Ep.129/ RODIAL
Standing out on retail shelves & social media with unique ingredients from Rodial Founder Maria Hatzistefanis
Maria Hatzistefanis, CEO and Founder of Rodial, discussed her journey from beauty writing in Greece to launching her skincare brand (Rodial) with Host of Retention Chronicles, Mariah Parsons. Maria highlighted the importance of unique ingredients and targeted treatments, such as Rodial’s Snake Serum and Dragon's Blood hyaluronic acid, to stand out on shelves. Rodial's success includes availability in 35 countries and 3,000 luxury stores. Hatzistefanis emphasized the role of influencers in customer acquisition and the strategic use of paid media, particularly on Instagram and Meta. She also shared her experiences with filming on Dragon's Den and her motivational books, which aim to inspire entrepreneurs.
Episode Timestamps:
2:25 Maria Hatzistefanis’ Background and Career Journey
4:05 Inspiration from Editorial Background
8:22 Founding Rodial and Market Gap
21:13 Product Development and Market Strategy
28:03 Influencer Marketing and Customer Acquisition
36:14 Paid Media Strategy and ROI
43:02 Thought Leadership and Personal Projects
47:10 Final Thoughts and Closing Remarks
Ep.129
Maria Hatzistefanis
TRANSCRIPT
This transcript was completed by an automated system, please forgive any grammatical errors.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
customers, influencers, product, ingredients, complexion, skincare, bit, talking, brand, launch, people, founder, audience, years, social media, market, magazine, started, business, rodial
SPEAKERS
Mariah Parsons, Maria Hatzistefanis
Mariah Parsons 00:05
Greetings and welcome to retention. Chronicles, the podcast with learnings from expert e commerce brands and partners. I'm your host. Mariah Parsons, if you're here, you're either on a quest for E commerce enlightenment or you accidentally click the wrong link. Either way, I am thrilled you stumbled into our corner of the internet, and I hope you'll stick around. We've got pearls of wisdom for everyone, whether you're running a multi million dollar business or simply just starting out on your entrepreneurial journey. Before we unleash the brilliance of today's guests, let's give a shout out to our podcast sponsor, malomo. Malomo is so much more than just another Shopify app, their post purchase wizards, making beautiful and branded order tracking smoother than a jazz solo. So our amazing founders, like our guests, can keep their customers happy and up to date while they track their orders. So hit that subscribe button like it'll increase your LTV overnight and go listen to our other episodes@gomolomo.com that's G O M, a, l o m, o.com Get ready for insights, chuckles and perhaps a profound realization or two with this newest episode of retention Chronicles. You Hello everyone, and welcome back to retention Chronicles. Thank you for being here. I'm psyched for our episode here today, Maria, thank you so much for joining me. I am so we're going to give a shout out to Leah from your team for connecting us, because you all inbounded, and it is always, always the best experience when I get to hear that someone you know wants to come on this podcast and wants to share about their experience, because it is such a highlight of my day. So thank you for making the time and your busy schedule to come and join me for the next 4045, minutes or so, it's going to be a great time. So I'm going to have you say hi to the audience and then give a quick introduction of yourself, and we'll be off to the races.
Maria Hatzistefanis 02:01
Well, thank you so much for having me, Mariah. I'm so excited to be on your podcast. I am Maria hattesfanis, CEO and founder of the Royal Group, and a little bit of an introduction. So I started my career as a beauty writer back in Greece, where I'm originally from, I did that for a bed but the world of business was calling me. Moved to New York. I did an MBA at Columbia Business School, and somehow I ended up doing corporate finance first in New York, and then moved to London. I thought that was going to be my career, but two years into it, I became a very bad employee, and I got fired, and it was devastating, but that was the best thing that ever happened to me, and this was the time that I decided to start my own business, and that's when rodelle was founded.
Mariah Parsons 02:57
I love it. I love it. So let's dive into that a little bit. So going from being a beauty editor in Greece to then moving to New York and uprooting your whole life, tell us a little bit about because I am so like the and I'm wondering if you'll get this, you'll like if this was a cultural sign, culturally significant, I guess, movie or book, but the Devil Wears Prada. Are you familiar with that movie?
Maria Hatzistefanis 03:24
I because I love you? Yeah, multiple times. Yes. Okay,
Mariah Parsons 03:29
so, and this is definitely top of mind for me right now, because I actually just read the book that the movie is based off of, right? So it was a little bit different the book in the movie. As most you know books and movies are, but it really renewed this sense of, oh my god, like this world of fashion, of beauty, of like editorial is so I'll say rare to me, or just so out of my area of expertise. And I grew up in New Jersey, so very obviously, close to New York, and I feel like the influence of fashion and style, it definitely had, you know, I had elements of that in my childhood, and so it always was something that I was like, I'm so interested in fashion and beauty and the editorial space, just from my own, you know, childhood and growing up, but you were actually in the industry. So tell me a little bit of like, what was it like, you know, what? What was your like day to day? What was the whole, I guess, like, movement, or the whole culture around the editorial space and the beauty space at that time?
Maria Hatzistefanis 04:34
So, yeah, I was always passionate about fashion and beauty. And I remember since I was eight years old. I was born and raised in this remote island back in Greece. We had one news agent that was talking all the international magazines and all my pocket money. Once a month, I would go to the news agent and buy those magazines. And even though I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, I always knew that. And. Had the vision of the woman I wanted to be. So the minute I went to Athens, the capital of Greece, and started studying there, I wasn't interested in studying. I wanted to get into the world of magazines and and so I got a part time job, because obviously I was studying at the time. And for me, you know what I remember was going to this glamorous office, very much like the Devil Wears Prada with we had an editor in chief at the time. It wasn't a woman, it was a man, but equally impressive. And would all go into the boardroom, everyone involved in the magazine. And the question that, and the question that was asked to all of us was, what does our target audience want to read? And this was once a month. It was this massive brainstorming session, and everyone was coming up with ideas and, and for me, that was the most inspiring part, going in and having everyone come up with ideas and and then seeing everyone put together the articles and the photo shoots, and then at the end of the month, seeing actually, that magazine come out with everything we brainstormed a month ago. For me, that was fascinating. I mean, the creative process, they everything, you know, it was so vibrant and so excited. So it's sort of something that stayed with me. And even now, when it comes to my social media, which I know we're going to go into this a little bit later, I always curate everything like a magazine. So that experience, even 25 years later, it's still with me that's
Mariah Parsons 06:38
so interesting that you say, you know, you, like, curate social media, like it's a magazine, because of your background and because of, you know, the inspiration that you draw from it. And I 1,000% remember getting, like, you know, when I was younger, 17, magazine. And, like, teen, teen beats, right? All these, like, American and they were more focused in, like, pop culture and celebrity and stuff like that. But I remember, you know, it was a treat if I got to get one, you know, if we were going on a vacation or whatever, I'd read it on the airplane. And so I, I'm, we're going to put a pin in that, like you said. We'll talk about social media a bit later. But I love that you drew out, you know, the creative process. And I think one of the things we should call attention to is the speed in which you move like you said, a month, right? You're brainstorming, and then a month later you're seeing it in real life. And that's not all industries that can move that quickly. I think it's a rarer circumstance that someone can move so quickly, and it parallels nicely into E commerce and retail. More e commerce, right, where you're able to quickly think of an idea and then get it on the shelves or get it out there. You know, depending on product development, all that stuff, it might take longer. But if you say, already have the product and you have a creative idea, you can pretty quickly launch with it on a site, in a social media team, assuming that, you know, your whole team can move quickly. So I think it's, I think it's really interesting that you're able to take, you know, the experience when you were in Athens and part time job and mirror that in your own brand, you know, and that's still standing 25 years later, absolutely, yeah, love it. So let's dive into rodeo a bit. So can you tell our audience, if they're not familiar with you all, what is kind of like your what is your basis for founding rodeo? Why do you, why do you want to, you know, start your own company? Were you always entrepreneurial? I know you said you went to go get an MBA. And then how to, how to, how to stint in corporate finance and then best and worst thing that's ever happened to you. You thought you get fired, you can go and explore starting your own company. So walk us through, I guess, more of the the like leading up to founding your own brand.
Maria Hatzistefanis 08:57
First of all, I never thought I would be an entrepreneur myself. My parents are both teachers, so the climate I was raised had nothing to do with business or entrepreneurship. This was something that I got excited and I learned along the way. So what happened was, when I was fired from my job in corporate finance, I felt that I didn't want to get another job like that. And I went back to what was the happiest time on my life, work wise, and it was when I was freelancing for a magazine. Now, you know, I didn't want a career in a magazine per se, because I would have stayed there and not moved and started finance and got into it. So for me, it was, how do I combine my creativity with business? Because I was interested in business, but not in the way of just pure finance. And when I was thinking about all this, there were a lot of female led entrepreneurs that are. Just starting businesses, and it was a few years ago. Bobby Brown had started her own range, and Marsha Kilgore had started bliss at the time. I mean, I deserve a long time ago. So I don't know if you're, you're,
Mariah Parsons 10:14
no, I, I'm, I, believe me, I'm familiar. Yeah, my mom and I would go shopping and all that fun stuff. Yep, absolutely.
Maria Hatzistefanis 10:21
But it wasn't like now that you have 10s of 1000s of brands, and it was a very small group of women starting businesses. It was very hard. It was very difficult. So my idea on Roger was when it came to skincare, everything at the time was very basic. All the brands, all the big brands, had one cleanser, one moisturizer, one syrup for all skin types. And skincare, I found was very basic. And for me, the idea was, I want to fill the gap in the market with products that offer targeted treatments to specific skin concerns. But also I wanted to go with ingredients that no one else was using. And over the years, some of the ingredients at Rodial have revolutionized the market with are the likes of our snake serum range dragon's blood biven on and we created this market, or we were the first brand to do ingredient LED product. But still, our ingredients are so unique, no one else is using them. So that was the market that I tried to fill, and that's how I started my business. Now, the interesting thing was, when I tried to get funding for my business, I put the business plan. Obviously coming from the finance world, I knew how to put together all this business plan, but back in the days, was very hard to get investment for a female startup. So I ended up starting independently with my own savings from back home, at home, and then we're still private, and slowly growing the business to where it is today, and rolling out 25 years later, we are available in 35 countries and more than 3000 luxury stores worldwide. So that's how we started and and that that's where we are today. Yeah.
Mariah Parsons 12:24
So it's such an impressive feat just being able to be in the business for 25 years, right? Like a lot of startups, it's rare that they get to a place where they're, you know, making money, they're profitable, but to be able to still be in the space 25 years, is a huge accolade to you. And leading with insanely well produced and well thought out products that are ingredient LED. So lot of questions that I have for you just about everything, and I know we're going to get into it all. So my first, I guess, interesting thing that you were talking about is like having this, this group of women that at the time, you're seeing them as leaders, right? You mentioned, like Bob Brown, she's doing her her line. And I was just at a conference where Rebecca Minkoff spoke, and she was speaking to this right of like, this industry, this or the industry in this time period, what looked different from what it looks like right now. And there's, and we could go into that and have a whole podcast episode about, you know, just like how stopify and how other platforms are making it way easier for people to start their own brands, and kind of lowering those barriers to of entry to, you know, be able to capitalize and blend your creative side with your business side. But so I obviously want to focus in on the beauty industry. So tell us about when you're trying to convey to your customers. Okay, this is the first ingredient led skincare line that you're going to see on the market. And we use such rare products or such unique products or ingredients that you're not going to get. You're not going to get this. This is, you know, different from what they're seeing on the market. What was your idea in terms of branding and trying to convey accurately that message to your customers of like, this is a, this is a skincare line that is intentionally made for different types of skin and intentionally made to be beneficial to the consumer, because I think nowadays, with social media and the access to just all this different information, customers are really informed about what they want and the different options that you can buy. But if you're selling in retail, you're selling in 300 stores or 3000 stores, you don't have that close of a relationship with your buyer. You can't have a whole website that they're shopping and they understand, you know, these are, these are great ingredients for my skin, or maybe this is, you know, if I have this type of skin, this is what I would want to buy. You have shelf space, and you have like, you know, you have to get crap. You have to capture someone's attention quickly. So can you talk through, like, how you were thinking about branding before you know the boom of social media and like, just the informed buyer. And there are so many ways to approach social media for ecommerce optimization.
Maria Hatzistefanis 15:11
So when we launched our first ingredient LED product, which was the snake serum, initially, the packaging was a white bottle, and it was actually called anti aging serum. And then I looked at into the list of ingredients, one of them related to fiber venom. So I took the bold decision to call the product snake serum, capitalize on the name, the name, and make the packaging black, as you see, back in the day, we didn't have social media, so we did a photo shoot with snakes around it. We took pictures and we sent out a press release. And with those things, you have to be lucky, you could send a press release and no one pays attention. And we grabbed everyone's attention at the time, and the product went viral. So it went from the UK to the China Morning Post to the Australian times to Japan to Germany, and suddenly, via press, whether that's online and printed press, the name of the product, per se, gave us all the buzz that that we wanted. So back in the day, that was how virality was generated. And similar to now, when you post a Tiktok or do something on social media, you have no idea. You cannot guarantee it's going to go viral, same back in the day. Growing an ecommerce brand on social media is hard, but there are a lot of brands who can do it. So we started with that. Snake serum was the first product that grabbed everyone's attention, and everyone started talking about radial but as you can imagine, if you are known for your snake serum, your next product cannot be lavender oil. You have to keep it up with the names, with the ingredients, with the research. So a couple of years ago, we followed with dragon's blood, our second big launch. And then we followed with vivano, and by that by the time we launched biven on, we were known enough that we almost didn't need that attention anymore. And then we we come down a little bit, and we use some more traditional ingredients, but there was a time when we didn't have the budget. We needed to go viral. We needed the attention, and the names and the colors of our products were so out there with dragon's blood, it's bright coral with bi venom, it's bright yellow. And there was a time a few years ago when I was scrolling through Instagram, and everyone was producing product in the color called millennial pink. I don't know if you remember, everyone had time, and I actually got really worried, because in the world where millennial pink is fashionable and we're going with bright colors, we were so not trending. And we sat down, and that was the point that I unfollowed all the other beauty brands. I couldn't have this noise around me. And we decided, You know what, we can't be changing our colors every few years based on what is trending. We have to be who we are, we need to be comfortable and aware of our audience, and we have to keep in our lane. And that is the time that it made. It made all sense, and that's how we've communicated with the world since then.
Mariah Parsons 18:37
Yeah, yeah. So I love that you brought up being tempted, almost to, you know, look at the market, look at the main, main other players in the market, and be like everyone is doing this right now, like it is so tempting to try and, you know, create a project or a product in that millennial pink color, right? And say, like, Okay, is there? Is there worth in trying to compare, and be like a direct comparison to these other customers? And I love that you then retrospectively looked at, okay, we have these customers because they came to us because, you know, we have these bright colors, and we're able to stand out. And we are using these ingredients that capture your eye, and we're using this creative of sneaks and and black packaging to like, pop off the shelf, because that is what you know. That's what you can grab your attention, your customers attention with, and then to stick with that. I think I've heard, you know, just from other marketers in the space and other founders of having having a similar moment in their company's history where it's like, you have, you've had that viral moment. You have other products that are going well, but then you get to this point of like, oh my god, like, I'm seeing just like time and time again, of pattern after pattern, these other people are maybe assimilating. Or they're they're all doing something like, are we missing out on this? Like, are we missing something? And I think there's a lot of relatability in that of like, we're social creatures. We want to fit in at times. But for a business, there is a financial and a marketing like, a branding advantage to standing out. And so my question to you is, when you're looking at all of the different aspects that you could like change, we're talking about packaging and coloring and standing off the shelf. Were there any other moments where you were like, maybe these ingredients? You know, we're not going to continue to go with these, like, more extravagant ingredients. Or maybe we're not going to, we're not going to, like, you know, any other parts of the business that you were like, maybe these were part of our business when we were starting out, but they're no longer needed. Or has it been like since day one, we're sticking with, you know, having these, these extravagant colors and these extravagant ingredients and capturing people's attention that way.
Maria Hatzistefanis 21:05
There was a point after we launched vivenom that I feel we were at the stage as a business to understand who our customer is, and then once we know who our customer is, we base our new product development on the customer. So it needed, need to be oh, let's find the next unusual ingredient. It's okay. We've built a customer over the last 10 years with all our exciting launches. What does our customer want? And so that has been the journey. So rather than come up with something that's gimmicky and just throw it out there and see who gets interested in it, it's we are mature. We know our customer is let's just take that that route.
Mariah Parsons 21:56
Yeah, okay, I'm glad you you distinguish that. So let's dive into, you know, product development, because you've expanded your your line of your products that you've offered the sides of three that we're taught we've been talking about on this episode. So when you get to that point of like, Okay, we're gonna, rather than doing something that is gimmicky, or maybe could just be a little, you know, like an easier route, or like something that internally, you're thinking internally, you're thinking about, walk us through how you're getting that feedback from your customers, and deciding, okay, you know, 60% of our customers who have bought this product, they want to see this because I think product development is one of those things that sets people Apart, obviously, and like your product is that thing that has set you all apart. So I think it'd be interesting for listeners to hear, how are you actually enabling your team to like, follow where your customers want? You know what products they want.
Maria Hatzistefanis 22:58
So there's another example I want to share with you, which is a product that we launched during the pandemic called Banana low lighter that has diverted a little bit our course from being a pure skincare business to moving very, Very slowly into complexion very organically. So we were getting a lot of requests from our customers that we love our skin. We love your skincare. Royale has those amazing formulas and ingredients. Can you do something for our complexion? And you know, again, with everything that we do at Royal, I don't want it to be okay. I just come up with a range of complexion of 100 products. But there was this idea that I had to get a product that's something between an under eye concealer, brightener and an eye cream. And we created this banana low lighter, which is a sheer low lighter that brightens the under eye and also has caffeine and vitamin E, so a lot of eye cream benefits. And we, we launched it just before the pandemic, a few months ago, and it was an okay launch. It was an upgrade. And then suddenly, because of the everything changed during lockdown and everything. Everyone was in front of zooms and cameras and and the stores weren't open, and you couldn't go and get a concealer, and you were buying everything online. And suddenly people think there's this one product that fits all skin tones you can put it under your eyes brighten up, and suddenly this product becomes a best seller, and then that was the first product that gave us the confidence of, okay, well, we're on to something. We've launched a very successful underwrite product. Let's just see where we can take this. And get to the next and then we launch the pitch, low, lighter, which is a different shade. And now we just launch the latter, low, lighter, which is even darker. So you know, for me, it's always again, understanding the audience and seeing what they buy and what they love, testing the market. Sometimes we'll launch something, it doesn't resonate, so we won't go any further. But for me, it's always come up with one thing and test the market. You know, a lot of people come to me and say, Oh, why do you do fragrance, or why do you do hair care? It's because I don't think we can do it well enough. I don't think that we can do it so well that we will differentiate ourselves from a pure fragrance company or a pure hair care company. I think a lot of people doing a great job there. So you have to understand where the products extensions would make sense, and that you can deliver something that's unique that no one else is doing, and you're not just going out there, competing with all the experts. So for me, that is the way that I see product development, which is trial and error, and then getting the signs from a successful product to move further into that direction. Okay,
Mariah Parsons 26:15
I see so you're Yeah, you're phrasing it as or you're approaching it as launching something first and then seeing how the market takes it, rather than, you know, asking your customers in a form or, like, a feedback survey of like, what do you want to what do you want to see in terms of new products? And maybe you're getting, you know, from those customers, where they ask you, you know, why don't you? Do you do fragrance or hair care, in which you you have the confidence to say, I know that we're not going to do it in a way that will serve the brand well and serve our name well. So we're not going to do it, but it chan Tran tan, gently related to obviously, skincare is complexion, and diving into that market, the story that you just told us of just like dipping your toes in the water and then seeing how things react. And we have to acknowledge that covid played a part in it, like you said, and just like the we'll call it crazy, but just the unpredictable nature of the world, of like, what different, you know, underbellies or currents are going to influence how people are buying, and you can't predict those, those things. So the best thing that you can do is try your best and just launch good products, see how they work. And you had mentioned, like, a couple of months before the pandemic, when you launched the banana low, lighter wasn't, wasn't really resonating with customers, and then people were on Zoom and kind of, you know, all the reasons that you gave not buying in person and all that. Then it went viral, and it became a best seller. So one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about is, as you're starting to expand your product line, and you're looking at, okay, they're obviously related, but your different products when they sit in different categories, like complexion and skincare. How are you thinking about marketing to those customers? Like, are they? Are you marketing to all the customers the same way? Because I think one of the things that is always interesting to hear founders perspective on is, are you looking at your customers and dissecting, okay, this person is only purchasing the complexion products in our line, versus this person is purchasing only our skincare, and then this other group of customers are purchasing both of them. So are you trying to adjust like your marketing at all? To to, you know, acquire and retain different like ideal customer profiles that those ICPs. How do you kind of view like as you're expanding your marketing, and how it's adjusting, if at all with what you're rolling out,
Maria Hatzistefanis 28:58
you're very right that we have slightly different audiences, if you look at skincare versus complexion. Complexion, especially banana low, lighter, brought as a younger customer who doesn't necessarily invest a lot or is interested in solving a whole bunch of skincare problems. It's more about, yeah, just a quick skincare regime, and then we're going to put makeup on, and that will solve a lot of problems. So overall, what we're trying to do is, you know, a couple of different ways we are available in physical stores, and then when we have teams on board, obviously we want to introduce, if someone goes in and is interested in the skincare, we want to show them complexion and vice versa. When it comes to online, we just have to one segment the different audiences and make sure that we market them in the way that they would. Like to be marketed to, but then also have ways that we can get them involved, get them aware of the other category. So if someone has purchased the banana, low lighter online, then and we go through and we see the only buy complexion for us, we do create an offer or a GWP or a free sample or collection of samples that they get, to get them interested into skincare. So there's always some type of promotion, and then vice versa. So it's all it's all about analyzing the data and seeing what missed opportunities there are so you can do your cross marketing.
Mariah Parsons 30:46
Yep, okay, makes sense. So I know we were speaking about the post purchase experience, a bit of understanding your customers, seeing if someone is, you know, a frequent buyer with you, they probably don't need to be educated as much as like the other products that you have if they're buying, you know, different SKUs, different products within your category, versus someone who has just shopped with you for the first time and bought one product. So I love this idea of segmenting your audiences for different ICPs. I talked to a lot of founders about it, because it is an elevated customer experience, and that's one of the beautiful things that you can do in E commerce when you have more like first party, zero party, second party data about your customers, because you can you know you have more of that direct relationship versus in retail, your your relationship is more with The the retailer itself, rather than the customer, right? Because it's just like one step removed. And so my question to you is, when you're talking about segmenting experiences and you want to get them aware of other categories, is that you know, is that the paid ad space? Is that with email marketing, you mentioned promotionals. How are you is it SMS marketing? How are you making sure that those customers and that, you know, analyzing the data of okay consumer behavior, this is what people are buying, or this is what they should be educated on. How are you making sure that that message is delivered? I think we can, like, rope that into the conversation we wanted to have around social media and just making sure that your you, as you, as a brand, are enabling education in your customers. A bit part of social media management for ecommerce brands is having customer support respond to social media comments. So first, let's talk about, how are you delivering segmented questions or segmented How are you delivering like, different messages to different customers? That's it, yeah, okay, um,
Maria Hatzistefanis 32:46
we mainly use email marketing and SMS to target our existing customer base. So anyone who's purchased a banana, low lighter, we want to target them to buy a drug control sculpting gel. We already have their data, and we target them via email marketing or SMS. Now, when it comes to new audience acquisition, it's a little bit different. We would select a certain influencer that we want to work with. And we know if we go with someone younger, we would probably get them one of the complexion products to go and do some work for us. When we work with someone slightly more mature, we're probably going to go with skincare. So we're also aware, and we know whatever audience we want to attract, we need to work with influence, with an influencer that would do the product justice, and we are aware of what kind of traffic and what kind of product they would be interested in. Influencer marketing for ecommerce can be tough, there's no doubt about it.
Mariah Parsons 33:57
Okay, that's great. So I'm glad you brought up influencer marketing in ecommerce, because I think in the you know, beauty, complexion, skin care space, there's a lot that can be said and done for influencers, and using that to be your main. It sounds like your main, you know, your main channel for acquiring new customers. And I think it's a beautiful partnership, because you have these influencers who are they have their customer base. They have their customers that are going to them and trust them to buy, if they're putting their name, you know, next to or associated with rodeo. And then for you all, you have a, we'll call it known, right, like you never know anything but a pretty, pretty well proven audience that they're in the market for, something that you know, their influencer, that they would, that they follow, likes using. So I don't know if it's unique per se of using influencers for your first means of acquiring new customers in your. Experience? Would you say like that's pretty common in your space, or would you say that you all are kind of leading the leading the charge and using influencers as you know, your your main acquisition, rather than maybe your your own social media that sits under your brand?
Maria Hatzistefanis 35:17
We probably have three different ways of acquiring new customers. The first one is through my personal Instagram account, which is different. So we have the raw deal beauty Instagram account, and then we have the Mrs. Raudial account, which is my account, and that is the first channel I post. A lot about being an entrepreneur, behind the scenes, doing a book tour, what I'm wearing, filming for dragons den. So I'm posting a lot of what I do with my life, and that attracts a lot of new people who don't necessarily want to hear more about Roger and the brand, but they want to see what is going on in my life, what's interesting, how they can be inspired. So that is the first channel. The second channel is definitely influencers, and then the third channel is paid social media. So these are the three different avenues that can bring us new customers into the brand.
Mariah Parsons 36:20
Okay? Wonderful. Thank you for clearing that up. So let's then tap into specifically paid media and just high level give us your strategy when you have you know influencers who are marketing to their customer base, you are, I'll call it like thought leadership. You're using thought leadership to be in front of your customers, to be to have more people be aware of what you're doing in your life, and as an entrepreneur and Dragon 10 and your book tours, which we'll get to at the end of the episode. So little sneak peek. But then you have also the paid media side, which is a little bit more targeted, a little bit lower in the funnel, at least in hopes, right that you can, you can use that, that channel, to get some, get some new customers. So how are you thinking about paid media? What's like the high level strategy there?
Maria Hatzistefanis 37:16
Paid media is getting harder and harder. As you know, I feel that a lot of us beauty brands are chasing a similar customer, and I'm seeing ads every single day, and I feel it is getting more and more expensive and it is getting harder and harder to stand out from The competition. Having said that social media, paid social media, we all have to do it. You cannot not do it, even if you're aware that it is expensive and hard for us. What we do is we always try different formats. And it could be creative that we do in house. It could be carousel, it could be dynamic product placement. But also the The other area that we work with is whitelisting. So if we work with an influencer, and their post or their reel or whatever they do, does really well for us in some capacity, and we see a great reaction from their audience or our audience, then we do work with a lot of whitelisting. So it is a combination of things. For example, the the other day, a few days ago, we had Bethany Frankel from the ex Real Housewives of New York, and she posted an organic video. We just sent her banana, long lighter, and she posted this amazing video, like, this is the one product that you're gonna change. This is the one product that's gonna change your life. And it's really funny, because sometimes we do paid work with people, and the video is lukewarm, and this was organic, and we got it, got half a million views, 30,000 likes and and now we're in talks with her to do something specific. So what we always do with influencers is, if there's something organic that does well, we immediately go and see if we can do a bigger partnership with that person, because you never know. You may work with an influencer with millions of followers, and they do something for you and it doesn't resonate with our audience. So for us, if there's one piece of work that resonates and brings us the attention that we want, then we definitely want to do more with with that influencer. So that's our strategy. You know, a lot of in house creative that we test in different ways. And mainly, I would say we focus on Instagram and meta. I feel Tiktok is very. Hard right now. We do have some strategies, but we found that the ROI on Tiktok is just not where we want it to be, so it's literally just throwing money out the window. So we're a little bit more conservative there. But this doesn't mean we don't look at it.
Mariah Parsons 40:22
Yeah, and that makes sense, too. When you look at the platforms and the demographics on each platform, if you're saying, you know, you've seen that your customers who are investing in skincare are a little bit older, and then the banana low lighter, or the complexion products or something, some some products that, you know, it's skewed a little bit to a younger demographic. It could be that split right, where it's like meta Facebook and Instagram just might be where more of your customers are right, like it doesn't even it might not even be, you know, whatever strategy with content that you're rolling out on the platforms, it might just be like, more your customers are on more of one place, right, and so, or the algorithms are favoring you more on Instagram and Facebook than they are on Tiktok. And I love that you brought up organic videos. And you know, being in tune with what is going on on the like, greater sphere of social media, and being able to capitalize on, hey, like, that's an amazing, organic video. Let's see if we can build a, you know, a longer partnership, a longer, a longer term partnership, with someone like Bethany, who is already talking about your product and has such a great it resonates, really, with their customers. And I think that's something where my expertise starts to lead lay into, you know, the paid at paid ad, like the high customer acquisition costs that we're seeing right now, where paid ads, yes, you have to do them, but one of the things I know, we've discussed with malomo and seeing that, you know, you can have your you can retarget to customers, but it doesn't have to Be an ad, and it can be in that post purchase space is something I see time and time again, where figuring out those little, those little things, like an organic partnership of, oh my god, we need to, you know, we need to capitalize on this, because it's, it's proving like the numbers are working. The ROI is there, um, or something like branded order tracking, where you can see, you know, they have your social media at the at the bottom of the page, and you can have that ROI be a little bit more, I guess, like naturally fitting in a customer's life, where they're like, Oh yeah, why wouldn't I buy that product if I just bought this one, or I trust this influencer, and they've never, you know, given me a product that I haven't liked, so I'm going to trust that. So I think in this conversation of talking about customer acquisition is also, how do you build that customer trust? And I think it's something that sometimes can be forgotten about when you're looking at paid media, but that's really what you're trying to do, right? You're trying to get in front of a customer for them to purchase with you, and then you can buy that. You can you can build that customer loyalty and build that customer satisfaction in hopes that they purchase with you again. Yeah, 100% so let's talk just a little bit, because we're getting close to time, and I want to leave space for just you as a thought leader, obviously, you mentioned your social media profile in which you're sharing a lot about what you're doing in the day to days which I hope all of our audience follows Mrs. Rodeo. But tell us about like the more, I guess, opportunities with being a founder and entrepreneur, but aren't, like, extremely attached to rodeo. So you know, Dragon's Den, being able to be on that show and be someone who is of influence, tell us about the show, and then going on these book tours and really sharing your story with other people, because that's like, that is so fascinating to me, that you've been able to, you know, drive your business to a place where you're being approached with these opportunities.
Maria Hatzistefanis 44:01
Um, well, those side projects, let's call them, serve two purposes. The one purpose is, personally, as a as a founder, I do need something else in my life, other than running the day to day of the business for the last 25 years, or I will go crazy, yeah. So for me to be the best founder, the best leader I can, I do need to take a step back and put my mind on something very different. And when I do that, and I get a different perspective, I go back and I can do my job the best that I can. So that is the one piece. The other piece is it gives me the opportunity, first to add value. So through my books, I've written three books how to be an overnight success. My story from being fired to growing royalty and the business where. Today, how to make it happen, which is a motivational guide, and how to live your best life, which is a manifestation, Guide to Success. So all of my three books go through my journeys, and I find through the books, I first of all, I'm giving back, I'm giving advice. I'm motivating. The books are not a way to make money. I think I've spent more money on the book tours than actually made money. Probably right for me. It's something that it feeds my soul. Writing those books was like having a therapy session. I confessed getting fired in the first time, for the first time, to the whole world. I confessed almost going bankrupt in my second book, and the third book is all about having a mental crisis. So for me, it was cathartic. It was and also it was a way to give back and be honest. As an entrepreneur, what I went through, and I'm one of those people. I'm not going to sit down say, Oh, you have passion and you work hard and everything is going to be perfect. Throughout my books, I talk about the challenges, I talk about the problems, and I really feel that I've been the most honest I could to really inspire a young generation of entrepreneurs. So if through that, they read the book, and then they're familiar with Rodial, and then they go and check out our website, and this is something they like and and I get them interested. So it's a way to give visibility to the brand, but it's not the reason I did it. It's just a side effect, let's call it, and then being on a national TV show. So I don't, for anyone who doesn't know, Dragon's Den is shark tank in Europe. It's the European name. I've done two seasons as a shark Dragon, and I'm filming Season Three later this year. And for me, again, that was a project that took me out of my day to day, puts myself on a very different seat as an investor, and looking at those entrepreneurs and and getting inspired and understanding their journey. But what that achieved outside giving me a fresh lease of life and and having a side project, it also opened up a new audience for me, inspired getting out of my comfort zone and and also making people aware of who I am, what Rodial is, and a lot of them will go and check it out whether they buy a product, I don't know, but it's that piece of awareness. And for me, what's important for founders and entrepreneurs is finding different ways to put themselves out there in situations that are unexpected, because the competition is tough, and I feel sometimes we all keep on doing the same thing. So that's the question, how can you elevate yourself as a founder, as a leader, to be doing different things and creating that brand awareness in unexpected ways. Yeah,
Mariah Parsons 48:01
I love that. I love that. And I think that's a great way to kind of round out this conversation. When you're just talking about, you know, you yourself had, had been in that seat of you're trying to find new ways to stand out. And now you can help other other entrepreneurs invest in their own company, their own ideas, and be that guidance with your book, or with the TV exposure of, you know, you're meeting people in in real life with the TV show, of like, okay, you're presenting, and you can, you can give that feedback right then and there, or through a book, which you might not see as much of like, the influence that your advice and your story and your your the challenges and the successes has on someone's life. So I will thank you from the bottom of my heart for being able to come today and reaching out and being featured on this podcast. It has been a joy to have you here today, Maria so thank you for making the time.
Maria Hatzistefanis 48:52
Mariah, thank you so much. Have a lot of fun on this interview, and thank you for having me.
Mariah Parsons 48:59
I'm so so glad to hear that. That That always makes my day when I hear it. So thank you.
