rollout of other influencers talking about you, all of the influencers are gonna want to work with you a little bit more because now they're familiar. So that has been really great.
Now, when it comes to TikTok influencers and TikTok affiliates. When you're gifting people that way through like their affiliate platform, a 2 to 3% return is kind of what you can expect in the beginning. So you could be sending out to a hundred people and you might get two responses. And that is very normal on that platform.
So if you are targeting TikTok and you don't wanna go the affiliate route, I would suggest finding your TikTok influencers and then finding another way to communicate with them, whether that be in an email or on a different social platform, and then you're able to build a relationship that way.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
You mentioned the snowball effect. You're trying to work with them, but they also want to make sure that you're not some sort of fly-by-night business as well. So you need to look professional and legit on your end.
Having the events, like you said, and having other partnerships that are already working makes it more enticing to build those new relationships. And I think that's just networking in and of itself is... It's hard to get those first core partners and then it starts to snowball from there.
Breanna Greenberg
Absolutely.
And the cool thing is, I've done this at so many different brands where you start from zero. And so I want to say that it is not super expensive. And it is relatively easy to start. So yes, it's going to be a little harder, a little slower going in the beginning. But it's still not very difficult and it's still not very expensive.
Chase Clymer
The expenses, the margin on the product, and the shipping. And that's it. So obviously, if you've got a luxury product or something that's super expensive, this might not be a strategy for you. Don't go around gifting $4,000 couches. Or maybe. I don't know. That's not my world.
But if you could guess how many samples do you think that you've sent out at Stratia since you started?
Breanna Greenberg
Hmm. Maybe about 12,000?
In the last two and a half years, maybe more. I think it's also interesting, for instance, we just did BeautyCon. And so for that, we really, instead of putting our money in a booth, we might've spent $600 decorating our booth for the event, but we spent all of our money on gifting free products. So at that event alone, outside of the number I just gave you, we gave out about 2000 products to people that were walking by, as well as an additional 1000 products in the VIP gift bags.
And just as a baseline, a lot of the brands that you see, especially in beauty that are doing well, are gifting about 4,000 products a week to really take over and go viral and be one of the top 10.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely. Yeah, I do know that we've got a few clients that work and that are in the beauty space.
Free gift with purchase is the number one thing that you got to make work on Shopify when we're working with them. They can always change that offer. And they're using it in wild ways. They're sampling older products that they might not be reordering or they're testing new products to see what the market says about it. Just beyond wowing people on the website, they use it in various different ways.
Breanna Greenberg
Yeah, absolutely.
And I also think that after you have... Obviously, if things are going well, keep things the way they are. You need to make some changes to do that. But I also think now that we have a baseline and we have an understanding of our business, now is the time that we can add in and layer in all these amazing agency partners and actually have it work.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
Now we talked so much about how gifting worked for you. Let's pivot over to TikTok and talk a little bit about that. Obviously, the return there with using the affiliate partners is a little bit lower than reaching out through other channels.
But what about the content play with TikTok and building a community there? How did you attempt to crack that?
Breanna Greenberg
I think if I was to start from zero, I would much prefer to focus and put all the eggs in the content side. And then growing the account and maybe putting paid behind that before foray into affiliate.
I think there's been so many… There's a TikTok shop, affiliate and organic. There's so many things to talk about. But in terms of TikTok, organic, or just the overall TikTok account. I was setting KPIs for 2023. We only had a few thousand followers. We'd had a couple of videos go viral, but nothing consistent.
And we were really thinking, the question was posed to me, “Do we scale back? Do we not move forward in terms of TikTok? Do we focus more on the channels that are really performing?”
Because I've been in social so long and I kind of seen the rise and fall and how things have morphed into the next iteration or the next platform. I wasn't so comfortable with that just because I knew even if TikTok didn't work and it didn't stay around, those kind of practices of the short form video that's really engaging and feels a little bit more organic and live selling, all of that's going to continue on to the next platform.
So because of that, we decided to just focus a little bit more on it.
And the one thing that really changed for us was I started doing engagement ads, very low cost engagement ads for follower growth. And that was amazing because basically I was boosting our best performing content that typically had a lot of scientific education to a much larger audience. That was the audience that might be likely to actually be a core customer and follow us.
So we were getting our brand out. We were getting the awareness. We were getting an education. We are getting a net new customer and we are growing that profile. So we went from about 3000 followers to about 64000 followers in a couple of months. And then we've grown ever since.
And we don't have to continue doing that kind of ad spend. We don't need to do ads for that.
But just to get yourself up and going, I think that's really important because you do want people to land on your page and understand that you are the official brand. So you should try to at least generate a little bit of a following before you go too hard in terms of TikTok shops or the affiliates.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
Now, is there anything I didn't ask you about today that you think would resonate with our audience?
Breanna Greenberg
I think the one thing, just because everyone is looking for additional ways to generate revenue and the most profitable streams, I think when it comes to TikTok shops, obviously breaking thresholds and having a bunch of affiliates that have your products in their shop is great.
But the one thing that we've seen and we've been seeing since this time last year is that going live consistently is really what's the one thing that helps boost TikTok shop sales. So, yes, it is a little bit of a time commitment, but going live is free. So, I mean, there's a win-win there.
So, yeah, I think going live in terms of a TikTok shop has been the one thing that has moved the needle for us more than maybe some of the other ways of engaging on TikTok.
Chase Clymer
I guess my assumption would be even if they don't watch the live stream, you get the notification that people you are following goes live. And it's almost like a free push notification.
Breanna Greenberg
That and I think it's also whatever platform of the moment, and whatever they're testing or whatever their priority is, they're going to give you a little bit of a boost if you're participating in their initiative. So I know TikTok likes TikTok Live right now. And they are obviously trying to build their shop. So I feel like that's probably... It's probably the timing of it all, that's helpful too.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
Now, if I'm listening to this episode and I'm curious about the product and the science behind it and to see all the amazing stuff that you've helped curate on the website, where should I go? What should I do?
Breanna Greenberg
Yeah. So go to stratiaskin.com. There's a couple of really cool things. One, we have an ingredient glossary. So for every single product, if you scroll over, you can see what the ingredient is, the research behind it and why it's in the formula. A lot of times people do this with third party softwares.
Alli, our founder and lead chemist on our formulator, actually wrote every definition by hand and why it's specifically in each formula that we have. So I would highly recommend checking that out.
In addition to… I took photos of the exact ingredient. So that's really fun. Other things that are really fun is if you see us on social, we will show you our office where we are making everything in the lab and how each of your bottles are made. We have a very small all-female team that's making every bottle by hand. So that's really fun.
There's an awesome skincare quiz, which I know most people have quizzes. But again, Alli wrote every possible variant of what your skin type might be so that you can have education specifically about your skin coming from her.
Chase Clymer
Oh, that's amazing, Brianna. Thank you so much for coming on the show today and sharing all that awesome information.
Breanna Greenberg
Amazing. Thank you for having me, Chase.
Chase Clymer
We can't thank our guests enough for coming on the show and sharing their knowledge and journey with us. We've got a lot to think about and potentially add into our own business. You can find all the links in the show notes.
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