17 March 2021|Business Growth, Latest Posts
By Johnny Paterson. Our official US launch comes seven years after we started the business. The goal has always been there to become an established brand around the world and the US is a big part of that of that goal. It took a few years to secure a major listing with retail partner Ulta, and aptly our launch was planned at the same time a major pandemic hit globally.
Despite the setbacks, the challenges and the changes we had to make, our US launch has still been a huge success for the Dr.PAWPAW business and continues to grow rapidly a year on. We have now graduated with Ulta from an entry brand position and have secured a new major listing with CVS Pharmacy with several more in the immediate pipeline. This success is due to a few contributing factors including essential planning that saved our brand reputation, and multiple investment where it mattered most in a time of turmoil.Taking risk was needed to drive the success we have created.
Impress the buyers
This is a must for all our new territories and retail listings, no matter where they are in the world. Impressing the buyers must be a huge focus and without a doubt a very important factor to your success overseas. Flaunt it… press coverage, influencer hits, incredible customer reviews. Never assume your buyers are seeing what you are seeing. You need to be constantly updating them of your success and ultimately how you are benefiting them and assisting in driving people to buy from them. We made sure we always had something going on in the very early stages of our listings to ensure we were a brand on the mind of the buyers at all times with impressive stats and results worthy to show off about. This is something we continue to practice throughout the business – we are constantly shouting about our hard work – and this more than pays off. It’s also important to, where possible, invest to impress your new consumers, this can be done by sampling, promotions and being fully prepared to say yes to supporting the retailer as much as they support you with their orders if not more on occasion.
Invest in PR in plenty of time
Following on from point one, a good PR strategy can sometimes be make or break to impress your buyers. If you invest in an agency – let them know you’re spending money to make it work. To become an established success you really do need to do the leg work. What really saved us and had a huge impact on our success in the US was that we appointed a US agency six months before our store launch. This was to ultimately build the brand in the area and factor in long-lead press opportunities that would land in time with our launch and give us a kick start. Pre-pandemic, we had hotels, venues and meetings booked in both New York and L.A, the buyers had their invites and we were set to make a big noise during launch week. Although travel plans were cancelled and stores were now closed – we had that backlog of press coverage and broadcast opportunities happening – which really did give us that presence for launch that we needed.
Support the listing through social advertising
If we relied solely on in-store marketing and invested all our budget here, when launch came in April and all stores closed across the US we would have been at a catastrophic disadvantage. Similar to the PR investment we created a big buzz around the launch through our social media advertising strategy. People knew we were coming to the US before we were there and were reminded as soon as we had landed. Facebook & Instagram advertising is a successful tool to use for driving traffic to a website, converting sales and building brand awareness and it’s low-cost results are effective. For very little you can reach hundred of thousands of people and in a terrority like the US where the population numbers are so vast, this really helped to reach more people than we ever could have through traditional in-store marketing. It always ensured that whilst stores were closed we were still in front of our potential customers as they browsed online.
Establish your brand ethos
This is something that should be universally translated. In the beginning education is key for all new territories to be able to build the brand – in the way you want it to be built. For Dr.PAWPAW giving back and philanthropy is a huge part of the business. On entering the US market we were keen to secure the right charitable partnership early on to cement our foundations as being a brand that gave back. We are proud to be partnering with Save the Children US, creating a new product that Ulta is fully supporting with our launch in April 2021 and $0.50 from each sale will be donated to Save the Children. Clean, conscious and inclusive beauty are other important aspects of the Dr.PAWPAW brand and our success in being accepted for the Ulta Conscious Beauty programme reflects this well to our current key markets.
About the Author
Johnny Paterson is a multi award-winning entrepreneur and marketing expert and currently holds the title of Great British Entrepreneur of the Year. He possesses over 25+ years experience in the beauty and hair industry and works closely with Gov+ as a UK London Export Champion providing advice for businesses looking to grow their export business around the world. Johnny is applied, hard working and proactive in all aspects of business.
In 2013 alongside his wife Pauline, Johnny launched his own brand. Dr.PAWPAW, a multi-purpose family product line is now globally regarded, multi award-winning and internationally available. Philanthropy, steered by Johnny’s personal approach and influence on the brand, sees Dr.PAWPAW embark on multiple charity partnerships year on year, a main pillar in the business and one Johnny is keen to expand on as the business grows.
Johnny is hands on and oversees all sectors of the business from marketing, branding, social media, production and sales and manages a growing team of dedicated staff.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnny-paterson-61a9b710/
About the Brand
Dr.PAWPAW, the brand that always gives back, was created in 2013 by Johnny & Pauline Paterson and is a UK made and manufactured brand. Dr.PAWPAW’s philosophy has always been to make inclusive beauty products. It is our main mission to create multi use products for everybody and the whole face and body. We are pioneers of the skincare meet cosmetic movement, which means our products not only make you look and feel good but also benefit and improve the skin at the same time. A % of Dr.PAWPAW’s annual sales is donated to Teenage Cancer Trust.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.pawpaw/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dr-pawpaw
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dr.PAWPAW?fref=ts
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCClAp1Kh8gc9Td5zJDnqaug
Twitter: https://twitter.com/drpawpaw
