Adopt these 6 traits of successful Productpreneurs with fast-growth businesses
In celebration of International Women’s Day today, I’d like to introduce you to my client Kristy Chong, founder of award-winning underwear brand Modibodi.
Kristy’s journey of entrepreneurship is so impressive and inspiring that she was recently named by Fairfax Media as one of 9 Australian business women to watch in 2017.
And I couldn’t agree more, having watched her successfully steer her business from idea, through research and development, launching to market and now selling direct to consumers online and distributing via wholesale and Amazon.
Kristy has quickly scaled her business to be on track for 7 figures turnover this year. All since 2013!
So how do you grow from a standing start to 7 figures in under 5 years?
Innovation is key
To launch a new business and brand and scale it up fast requires having a very clear point of difference. It’s pretty hard to motivate customers to take action when a product is exactly the same as the alternatives they’re already using.
Kristy has used modern technology to disrupt a very traditional industry – underwear – reinventing the product to provide a totally new solution to an age-old problem.
And not only that, her new solution actually works better than the traditional options!
Passion with purpose
Today, ambition alone is not enough to secure success as an entrepreneur. We need to stand for something meaningful.
What are our brand values and how do we demonstrate them? Customers are looking for an emotional connection to the brands they support.
Kristy understands that giving people a reason to care (Kristy as a strong advocate for women’s health issues and rights) helps to build a highly engaged customer-base who supports you by buying from you and recommending you to their friends.
Understand what makes your customers tick
That is – why do they buy from you? What is the specific transformation they get from you rather than your competition?
If you analyse the Modibodi website and observe the marketing and advertising, you can see how adept the brand is at speaking directly to a few distinct customer avatars.
Identifying your customers’ specific needs allows you to speak directly to them and show them in your marketing and advertising how your brand and products can provide the solution they’re looking for.
Be seen where your customers are
Coming from a PR background, Kristy is the master at this and has an innate understanding of how to build an audience.
Still a relatively new business, she uses the media to get her brand and products in front of her ideal audience.
And you can do this too. Use your PR activities to help leverage the big audiences of specific media outlets (news, magazine and blogs) who share your target audience. Doing this will fast track your ability to build brand awareness and grow your own database.
Establish a foundation that supports growth
To scale up big and fast requires a solid foundation for growth. Hustling harder just won’t cut it! You’ll end up chasing your tail and missing opportunities.
Having a strong foundation for growth means knowing where your sales are coming from, and how to affect and have some control over those sources of revenue.
Systemize and Automate
These days, even the smallest businesses have the ability to systemize and automate. It’s not just the preserve of large businesses with big budgets!
Kristy uses tech tools to automate her sales and marketing, to attract new customers and build loyalty and repeat purchase.
And the biggest benefit of implementing this strategy is it provides you with predictable revenue AND gives you a measure of control over how to grow and meet your sales targets.
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