Early stage e-comm: when YOU become the only affordable content that can launch your brand.

I’ve been working with early stage brands that just entered the market or are preparing to do so.

One tactical challenge they generally have in common is the struggle to develop the content that will launch the brand. 

Budget is almost always the issue (note: I’m talking about founders who are mostly bootstrapping, not Andreessen’s latest investment). 

So how to solve the early stage content problem? The simple solution is YOU. 

You, the founder/s, and what you’ve solved for is quite possibly the richest area for content creation. 

WHY?

1. You already have a script written because you lived it.

2. It’s emotional and people love stories that make them feel something. When you share your inspiration, your struggles and successes, it’s immediately human. And humans relate to other humans (politicians, billionaires and (Kan)Ye aside).

3. It can be affordable. Low-fi content is super dope these days thanks to TikTok (and 34 years of AFV). Your narrative will overcome the fact that you used a smartphone, lavalier mic and ring light.

4. Your voice and tone is authentic and more believable than most ads an agency would whip up.

5. Your story has legs. There are many chapters to any founder’s journey. These chapters can easily be sorted into consumer-facing content that is dripped out over time. And the book is still being written in real time, which is yet another part of the story worth sharing.

Some Examples:

Emily Harpel at The Art of Sucre.
She started a bougie cotton candy e-comm business in 2021 (‘19 it started as an event-based biz until the pandemic hit). Her marketing strategy was to post on TikTok….a lot, all from her phone. Over 3+ years she accumulated 1.3M followers and rising. Through her content fans get to know her as a person and as an entrepreneur. She is always exposing the BTS view of the company, it’s employees, and the almost hypnotic process of the products being made and in use. She has other marketing challenges I’m sure, but to me, this is a founder building her brand through her story with what I’m sure started with little to no budget. 

Eric Girouard at Brunt Workwear
Eric built Brunt to make high quality work boots and clothes, but even more so, he built the company out of deep respect for tradespeople. It’s in his roots and he is deeply committed to supporting the people who build the world around us. From what I can tell, Eric probably had at his disposal an agency, a PR pro and legit photographers/videographers to launch the brand, but 2-weeks in they sold out of boots and he showed up in social media telling it like it is. Just him, no frills.  Two years later and he is still a major voice for the brand. When he has something to say he says it. No agency necessary. He’s also out in the field with tradespeople ALL THE TIME. He’s a founder that walks the walk with his customers and the stories & content he gets from it are endless. 
Boots sell out
His hoodie challenge and a bit of sexual innuendo
Brand ethos & listening to real customers for product improvements

Jennifer Cassara at  GoodRobe&Co
Jennifer works a full-time job, which she loves, but that did not stop her from making her dream a reality: her very own women’s fashion brand that launched last year.  Jen faces all the excitement and challenges of growing an online business but as a solution for the never ending need for content, she has put herself in front of the camera.  She’s just getting started but she is clear and consistent in telling the story of what makes GoodRobe&Co different in a way only a hardworking founder can. 
Her Style Audi Part 1
https://www.instagram.com/goodrobeandco/

A key consideration is not all founder stories are created equal. 

• You might be brilliant but boring af.

• You may hate the idea of being the face of the company.

• You may not have the skill set to turn your story into interesting content.

• You’re probably not funny enough to strike gold like Michael Dublin did when he made his YT vid for Dollar Shave Club.

Thankfully, you can hire someone to turn your story into interesting content. 

Freelance writers are abundant and affordable.

Give them an outline and all the details of your journey and ask them to generate some content pillars (e.g. Problem.Solution, My Journey, Product Stories, Customer Stories).

Then they can take all your details and form them into snackable pieces of content under each pillar.

These snackable pieces become your pool of ongoing content. More examples of stories you can tell

• The problem that inspired your business idea.

• The solution.

• The process - anecdotes from different phases like prototyping, field testing, 

• Failures along the way.

• The people involved.

• Key decision moments.

• Talking w/ customers. Get their pov.

• Gathering groups of customers together to celebrate milestones.

• Surprising & delighting customers.

Each one of these topics could be a :10 video with a call-to-action if it is framed properly.

Not everyone can afford an agency or heavier production budgets to create their dream content right out of the gate, but today’s marketplace is more accepting of real-people stories than ever before so don’t shy away from giving this a shot.