October 7, 2014 By BJ Cook,
BeardBrand has seen immense growth since its humble launch as a blog in early 2012. Asked about its success, the owner, Eric Bandholz says he owes it to the right move at the right moment but he also admits to great hustling and strategy to build a brand that his target market identified with right away. Here are a few topic Eric has shared with us on how his business became such a success.
Passion
When Eric started his blog on beards, he knew that it was one of the steps leading up to his future goal…owning BeardBrand. He sprung into action while attending a beard and mustache championship upon the realization that there was a niche so underserved that he would make major profits from it. Eric jumped on the opportunity and thanks to low start up costs; it was easy for the business to grow organically.
Strategy
After blogging for one year, Eric was contacted by a NY Times reporter who wanted authority information on beard care products, such as oils. Like a good entrepreneur would, he saw this as an opportunity and did everything possible to launch the BeardBrand business one day before the article posted. This was possible because he had established quite a rapport with high quality product manufacturers who were able to supply their orders as they came. Collaboration with independent manufacturers is the driver of BeardBrand as it leaves the company to develop design and labeling for products commissioned. This business demands a lot of research considering that you have to find a manufacturer who can handle your growth because skyrocketing development is inevitable when marketing online.
Internet
Every entrepreneur must utilize internet platforms if they seek phenomenal growth, as it can be the source for ideas, markets, leads, and much needed feedback. Successful businesses advertise on Facebook, share videos on YouTube, get ideas from Tumblr, and seek feedback from various online forums. The secret to social media marketing is keeping a steady stream of content for customers. This might be in the form of links back to your blog about the subject. If customers find satisfactory information in your website, they will most likely return to buy your products and tell their friends about it. The heavy traffic to your site will reflect to your profits as seen by the whooping difference in monthly earnings of BeardBrand-from $1k to $40k per month-within months of launching.
Focus on Quality
When entering a niche industry, many entrepreneurs do not pay attention to quality, giving competitors a chance to swoop in and take over the market. For BeardBrand attention to quality started from the beginning because they wanted to truly capture the hearts of an underserved bearded community. It is this attention to detail that Eric owes the deliberate but assured growth of his business venture.
Fulfillment and Shipping
When you have exposed your products to the customer, it is obvious that they will be ordering and considering that your forte is in marketing, you need to choose between hiring a shipment and fulfillment company or take up the added task of getting your products to the customer. The latter is not ideal according to the founder of BeardBrand, who believes in giving the job to the best person for it. If you assign duties to the right party, you are assured perfect results in due time. This according to Eric Bandholz is a revelation of how he and his friends managed to build a successful ecommerce business in under a year. He, however, claims that this is only a start, as they need to do more like investing in public relations to get increased positive coverage for this niche investment. From BeardBrands outstanding performance, it would be right to say that winning a price is not as critical to success as building a personal presence in the company and community.

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