Hey ,

Happy Monday! It's the beginning of the month and if you haven't already, it's time to get planning for the Holiday Season.

We've got some great tips and a webinar focused on high-impact storytelling. Let's get to it!

Jordan

WORKSHOP: HIGH-IMPACT STORYTELLING

How does your brand live in the world?

As a founder, your brand is much more than tactical things like your logo, colors, and graphics. It's how your company shows up in the world, the stories you tell, and the stories people tell about you. It's the secret sauce opportunity to energize a brand with little or no exposure. We've partnered with our friends at Geletka+ to unpack how you can become an ultimate storyteller for your brand. 

YOU'LL LEARN

• Opportunity: The impact storytelling has on your bottom line

• Execution: What is the focus of the story? Founder’s reason? Unique ingredients? Cultural Shift? Pick one!  

• Execution: What channels are best for the story? How can they be leveraged with good quality and reasonable effort? 

• Expectations: Costs and Staff Commitment, Brand Impact and Awareness, Partnering, Distribution, Sales and Staff metrics

PANELISTS

John Geletka, Founder and Chief Experience Officer, Geletka +

John’s past experiences include an MFA in sculpture, full stack development chops, and partner positions at boutique and global design and marketing firms. 

Jeffrey Walker, Executive Creative Director, Geletka +

Big brand TV, multi-media digital content, and a stint as a writer on an Emmy-winning TV series add up to Jeff’s career in storytelling. 

HOLIDAY BRAND CHECKLIST

The holiday season is around the corner, and now's the time to start thinking about how you need to optimize your site and customer relationships. Below is a list from Nik Sharma's most recent e-mail listing a 26 point checklist on things you need to do to prepare for the holidays. Definitely worth a read. Email/SMS:

• Flows that trigger based on how many purchases have been made.

• Flows that trigger cross-sell and up-sell purchases based on past category purchases

• Add text-only "Thank you" email from brand/software's founder (these stand out when everyone is getting promo emails)

• Switch blanket promo codes from WELCOME to more custom codes to control platforms like Honey from ruining your bottomline.

• If possible, add more dynamic elements within the emails and SMS messages to feel more personal

• Shorten time to collect reviews, and double the frequency to ask for the review. This makes sure the customer sees it.

• Add social proof to cart abandonment emails from past customers (UGC), influencers, and publications (include quotes).

• Make sure all emails are optimized for mobile.

• Create win-back flows for churned customers to get them excited for holiday deals, new products, etc. Make this a custom audience within ad platforms as well.

Website

• Build landing pages for best-selling bundles (use our template)

• Create holiday specific offers for Black Friday, Black Friday weekend, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday, Christmas, and New Years

• Build landing pages or optimized collections pages for each holiday, sale, or promotion. 

• Optimize site speed (we do this often with Oddit)

• Make sure you're not on a commerce platform that will crash (use Shopify).

Promotions

• Make sure all offers, promotions, and sales balance discounts with AOV — don't give a high discount on a small cart.

• Exclusive promos for subscribers and high LTV customers

• Share all upcoming sales with affiliates, ambassadors, influencers, and PR outlets

Paid Media

• Stay diversified across channels

• Make sure all pixels are firing correctly, capturing as much data as possible

• Focus on top/mid funnel-building activities now so you have them ready in a couple months

• Update Google Shopping/AdWords with promos and codes

• Test new messaging angles

• Make sure you have ad accounts that will scale with you. If you're spending a small daily amount compared to what you plan to spend around Black Friday, make sure your ad accounts can handle it

Packaging

• If possible, add a holiday-specific insert into all packaging. This is an easy touchpoint to build word of mouth.

• Add info to make reorder process easy (i.e. a fridge magnet with a Batch QR code)

• Find relevant trinkets or GWP's (gifts with purchase) you can add to orders.

LET'S GO VIRAL ON TIKTOK

Erica Rankin of Bro Dough is one of my favorite creators and founders. She's killing the LinkedIn and TikTok game and now you can learn from her. 

She just launched a course to teach you how to build a following and increase engagement on Tiktok. This could be for your business, or personal brand. She was able to grow my Tiktok to 130k followers and over 2 million likes in 5 months.

YOUR GO-TO FOR PERISHABLE SHIPPING

One question I get all the time is how can I run an e-commerce store and ship my refrigerated / frozen products efficiently.

If you're trying to figure this out, talk to Barry at

Perishable Shipping Solutions

. They have two great options to help you save money.

Option 1: DIY Shipping

- Access discounted insulated packaging and negotiated FedEx shipping rates.

Option 2: 3PL Fulfillment

- Utilize PSS's full-service operation to take this completely off your hands.

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN THAT IGNITES POSITIVE CHANGE

Mindful & Good is a socially conscious design studio committed to honest, effective and stunning creativity that ignites positive change. We are experts in sustainable design that creates the space for your brand to evolve, grow and become wildly successful.We Design, Evolve & Grow Socially Conscious BrandsWe work with natural, organic and purpose-driven businesses in food & beverage, agriculture, health & wellness and sustainability. From start-up ventures to Fortune 500 companies, we help to define and grow your brand to best resonate with conscious consumers.We serve as your design partner helping your business with brand strategy and positioning, branding, sustainable packaging, print and digital that draws attention, opens minds and drives sales while doing good along the way.Foodbevy Members save 20% off their first project!

DISCOUNTS

- Riser Design 

is an awesome branding and packaging design company that works mainly with food and beverage companies.

Get 10% off your design package.

- Stripe 

is now providing $20,000 in fee-free processing for new and EXISTING customers.

Save over $600

The Accountrepreneur 

is your go-to outsourced CPA and CFO firm for the food and beverage industry. Receive

 a free financial assessment + Foodbevy Members get 20% off services for one year.

- RangeMe

is used by hundreds of retailers to source products. If you use RangeMe,

they are offering $600 off their premium service.

- The Creative Exchange 

is a social media agency designed for CPG. If you need help on social, they are offering all Foodbevy members a

free 1hr consult, along with a $400/month deal to join their Photo Club, which includes 12 photos per month.

- WeStock 

allows you to identify where your tribe would like to purchase your products in retail. 

Save 25% monthly and annual plans.

- Airtable

 can store information in a spreadsheet that's visually appealing and easy-to-use, but it's also powerful enough to act as a database that businesses can use for customer-relationship management (CRM), task management, project planning, and tracking inventory. 

Receive $2,000 in free credits

- Hubspot 

is an inbound marketing and sales software that helps companies attract visitors, convert leads, and close customers.

Save 30% on all plans

With your help we're building an amazing community of Food and Bev entrepreneurs helping each other!

The Foodbevy Team