Influencer Marketing Masterstroke: Zero Ad-Spend, 100% Growth

Is it possible to create a thriving business solely through the power of influencer marketing? That's the question we set out to crack when we embarked on the adventure of building our first venture with a 3PL partner - a vibrant e-commerce brand, rooted in plant power and dedicated to the wellness of women aged 25-55.

With the successful creation of BC Tech’s Hypergrowth Accelerator in 2017 under our belts, we ventured into this journey with a burning ambition: to supercharge the growth of purpose-driven companies. The twist? We decided to test our hypergrowth model in a territory where we were practically novices.

As a team seasoned in the construction of B2B and B2C SaaS companies, the world of women's desires and e-commerce selling was relatively unknown territory for us. But hey, a little challenge never hurt anyone, right? 😅

The result of our daring venture? The enlightening revelation that the outbound principles that shine in B2B can indeed form the cornerstone of building an e-commerce brand audience. The secret sauce? A laser-like focus on a single channel and strategy for customer acquisition and retention.

And voila! Our strategy was nothing short of a grand slam. From zero, we revved up to $100K/month in just 5 months and were just a hair away from $500K/month by the 17th month.

Curious about how we pulled it off? Here's our insider playbook:

  1. Before we even launched, we set up a landing page enticing visitors with a mammoth 25% off their first purchase in exchange for their email.

  2. We breathed life into our Instagram profile, using it as a launchpad to build a following and strike partnerships with small, non-competitive brands to trumpet our imminent launch.

  3. We rolled out a unique hybrid influencer model, offering influencers a hefty 25% commission on their referrals' first order, and a continuous 5% commission on all future orders, linked to their personalized referral codes. And to make it easy, their codes mirrored their Instagram profile names.

  4. We engineered an outbound lead gen and pipeline model to engage influencers, share our brand ethos, and arm them with sales enablement content to advocate our brand.

  5. Sales enablement was a complete package, including an introductory basket of products, ongoing discounts on our catalog, and polished image+copy content for their feeds/stories.

  6. We deployed a CRM to manage all leads from source to conversion, making the process a breeze with automatic attribution of sales driven by their unique codes.

  7. We welcomed all influencers into a community where they could share their experiences with our brand and relay feedback from their audiences, helping us continuously refine our outreach scripts, influencer/customer positioning, and customer journey.

  8. We set ambitious targets to ramp up conversions on our influencer funnel and our revenue conversion strategy for customer acquisition and retention.

  9. We tapped into this community to co-create new products, igniting a level of engagement we had not seen in our SaaS past. It turns out people really do care about wellness.

Armed with one channel, a tech-enabled, data-driven approach, a community-building mindset, and a customer-led roadmap, our team of three brought this vision to life.

And the best part? Zero ad-spend.

#focusbreedsexcellence

Diraj Goel