EP.150/ INSPIRO
Discussing Retail Distribution and Community Engagement with Inspiro Tequila Founder Mara Smith
Mariah Parsons hosts a Retention Chronicles episode with Mara Smith, the founder and CEO of Inspiro Tequila. Mara shares her journey from a corporate lawyer to founding Inspiro Tequila in February 2020, highlighting the challenges of balancing work and life, especially during the pandemic. She discusses the inspiration behind the brand, focusing on female consumers and creating a clean, additive-free tequila. Mara emphasizes the importance of representation and intentionality in funding women-owned businesses. She also explains distribution strategies, customer retention challenges, and the significance of events and community engagement in building brand awareness. Looking ahead, Mara is excited about launching in California and personal milestones in 2025.
EP. 150
MARA SMITH
Episode Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction and Background of Inspiro Tequila
Mariah Parsons introduces the podcast and welcomes the audience.
Mariah introduces the guest, Mara, and asks her to share her background.
Mara shares her journey from being a lawyer and corporate strategist at McDonald's to founding Inspiro Tequila in February 2020.
Mara discusses the challenges of transitioning from the corporate world to becoming a CEO and the unexpected timing of starting a new venture during a global pandemic.
2:31 Challenges and Surprises in Founding Inspiro Tequila
Mara talks about the unexpected workload and lack of work-life balance in founding a company.
Mariah recalls meeting Mara at a female founders collective event and highlights the benefits of smaller, intimate events.
Mara emphasizes the importance of engaging, smaller events for networking and building relationships.
Mariah and Mara discuss the significance of female purchasing power and the challenges women face in getting funding for their businesses.
4:56 Consumer-Centric Approach and Market Opportunities
Mara explains her motivation for starting Inspiro Tequila, focusing on the female consumer and the lack of representation in the tequila market.
Mara highlights the importance of creating a clean, additive-free tequila that resonates with discerning female consumers.
Mariah and Mara discuss the potential of using Inspiro Tequila's branding for home decor and the importance of packaging in consumer perception.
Mara shares insights on the buying power of households and the need for representation on store shelves for diverse consumers.
9:06 Navigating the World of Venture Capital and Investing
Mara discusses the challenges women face in getting funding and the importance of having women in investment decision-making roles.
Mara emphasizes the need for intentionality in supporting women-owned businesses and the role of women investors in growing the ecosystem.
Mariah and Mara talk about the barriers women face in investing and the importance of education and opportunities for women to learn about investing.
Mara highlights the need for more women to invest at all levels, including in bonds and securities, to grow their wealth.
20:42 Manufacturing and Production Challenges
Mara shares her research process for finding the right distillery and master distiller for Inspiro Tequila.
Mara discusses the importance of understanding the regulations and production methods in the spirits industry.
Mara talks about the challenges of starting a new venture and the need for extensive research and legwork.
Mara emphasizes the importance of building a community and network of support, especially for female founders.
27:00 Distribution and Retail Strategy
Mara explains the three-tier distribution system in the alcohol industry and the importance of having distributor partners.
Mara discusses the different marketing strategies for off-premise and on-premise accounts and the need for point-of-sale materials.
Mara highlights the importance of building brand awareness with consumers and the role of events and demos in reaching potential customers.
Mara shares her approach to using other people's audiences and collaborating with other women-owned brands to increase visibility.
30:51 Customer Retention and Data Challenges
Mariah and Mara discuss the challenges of customer retention in a retail-focused business and the lack of direct customer data.
Mara emphasizes the importance of customer loyalty and the need for feedback from consumer-facing events.
Mara talks about the limitations of data available to small brands and the reliance on social media and in-person interactions for insights.
Mariah and Mara discuss the potential for future tools and resources to help small brands gather more data and make informed decisions.
31:04 Future Plans and Excitement for 2025
Mara shares her excitement about launching in California and the alignment of Inspiro Tequila's brand with the California market.
Mara discusses her personal milestones for 2025, including her children's college graduations and a bar mitzvah.
Mariah and Mara express their excitement for the future and the potential for growth and success in 2025.
Mariah thanks Mara for joining the podcast and highlights the importance of supporting diverse-owned businesses.
TRANSCRIPT
This transcript was completed by an automated system, please forgive any grammatical errors.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
customer retention, e-commerce operations, ecommerce marketers, post-purchase marketing, Inspiro Tequila, female founders, corporate strategy, stay-at-home mom, pandemic timing, work-life balance, female consumer, clean tequila, additive-free, venture capital, distribution challenges, consumer feedback, California launch, delivery experience
SPEAKERS
Mariah Parsons, Mara Smith
Mariah Parsons 00:00
Music. Welcome to retention Chronicles, the retention podcast for E commerce marketers. I'm your host and fellow e commerce marketer, Mariah Parsons, tune in as I chat with E comm founders and operators all about customer retention. Think marketing ops, customer success and customer experience, we cover it all and more. So get ready to get real with retention. Here is our newest episode. Hello everyone, and welcome back to retention Chronicles. I'm so excited for our guest today is going to be a great, great, great time. Thank you so much for joining us. Mayra, I can't wait to have you it. Tell us all about Inspiro, and I am so excited to do so. So say hi to our audience. Give us a quick background on yourself, and then we're going to dive into
Mara Smith 00:50
it. Hi, yes, thanks for having me. Yeah. So I'm based in Chicago, and as far as my background, it was nothing in the spirits industry. I'm now the founder and CEO of Inspiro tequila, but that was a pretty major deviation from my past. I was a lawyer at a large law firm in Chicago, then I worked in corporate strategy at McDonald's Corporation. Then I left the corporate world and became a stay at home mom for over 16 years. Have three kids. So that was my my last work experience. Was CEO of my home. And then I founded in spirit tequila in February of 2020, and so heck of all timing. Yeah, I was gonna say
Mariah Parsons 01:36
the timing when starting, starting something new is terrifying. But also being in spirits, maybe a little bit conducive to, you know, people being at home more, being more relaxed in terms of, like, the work life, but then personal life just being upended by a global pandemic. So tell us a little bit about, obviously, like you said, coming from corporate world to CEO of your home, which I love, and then jumping into starting your own brand, what was the I always like to hear what someone's like, something that was super shocking in the beginning of like, I did not expect this, whether it's soup to be super easy, super hard, or just unexpected. Do you have anything that comes to mind when I ask that?
Mara Smith 02:26
I mean, I think in general, you know, you don't want to become a founder because you want, like, any kind of, like, work life balance or like, control of your life. Like that is not the reason. That's not why I did it either because I was like home and then decided this, but I don't think I ever anticipated that I'd work more now than I did when I was an associate at the largest law firm in Chicago. So that was little shocking. I mean, I knew it'd be, you know, hard work. I don't think I appreciate just how much work is involved. Yep, that totally
Mariah Parsons 03:02
makes sense. And I do want to give a call out, because we had originally met when you were a panelist for an event here in Chicago at the female founders collective chief location in Fullerton market. And so, yeah, it was, it was, it was such a great event. I think there's probably, what would you say, like, 25 people, maybe
Mara Smith 03:25
maybe 30, like, even 30 women, but it's actually, like the perfect thing. I love these smaller, more intimate events. So I felt like everyone was super engaged and could ask questions. And it didn't feel like, okay, there's like a panel and then, like a huge separation between, like, you know, the audience. It was much more of, like a warm limit where I feel like everyone really could, you know, get to know each other. So I those are the kind of events I really like doing.
Mariah Parsons 03:56
Yeah, I agree. No, it was. It was definitely, like, it was two conference rooms, pretty much like the size for our listeners to imagine. Like, two conference rooms. Obviously, the divider in the middle was up, um, so being able to just, like, chat and like, see people's reactions and whatnot, because I, I just gotten back from shop talk, um, the week before, and that's a huge conference which have, it has its benefits. Obviously, it's multiple days, you're meeting multiple, like, so many people, just so quickly, which is incredible. But then to see, you know, the next week, being in this room with all these women who are very engaged, and as you're up on, you know, the quote, unquote stage or on the panel, you can really engage with people and see and see how they're, like, reacting to things you're saying, or, like, hear their laughs, all that, all that fun stuff. So it is a very intimate, like, cohesive group. And I know Megan neufer Put that together, so shout her out, because it was awesome. Yes, they were great. So tell us, yeah, yeah. Tell us about, you know, February. 2020, you are founding in Spiro tequila. What is like the main motivation? I guess I'll say share with our listeners, because I know you shared this a bit at the panel. So
Mara Smith 05:12
I always knew I was going to start a company, and I knew was going to be in food or beverage. Like, I'm just a super consumer. I love the category. I love taste testing. I love everything that you like better for you category, right? So there's any new gluten free cracker, bread, cookie, anything non dairy, like, that's totally my jam. When I try at all, like everything you see on start taking literally order and taste test. So I knew it was gonna be in food or beverage, so I was really thinking of ideas at the time. I'm like, Okay, what you know, what category specifically, what I want to do. And I kept coming back to tequila. There are a lot of things I enjoy in food or beverage, food and beverage, but I thought there was an opportunity to bring a little bit of a different perspective and innovate in the category. At the time, I, you know, and started drinking tequila because I thought it was like, kind of better for you as far as an adult beverage goes. I mean, still alcohol, but, you know, just like a better way to drink that I wouldn't feel lousy the next day to now the sugar, carbs, and so many women just kept telling me that they're tequila drinkers. I was like, I just kept thinking. I'm like, Well, if all these women drink tequila, why do brands have focused on this consumer? I'd like walk up and down the aisles like our local liquor store here and everything, all the bottle designs, even, and the messaging, it's like the bottles are skulls and agave fields and dark and the messagings like scantily clad women and dark club scenes, it like just didn't resonate with me. I didn't feel like anyone was, like, really targeting me as the consumer. Yes, I drink things, but I just drink them because I knew about them, because they're like, a celebrity brand or something or someone else I knew, but like, they weren't focusing on, like, female consumers. So I saw, I just saw an opportunity. I'm like, Well, if all these women drink tequila, Can't we do something that really is customer centric around this female consumer? And the second piece was that I did not know that all the big brands I was drinking, you know, contained all these undisclosed additives. So things like aspartame and sweeteners and coloring and glycerin and I generally, like, you know, I feel like pretty clean in what I eat. Like, I would never eat anything that had aspartame in it. So I definitely didn't want it in my drink either. So it's kind of like those two discoveries. I'm like, Okay, can we come up with something clean, add in a free that really resonates with like a discerning female consumer, like not dumbing down the product, ultra premium, really high quality, great like craft tequila, that first and foremost speaks to a female consumer. Yeah,
Mariah Parsons 08:03
yeah. I love it. And the branding is very It's beautiful. It's what you would like, want to you know how sometimes, like, people are, like, use old bottles or anything for like, displays or like, it's really people get, like, creative. There's almost like a craft of, like, once you finish a bottle, what do you use it for? So I could totally see, you know, a whole other side of using your branding, your packaging, as like a very, a very like, certain home decor where people are like, it is beautiful. It's not the skull, it's not the like, big boxy bottle that you traditionally see. And I love that when we have we, when we were at this panel, which is what I'm going to be drawing a lot of our questions from, because it was just so interesting. And I want our listeners to hear I wish they, you know, could have been in the room. So when I remember how you were talking about the the buying power of a household like a traditional household, where I think it was like 84% or 85% of the buying power for the household is traditionally the mother of a family, um, and I had not heard that statistic before, and it was around this conversation that we were Having with investors and trying to get VC funding and just the, I don't want to say complexity, because it seems like there's things we can do to make it less complex, but the duality, I guess, of not having women who are out in investing in these brands that women want to see so then they don't get as much funding because there isn't someone. A lot of the times in a room there isn't an investor in a room who is hearing something and saying, okay, women would love this. Let's back it. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I would love to take this conversation there as well, and just because it pairs so well with your. Product, obviously, of like, I'm going to make a better for you product. The quality of the product is going to be there, but the market is also going to be very tailored towards a market that is there, but isn't on the on, you know, representative or representative in the what's currently on the shelves. So tell us a little bit more about, you know how, how your experience has been, just seeing for four years now, what the field, you know, what there is with having your own business? Yeah,
Mara Smith 10:31
I mean, I think it's a great question. There are, there are a lot of layers there, right? So I'm going to kind of break it apart, because I think there's, like, the, you know, women owned business. There's the consumer part, there's the, you know, access to capital piece of it. So first, when we talk about, you know that we're focused on this female consumer. Yes, we know that actually, 54% of tequila drinkers are women. And we know that women overall make over 85% of all purchasing decisions. So when you take this, like, very significant consumer base, I think kind of the first step is, should this consumer have representation on the shelves? Like, should we see products, you know, diverse owned, if it's minority owned, woman owned should like consumers who make purchasing decisions, have some representation on the shelves and have companies that are founded by people that reflect that consumer. So I think that's like the first step, and, you know, and that's like, we're also consumers to get to make decisions, and spending decisions, right? Women are estimated. I think it's like five years to control, like two thirds of the wealth in this country. So what decisions are we making? And you know, what do we care about? And honestly, because most these brands, when they are diverse, zone are are smaller. And then we get to the funding part of it, that takes a lot, that takes deliberate decision making. It takes a lot of intentionality that okay, we want to support these brands because we want to make sure there's representation. I mean, if you're okay having every brand owned and operated by, you know, a huge conglomerate and or founded and everything's crafted and created by, you know, white men, then you don't care. But if you don't want to see that, because you want there to be diversity of thought, you want to have women, you know, running things and ownership levels at leadership levels, then we have to be really intentional about how we purchase. I am someone who's intentional. I really work hard as long as someone delivers on the quality. And if I can support a woman owned business like that, is what I will do for my my gifting, for my own purchases. So then the second reason is, so why generally, do these, you know, diversional brands just not have as much visibility, usually, is because the lack of funding to come really big, especially in like a CPG categories, you know, like, you generally need some backing. Like, I bootstrapped a business for four years, and now we started a to raise money this fall. But to do that, like to take anything to the next level, you need funding. Now. What happens? You know, generally, people invest in people that like again, kind of reflect themselves that they like, see, you know, can relate to so if you don't have women in the room making decisions and investment decisions and funding decisions, it's very hard for women to get funded. I mean, there's a myriad of reasons that shouldn't be, you know. So, like, determining factor that if you if a woman goes in a room and has a great business concept and, and, you know, and plan and strategy doesn't mean that men are not going to invest in her, but it's so much harder, like, just the amount that she has to prove herself and and there's not the same relatability. She's probably not sitting at the table having drinks with him after hours, after this group of this group of men, she's probably not on the golf course talking about deals in our company. So like missing those opportunities. So unless we bring women to the table making those decisions, and that's where it kind of all goes full circle, because the more we support and have women owned businesses, think about who becomes successful. We will have more women who have the ability to invest back into other female founders. So it's like the whole. Thing is, like, you support the women owned businesses, you bring them up, you try and invest in them. We need more women investing. That's like, a huge I'm like, and I get it. There's just not the same comfort level. They're not usually brought the deals. They're not. It's typically, I mean, there are some scenarios where it's not, that's not the case, but you don't have women sitting around with their friends, talking about, like, oh, I had this deal opportunity come by, you know, come over my desk. Would you be interested? I think I'm the best in this company. Like passing around deal opportunities to each other. We talk about a lot of things. They'll talk about what's going on their lives. They'll talk about their kids. They'll talk about like, you know, like so many other things, politics, anything, but you don't hear them doing that as much. And so it just keeps, you know, like, so don't see it growing where you see the like ecosystem of women investors growing. So it's that also is going to take just a lot of education, presenting opportunities and providing education about what it is, because, again, very, very smart, successful women, but they just haven't seen, you know, they haven't seen investment or deals, and they maybe don't want to ask the questions like, so what does that mean? And what am I looking for, and things like that. So we have to, like, make that really more readily available, so that there that increases their comfort level. And I think they're so I feel like, you know, probably more conservative and take a closer look at things that I think they, you know, if they look at it, probably their investment outcomes will be better than what men do when it's kind of very, you know, sometimes, often could be willy nilly, like, Oh, someone, my friend's doing it. So I decided to throw in money too, right?
Mariah Parsons 16:58
Yeah, it's like the fear of missing out sometimes gets people No, I really appreciate you parsing through that, because, like you said, there is a lot to it. And I remember talking to someone at that same panel as well, where they were just, like, I don't even know, like, where I'd even begin, like, can I just be an individual investor? Do I like, join a group, like, I want to support all these different brands, or all these different companies that I'm seeing being rolled out. But like, where, you know, where's the first step? And I feel like that's something that conversations like this will help with someone who's like, oh, maybe I do want to invest, you know, instead of, I don't know, like, instead of just putting the money in a high yield savings account or some other financially, you know, quote, unquote, smart decision for investing, then it's like, okay, how do I put, you know, how do I find a brand that is looking for backing? And then what are the alternatives? Yes. What are they
Mara Smith 18:01
in a VC, being an LP and a VC, like, what are the different options like? I mean, we need women to invest even at the level of, like, just investing in bits, having a diversified portfolio of, if it's bonds and securities and things like that, like even that. Like, you see that there's a huge disconnect between, like, how much women invest, take, you know, their savings and invested versus men, like, just even at the basic investing level. I mean, that's why, you know, I feel like that's even though the first step of getting more women to actually grow their money. Mm, hmm,
Mariah Parsons 18:37
yeah, I totally agree. And just subjectively in my experience, experience across the board, I've definitely had, you know, like my brother, early in high school was just, like, really interested in learning about the stock market and, like, more risky. And I was like, What are you doing? And I was like, I don't even know this stuff, and I'm a couple years older than you, right? But then it was nice, because we obviously learned about it together, but there's so many, so many stories, or just so many friends that I hear where I'm like, oh, learning how to become financially literate. So it takes a lot. It takes you know, if you're lucky, if someone has held your hand through it, or told you it's important, or giving you little tips and tricks along the way, or you've been a part of some program that has helped you. But there's a vast majority of people who are like, I don't really know, and it's it can be very confusing. Luckily, we have a lot of resources now on the internet, so yeah, it's definitely something. As I continue in my career, I'm seeing the importance of one supporting diverse backed businesses, because I'm the same way. I've seen also a lot of a lot of gift guides, a lot of videos, a lot of content around how to support different businesses and like getting them attention. And I think it's just like such a cool bit. A way to utilize social media. Of like, you might not even know me, but, like, I am a small business trying to find my market. Like, even if you're not my person, please interact with this video, because then it'll help find them. Like that. Ask, I guess, to help social on social media, like, how to get a brand outreach is, in my opinion, really cool. So I love, I love this conversation, but I want to make sure that we obviously talk about your experience with Sphero tequila. But I love the technical side of kind of the real back end of VC and investing and hopefully leave little nuggets for people to just go and explore, of like, Oh, if I'd be interested in that in the future right now, how would I even, you know, start because it's, it's, like we said, it's not, is not a super straightforward thing to do, or it's not taught in Our, you know, in our elementary or secondary schools. So okay, let's talk about the manufacturing side, side of things, because I candidly don't know anything about the logistics of how you would produce a, you know, a spirit, and how you would make your own brand in the alcohol industry. And I'm so curious. So can you tell us a little bit more about, you know, February 2020, you were like, I'm doing this. I am rolling out. But where the heck do you even start with producing a product?
Mara Smith 21:31
Yeah, you know, all this, just like we talked about, like, how we want to learn about investing all the resources are out there. You just start doing work. You just start doing due diligence, right? I started researching the production and history of tequila making and the different production methodologies. I started trying to research the different types of distilleries and how they produce and how many suppliers they work with, and which will be, what kind of smaller one that we'd be able to make a craft brand and bring our own master distiller in. I started researching all the women who are into key law and could be a potential master distiller, because I wanted a female master distiller like I just dove in and started learning as much as I could. I had to learn about, how does the spirits industry work? It's federally regulated, then it's also regulated on the state level, on a state by state level, like understanding, luckily, you know, I have a legal background. I'm also, I've always been like, a major researcher, like, even when I was in practicing law, even when I was a stay at home mom, I'd be like, searching for, like, the best, you know, cleaning product to do this. And like, everyone will come to me, like all my friends are, like, can you send us our list of, like, everything we need to buy for, like, all our cleaning products? And, you know, so that's just something I always enjoyed. And I just did the same thing. So I dove in. I researched. I found you know how to make it. I knew it was made, and I knew to be 100% agave, tequila. It's like champagne has to be made at Appalachian origins. Has to be made within regions of Mexico. And I just started reaching out to people. I mean, the difficulty was I couldn't get down to Mexico because of COVID. So it kept closing down. I couldn't get there for a long time. So I had, you know, one introduction led to another introduction. I found consultants down there who helped me do virtual tours of distilleries. I had them introduce me to my master distiller. And so I was trying to do this, like remotely, and go over what we want for the taste profile. I knew I wanted something that had, like sweeter tasting notes, but not artificially sweetened, so that was like light little bite. So I think was it everything, starting new you want to pivot in your career if you want to start something start something totally new, new industry, it's very daunting, but I think if you break it down to pieces and you you know, just start going in and doing the research, everything's also figure out of all, but there's no getting around doing all the work and the legwork. Like, I could not have been like, I'm going to start it. And like, Okay, someone just, you know, bring me all the information, and we're like, good. I mean, I think it's it requires that, you know, just a ton of effort. That's also good. Because maybe if you did all the research and you realize you know what, this is not the right fit for me, then you can make that decision, but because you've learned a lot about it. But if you don't go in and, like, learn a lot about whatever category or industry, I just don't know that you could even make like, you know, a very educated decision about, like, do I want to take the next step? So that's kind of what I did, and I so I found a distillery, and like, you know, one connection led to another. It's another thing. I reached out to people, and I followed up with people. So anyone who led me to someone I would, you know, follow up with them, and then they'd leave me to someone else. I had no community because I. Was coming back into the, you know, workforce after being out for so many years. I had like, you know, like, great friends, great carpool community. I had no business network, so I had to build it and do it really, you know, intentionally to, like, try and build, especially community of other like female founders and leaders who, like, could bounce ideas off of or ask questions too and and like, give back also, you know, Oh, I already researched this here. Let me save you some time. I think sharing, especially peer to peer, kind of mentoring for me, has been fantastic, because that's where I learn a ton. And I think that also demonstrates, like the very little things like you can do to help support other people, and especially for me, other women, right? If you make a referral, if you make an introduction, if you shout out their name in a room where they're not there, if you collaborate with them, or partner or, like, there's so many little things that's, it doesn't take like this, like, huge effort that actually, like, collectively, it's, like, very impactful. If everyone did that, if everyone made like, Oh, I'm gonna make, you know, connect five people this month, or whatever, like one of those connections could be like a huge lift for
Mariah Parsons 26:24
someone. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I relate very much, because I love I definitely get my social battery recharged by making new connections, whether it's personal or professional. And so obviously this podcast fits well into that, because I'm always trying to go out and meet new people. But I love the even the little shout outs of, okay, you You never know, like someone might be looking for, like, I don't know, a pair of socks or something. And then you can shout out, you know, you just happen to shout out someone who is starting their own brand and, like, right? Like, all these different little ways that I think would be less daunting to people than, like, you have to always be screaming from the mountaintops and posting and like, all this, all these things that obviously require time, but it could just be naturally in your everyday or buying gifts for people you had said that earlier in the episode, like, I know that's a goal of mine, is we're recording this heading into the holiday season, so it's very top of mind. But it is. It is like those little behavioral changes that I think can have a ripple effect, like you said, of if you just connect five people you know, or you're top of mind for someone else, where it's like, oh, wait, you meet someone. I need to connect you with blah, blah, blah, and then follow up and all that stuff. So I love that, and the peer to peer networking too, I found very influential, especially for people who are sitting in, you know, same industry or parallel industries, where it's like, you can, you can have that, I guess relatability of like this is what I'm going through, but it's tailored to your experience or to your industry, to your brand, whatever it is. And it's really a really nice thing to see. I think some of the beneficial sides of business and work and networking that that I think, you know when it happens, it feels really good. So it's really nice. I also want to ask you about the distribution side of things. So for people, for our audience, you mainly sell through retail. And so I want to learn, like, how the heck do you approach distribution? Because that's even a harder puzzle to me than manufacturing, right,
Mara Smith 28:44
actually. So alcohol is regulated by the three tier distribution system federally. So I actually don't sell direct to any retail accounts. I sell only to distributors each state. So each state you go into, you have to have a distributor or wholesale partner who then basically takes the orders and ships to any retailers or bars or restaurants or hotels. It doesn't mean we don't have to sell to those counts. I really have three customers. I have my distributor who buys for me, and I have to, you know, get them on board and have them take aside and in a market, then I have all those kind of retail accounts. We call them, like, off premise and on premise. Off premise are places where you purchase and drink off the premise. So you like, you know, retail stores on premise, place where you drink there at the premises. So bars, restaurants, hotels, so all of those, we still need to go in and sell into those accounts, and then our, you know, end user, the consumer, and she's a really important customer, and we have to build brand awareness with that consumer. We have to have her know about the brand and know why it's different and and be part of our community. Day, right? So that when she goes into a store or is at a restaurant or bar, that she's like, Oh, I know that brand so and they all take, they require, like, just different efforts, different marketing efforts, different strategies for how you kind of, you know, appease all of these different customers.
Mariah Parsons 30:23
Yeah, yeah. No, that's very fair. We're thank you for explaining that. I Yeah, the distribution in the retail side is, is fascinating to me, but we'll, I want to hear about how you're kind of parsing through those, like, three different customers, right? Because they obviously have different goals, and traditionally, for direct to consumer businesses, you're obviously selling to one main consumer. So I think it would be interesting for our audience here, of like, how are you thinking about the distributor and then the retail accounts, and then breaking it down further to the consumer, and making sure that you're, you know, getting the name out there so that your retailers and distributors are ordering more from you? Yes,
Mara Smith 31:05
which is a great question. And a lot of these things are things that we try and figure out all the time as a new brand. And so there is, we do have, like, what looks like a D to C kind of model, a piece of it usually like we had a special we have a special release of our special reserve in Yahoo, or we have some cocktail kits for, you know, holiday or we do seasonal cocktail kits. So we use, like, a D to C platform for that. It is still not really direct to consumer, because it's alcohol. It all still goes through me, going to a just, through a distributor, through a retailer and then fulfillment. So there still are a lot of layers. There is not a true D to C, like we're worshiping it out. But that allows us to, you know, build some brand awareness a little more broadly, because we can shift to, like, 45 states, and, you know, those are things you can, like, run some ads, you know, whatever meta things like that, to drive to that or build awareness by people discovering our website and our DTC piece of it. I'd say with distributors, we've been very fortunate, because we have really great distributor partners in our markets. That's usually the first hurdle for an emerging brand is, how do you get a distributor pick you up? Like, they have huge suppliers. Like, why us? So you have to be, like, additive to their portfolio. In all honesty, figure out a way that you're going to be additive and like, how you're going to really getting when you get started, like, how you're going to make sure you sell it yourself. Right then for you know, the retailers, bars, restaurants, that it's a whole myriad of different tools and and trade marketing that is required. It depends on the type of account. It depends on whether you know what works well at that account, as you mentioned the top of you know, when we were talking before we started that, like we just launched in a huge chain here in Illinois, Jewel, Alaska, right? So what does that require? How do we make that a great like case study for other chains. So like, how do you support chains, said, point of sale materials. People like, I see something about the product. Our battle stands out on the shelves. Like, do you need some more merchandising materials so they know about it? Is it, you know, running some seasonal discounts to get trial. So there are so many. Is it doing demos? And do demos? How do they work in a liquor store versus a grocery store, and how effective are they? So there are all these different tools to test, and I think that's like, where we're at is like, kind of the testing phase of which things work, and trying to do some data analytics on that and figure that out in all honesty, and then with the consumer, this is really what requires, like, building brand awareness with the consumer requires, like, probably more significant Marketing Efforts beyond what you can do in the store, right? Because, like, I think often by the time our consumer walks into the store, she already knows what she's going to buy. So how do you get her before she walks into the store? So is this, like, you know? Again, is this paid media ads? How are you, you know, how are you getting in front of her? I think an interesting piece is using other people's audiences. So for me, I particularly because I do have a great female founder community, and because I love working with other, you know, women owned brands like I think for us collaborating or partnering and doing. Some special, you know, partnerships with other women owned brands, to me, is particularly interesting one. I just think it's fun. And also then both of us can, can kind of get in front of each other's audiences, or if we have a few brands like, we have a new cocktail kit right now is with another woman owned cocktail, um, like infusion kit and right. So now we'll get in front of both of our audiences and collaboratively sell our products together. So things like that, I think, are particularly interesting we're still testing out. Kind of like, what does an influencer strategy look like, micro influencers or macro influencers? Like, how do you use that effectively? So I think for us, because we're younger, we have to, like, focus on, like, maybe a couple channels at a time, and then see which one is, you know, the best use of our dollars, and go, like, a little, you know, more all in on that. But just like you saw me at a panel, like, what do I do a lot? How do I get message out? I do things like this. I show up at Panels. I mean, I also happen to love that. And we talked about being like, a smaller group, but like, great, maybe I have a smaller group of, like, brand advocates now who are going to think about it. And when they go to the store and then they talk to their friends, or when they're bringing something for the holidays, or they're gifting something, they're like, Oh, I met the woman behind that. You know, yes, that's like, very grassroots, and it takes a lot of time and effort to build that way. But that's like, the reality of kind of how, you know, we can build a small brand and, like, make like, more con. You know, I feel like stronger connections when I can get in front of people and they hear, like, the story behind it, my story, and try the product. It's very different than you going to, like, a huge boost festival and going up to a booth and, like, just try it. And do you remember it? So I rather have 25 or 30 women in the room who like will remember it? Remember Mimi hearing from me, hopefully, you know, thinking something I said was interesting, and trying the product, then the 300 people came by and they forgot who we were by the end of the night, because they're like, five drinks in, yeah, right,
Mariah Parsons 37:19
right? No, it's, it's such a great point. And even like offering up, like the drinks that we had too at the ranch, waters, at the event, the panel event, of just like getting a little sample out, but in a fun way, like it obviously fits really well with, you know is like this post work, mixer, panel, networking event. So like the field marketing or the Event Marketing there, where you can just be like, Okay, this is, obviously, I'm here, as you know, a knowledgeable expert in the space, but then also being able to share more about the product and have people taste it right then and there and see the bottle and all that stuff. It makes a lot of sense. And it's the the argument of quality over quantity of just like in, like you said, instead of just having it be at a festival or something like that, where they're maybe not meeting you and maybe don't have that one to one or or one to 30, whatever interaction ratio. I've seen it work a lot of the times, and I know it works for me, where I'm like, Oh, my God, I met that person. I want to, like, support them, like, follow their Instagram so I can stay up to date, like, subscribe to their emails. Make sure that you know, I can tell it to friends, or bring it to to to bring it to somewhere, maybe introduce it to a space, or, like, give it as a gift, or whatever else else, because it is, it does. It does go a long way. And it also selfishly, like, it makes me feel good too, to know that I am helping, even in this little indirect way, you know, support one of the businesses out there that I luckily, through my job and through this podcast, get to me all the times and so like, I'm always telling my friend, I'm like, bringing new even things like games, bringing new drinks, bringing new food, like trying to support smaller, local, diverse, owned businesses, because it does bring me joy, which I meant to actually say now that we're back here at the top of the call rebel bee honey Chews. I just tried them for the first time here in Chicago, and they're great. So when you're saying like, I care about what I've been in my body, well, we'll practice it in action of shouting out of brown. Okay, they're on my list. They're delicious, and they're made just from honey mushrooms, like Blue Oyster mushrooms and tart cherries, the ones like the flavors I got
Mara Smith 39:52
and it was but I think that's something about women, too, as consumers. Like, I think when we find something we love, we like to share with our friends, like, I'll literally. Find something, my friends be like, I'm like, I have the best white t shirt you have. Then I send it to like everybody. I'm like, Oh my gosh, this. You have to get this t shirt, you know, just because I think we like sharing, we like like discovering and finding something and like sharing it. And that's kind of my thesis as well behind this. Like, well, when someone finds it and they really like it, like, well, they're going to want to share it.
Mariah Parsons 40:21
So, yeah, exactly, exactly. I love this conversation so much. So I want to also ask about customer retention, because I know one of the things that when I have brands on here who are selling in multiple channels, usually it's directly to a retailer, because I don't have to, you know, worry about being in the spirits industry or directly to a consumer. Um, the different, one of the major differences is, obviously, through a retailer, you don't get that same customer data that you're getting through a website, email, SMS, orders, online, all that stuff. Um, so is customer retention part of your strategy in terms of when you're looking at, okay, how am I trying to retain these customers that I'm getting before they go into a grocery store, but I don't have their like, order data where I can remark it back to them. Um, is it still something that's like swirling of like, how do we figure this out? Or is it something you feel like, you guys are, you know, checking things off the list?
Mara Smith 41:20
Listen, we would love it. I guess. I also think this consumer tends to be loyal. When you find something you love, like, I find something I have a great face cream, like, I'm not changing it unless there's, like, some reason to right, like, so if I find something you love, I just want to, like, use it over and over, and then when they discontinue it, I'm like, Why did you just continue that? I'm so upset, but So customer tension, I think, is particularly important. Like, we wanted to be the go to be the go to tequila for this, you know, consumer. We want women to say, oh my, you know, clean, additive, free, like, easy drinking tequilas and spiritual tequila. But it's correct. Like our business model is through retail, and we don't get very much data at all, because we are a small brand, like, we don't have, you know, large brands are getting, like, every you know, tons of like, compile data that's, like, really nice and comes pretty and these great reports, and they're using them, and from Nielsen and IRI and all those like, we don't get that. So it's very hard for us to know that. I think the only way we can kind of see is, like, you know, any means social media, we don't know if it's retention, because we can only see, like, growth. We can't see that, you know, like, oh, it's the same person interacting over and over online. We can get a little more of that information, but generally, in the markets that are like my hometown, you know, here Chicagoland area, most people are going to buy in store and not online. Because why would they ship it, unless it's like a specialty item, you know, special product that released, or something, but they would go in store so it is, it's it's hard. I don't know how to survey or find people. I wish we had like better tools to do that, because I also love getting feedback. What I would say is the reason I also show up at so many consumer facing events, even like this week, I did an event downtown, and I'm going to do like, local grocery store tastings the next couple days, including, like, starting tomorrow.
Mariah Parsons 43:29
So I found that, like, Honey ones is literally grocery tasting. They were, I was just shopping. So there you
Mara Smith 43:34
go. So then I have direct, like, then I can hear, like, then I get feedback from people like, Oh, I've seen you before I had it. I'm like, Oh, really? How and where and whatever. So we can get a little bit of that from doing those, like, demos and things. But in general, it's just hard. It's hard to know who is going in and buying themselves. But once you see, like a regular cadence. You just hope that if they're going the same location, the same Venezuela, same jewel, or same Whole Foods, it's like consistently going through product, then I have to think that somewhere there, they have some consumer base around there that is continuously buying from them,
Mariah Parsons 44:19
right? Yes, yeah. You can make inferences from what you're seeing on, you know, how much the distributor is ordering again, and kind of like how quickly selling out and all that, all that stuff. But yes, the that that makes sense that it is, it is a little bit of a, I guess, Game of where you're trying to not make all this data that you're hearing from events when you're out and about and hearing from consumers, and you know, it just that's one of the perks of selling TTC, obviously, is that is that direct relationship or that direct consumer data that you're getting? So I wish you the best of luck to figure it out. I don't think anyone has. All figured out, right? Like, I it's the one through line of this podcast,
Mara Smith 45:04
and I'm a numbers person, and I like data. So like, I wish there was a way to, like, measure things more. Like I happen to would love to make more data driven decisions, but it's hard to have, like, a lot of great data at our like, size,
Mariah Parsons 45:24
Yep, totally makes sense. Hopefully that'll change in the future, right? So we can more resources.
Mara Smith 45:30
You know, you have these big players, but maybe other people, just like every startup, and maybe there'll be a way to get, like, someone's going to come up with way to do it with AI and make it more affordable and something that's available for smaller brands to get, you know, more data, but generally, small brands can, cannot spend the type of money that is required, yeah, to get those, you know, that kind of reporting, yeah,
Mariah Parsons 45:54
at least not yet, right? Yeah, not yet, we can hope to that. Um, okay, I have one final question for you. What is one thing that you're excited about for? 2025 it's always fun to hear what people are looking forward to.
Mara Smith 46:14
There are, there are so many things. I think 2025 is like, I'm very excited. I think it's gonna be a great year of opportunity. I'm particularly excited that we are going to launch California. So starting at least with Southern California, I feel like, if I wasn't born in Chicago, I'm a California girl at heart. I just love California. So I'm really, really excited to get started there. It'll be a it's a lot of work. It's a very big market. But I just see that our brand is so aligned with, like, they have all these kind of, you know, natural better for you like, change the lifestyle that that I think are so aligned with the brand. So that's something I'm particularly excited about. And then, you know, I have a lot of personal things to be excited about. I have my two oldest are seniors in college, so in 2025 within a matter of one month, I'm going to have two college graduations, and my younger son's going to have his bar mitzvah. So we are going to have a really exciting spring of 2025 I
Mariah Parsons 47:21
love that. I
Mara Smith 47:23
think I'm going to be very busy through June. Yeah,
Mariah Parsons 47:29
okay, that's very exciting. I wish you the best of luck with launching in California, and obviously all the life fun events that you'll have in the spring, they make it all worth it, you know. So thank you for taking the time to join me today. I know our audience is gonna love this episode, and it was great getting to catch up and talk with you again after that panel. So
Mara Smith 47:49
thank you. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Mariah Parsons 47:57
Hello, everyone. It's Mariah again. I am just popping in to say thank you for listening to today's episode, and I am so so so grateful that I have been able to be on this journey for the past couple of years with this podcast, it's been phenomenal to grow and see our community of 1000s of listeners. See what you guys are up to, what you're learning, what you want to hear about next. So if you haven't already, please like and subscribe to the show so we can continue doing this. Leave us a review. Let us know your thoughts. Follow us on our new social media channels and check out our newly launched website. If you or someone you know would be a great guest for the show, please do not be shy. Fill up the form that we have on there, because those are some of my favorite interviews, and I will make sure that our new website is linked in the bio. It's retention Chronicles podcast.com and as always, let's give a warm shout out to our day one sponsor, Malomo. As you already know, Malomo is an order tracking platform that enables Shopify brands to take control of their transactional email and SMS through branded order tracking. What does that mean? That means you ditch those boring carrier tracking pages, the all white pages that have nothing on them but a tracking number and an update on the date of your estimated arrival, and swap those with pages that actually match your brand and can help you convert on some of your goals, customers like you and I obsessively check that tracking page when we're looking for our order at our doorstep an average of 4.6 times. If you can believe it, yes, customers are going to that page 4.6 times. So don't waste out on all that customer engagement and instead send them to a page that converts in the way that you want it to. I am talking dealing with shipping issues, having cross sells and upsells, having your social media on there, your loyalty programs, anything, anything that you can imagine. So if you want to learn more about how to do that, go to go malomo.com, that's G O M, a, l o m, o.com and if you didn't get that, don't worry. The. That website link for our sponsor, as well as our podcast website are linked in our episode description. So with that, I will sign off and see you all next time you.
