Brand Authenticity, Selling Direct to Consumer and Gaining PR Traction [Physical Product Podcast EP:02]

2X eCommerce Podcast · with Scott Gabrielson · December 14, 2016 · 41 min

Summary

This episode with Oliver Cabell founder Scott Gabrielson offers ecommerce operators a tactical blueprint for launching and scaling a direct-to-consumer brand from scratch. Learn how to leverage transparency, strategic PR, and social media to acquire customers, achieve rapid sales growth, and disrupt established markets.

Key takeaways

• Implement a referral/reward program to rapidly grow your email list at launch, as Oliver Cabell did to gain 10,000 subscribers.
• Actively pursue media coverage by building relationships with 300+ press contacts and crafting a unique brand story to get noticed.
• Disrupt established markets by embracing transparency (e.g., revealing production costs) to differentiate your brand and build customer trust.
• Utilize influencer marketing by reaching out to a broad range of relevant influencers (20k-200k followers) to drive brand awareness.
• Focus sales efforts initially on PR, then word-of-mouth, and finally repeat customers as your brand matures.

Themes

Topics covered

Episode description

Hi everybody, welcome to the Physical Product Podcast, part of the 2x eCommerce podcast and today, we’re going to be talking about brand authenticity and launching from zero to a significant amount of sales that actually brings in traction. I will not talk too much, I have with me, Scott Gabrielson, founder of Oliver Cabell. A minimalist high-end bag and accessories company that launched less than 6 months ago. In this episode you will hear: Using Social Media to build a Fashion brand / Instagram marketing tips Direct to consumer commerce - opportunities and efficiencies of vertical integration / “killing the middleman” Gaining PR traction for a fashion brand email acquisition of 30,000 in 3 and a half months in business Team size and more... Scott’s company, Oliver Cabell is a direct-to-consumer brand focused on: Transparency Quality Price The formation of the brand came about in 2013 specifically looked at accessories as a way to figure out how they can disrupt  the high-end market, why the market wasn’t as high as they were and what approach to go through in building the plan. Their production is in Italy, doing all sourcing of materials and bring them to production, cutting out the traditional middleman/markups and sells directly online. They revealed their cost of production on their website - a unique action taken by retail sites. They’ve done this because of the company's focus on transparency, quality and price setting themselves out from other high-end fashion companies who are mostly big public companies that made them incredibly opaque. They surpassed $1M in retail sales in less than 6 months which is mainly attributed to the PR and social media, and because they have high-quality products, the customers became the biggest supporters in initiating the next sales for the company. With that, here are the Top 3 options to drive brand awareness in sales from Scott Gabrielson: Email - they built a referral/reward program that helped them grow their email

Frequently asked about this episode

What does this episode say about brand strategy?

Implement a referral/reward program to rapidly grow your email list at launch, as Oliver Cabell did to gain 10,000 subscribers.

What does this episode say about customer acquisition?

Actively pursue media coverage by building relationships with 300+ press contacts and crafting a unique brand story to get noticed.

What does this episode say about direct-to-consumer?

Disrupt established markets by embracing transparency (e.g., revealing production costs) to differentiate your brand and build customer trust.

What does this episode say about public relations?

Utilize influencer marketing by reaching out to a broad range of relevant influencers (20k-200k followers) to drive brand awareness.

What does this episode say about brand strategy?

Focus sales efforts initially on PR, then word-of-mouth, and finally repeat customers as your brand matures.

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