← The Marketing Millennials
The Marketing Millennials
299 - Turning Customers Into Community with Amy Upchurch, Founder + CEO of Pink Stork
00:27:30
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- [00:08]
Daniel Murray
Welcome to the Marketing Millennials, the no BS Marketing podcast. I'm Daniel Murray and join me for unfiltered conversations with the brains behind marketing's coolest companies. The one request I tell our guests stories or it didn't happen. Get ready to turn the.
- [00:33]
Amy Upchurch
As a brand, we kind of are there to help guide conversations and ask for feedback and have them be part of our brand. But a lot of it is just other women connecting with other women going through something similar, and it helps normalize some of the issues that women face through these different life stages.
- [00:54]
Daniel Murray
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- [01:46]
Unknown Host
With WIX studio, go to wixtudio.com what's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Market Millennials. Today I have the founder of Pink Stork, Amy Upchurch. We're going to talk how she built this community of raving fans around a product that nobody had on the market that people needed and talk about how she built this raving fan community. It's going to be super exciting, but I want Amy to first start and introduce herself and how she came up with this idea.
- [02:19]
Amy Upchurch
Great. Well, thanks so much for having us on the Marketing Millennial. We love you guys. We subscribe to all your emails and listen to all these podcasts. So super excited to be here. So thanks for having us. Thanks for having me.
- [02:32]
Unknown Host
Of course. Could you give a little story of how you started Pink Stork? What was the evolution of it?
- [02:40]
Amy Upchurch
Yeah, so a little personal story here. So, growing up, I was actually told that I wasn't even going to be able to have K kids. And I never really, I mean, who thinks about, you know, having kids when you're 12 years old? That's not where you go. But I just, I struggled with a lot of regular cycles and that was what the doctor had told Me, and I just kind of accepted it and didn't really think too much of it. When my husband and I got married, we, you know, he knew kind of what the doctor had told me. But two weeks later, after we were married, I found out that I was pregnant. And so very shocked. And basically with my first pregnancy, I. I was completely unprepared. I had no idea what was happening with my body. I dealt with something called hyperemesis gravidarm, which 1% of pregnant women get to experience. And I had that. And I explain it to people as morning sickness on steroids. So I pretty much lived in the hospital. I had picc lines, feeding tubes. At one point, I contracted a blood infection as. And the doctors gave me and my unborn baby at the time 24 hours to live. So I say all that just to say, not prepared for the changes in my body with pregnancy. And it was really hard. And that experience was. It just. It was horrible, to say the least. I ended up doing that three more times. On top of that, my husband was in the military, so we moved all around. I ended up having. I had four kids in five years. So this girl that thought she was not going to have any kids, I'm finding out I'm pregnant with my fourth. And I am just. I'm a shell of the person that I was. I physically was defeated. The pregnancies had really racked my body. I felt like I didn't know what was happening. When I found out that I was pregnant with my fourth, like, I didn't. I wasn't prepared for the battle ahead. And long story short, I ended up working with my doctors, and we came up with this protocol of how I was going to combat my pregnancy and really empower me during fourth pregnancy. And it was an amazing experience. So my fourth pregnancy really was like the light bulb that went off. And it sounds so simple, but I was really just watching the vitamins and minerals that I was putting into my body and really focusing on my gut and on my gut health. And I had this amazing experience. And without any kind of thought of ever starting a company or. I felt really called by, by God to be able to help other women with their bodies and challenges that they might. Might be facing. So after my fourth child, I was like, I'm going to do this. I'm going to help women. I know I'm not the only one that struggles with my body. There's got to be others out there that are looking for, like, natural solutions to overcome whatever kind of challenges they might be having so decided to start Pink Stork. I did it on a military base. I mean, I think people thought I was, like, selling drugs out of our military. It was crazy. But it was a fun time. And here we are, you know, a few years later, helping women through all the different challenges and phases of life that we get to go through. And it's been a wild and amazing and amazing ride, but so much fun.
- [06:13]
Unknown Host
One thing, I mean, we talked about before we started recording is how you turned this community of raving fans. So what are, like, the first steps you took to turn these customers into raving fans? Were there any specific strategies that worked early on?
- [06:30]
Amy Upchurch
Yeah, I mean, I think for us, being able to empathize and put yourselves in the shoes of the customer or potential customer is really important, especially, you know, with the subject that we're dealing with. Women are hurting. They're struggling. It's not just their physical body. It's also their mental and emotional self as well. And so being able to empathize with her, I think, is the first. First thing you really need to understand what she's facing and what she's going through. I think that lays, like, a very solid foundation for you to be able to have trust with. With women or with your customer to create raving fans.
- [07:14]
Unknown Host
I mean, I could tell from the beginning, I mean, you told the story and you got personal with your story, and I think that's probably one of the big reasons why people connect to your brand is because you're so open with your story. And I know a lot of other women are sharing their story. So how do you get your customers comfortable to being able to share stories that are so personal that also help other women in their journey?
- [07:43]
Amy Upchurch
It is a lot of it about. About storytelling, you know, about saying, hey, look, this. This is where I'm at, and this is what I'm going through. And in the beginning of Pink Stork, people weren't talking about this stuff as Muppet. It wasn't as accepted and open, and people didn't feel like they could be as vulnerable. Now, I feel like with our brand and with our community, when you read about people's stories and it's really important we ask people, hey, are you willing to kind of share your story? Because you're not the only one out here hurting. And so I think allowing people to say, hey, you're also going to be able to help us impact our mission in helping other women all around the world by sharing your stories. It empowers them to Say, yes, I'm going to do this not just for myself, but for other women as well. It's almost like a form of therapy that then other women can relate to. It's very personal, it's very emotional and we really appreciate and value that vulnerability that our raving fans have shared with us.
- [08:51]
Unknown Host
What are like ways you, you reach out to the customer to do this? Like, are there, is it interviews? How, how do you get the sit down with them? So you make sure that the story is good, but it's also something that could be worked on in your marketing materials, on your website, all that. So what does that process look like?
- [09:12]
Amy Upchurch
Well, we will have people that'll reach out to us and tell us their personal story kind of as a thank you, like, hey, this helped me. I just wanted to let you guys know I appreciate everything that you're doing. And then we will reach back out to them and say, hey, listen, we appreciate you sharing this with us. We'd love again for you to come alongside and help us with our mission and helping other women all around the world. And we'd love to share your story. So we ask them first. For the most part, most people are willing to share their story if they understand the bigger picture of it and how it's going to impact other women around the world that might be going through something similar that they're going to. So we'll ask them and then depending upon kind of where they are physically located, you know, sometimes we've done interviews with them, we'll do, you know, zoom calls with them, we'll write blogs, we'll highlight them in our email campaigns. There's so many different creative ways that we've, we've used our raving fan story to tell the story of how Pink Stork can help women.
- [10:19]
Unknown Host
I think one of the reasons and kudos to you to be able to stick like this, but having a niche that you found is a way that you've been able to create raving fans. So how do you, what are, what are some ways that people can include their customers in product development because you. And knowing what's the next product to create. What are some ways that. And you suggest people should go about that?
- [10:51]
Amy Upchurch
Well, first of all, I think you have to make sure you have trust. That's the important foundation layer with raving fans is having trust and then acknowledging that trust and building on that. You can't break trust with your raving fans and your customers. That's number one. And then what we found is that they want to be a part of your brand. They want to be behind the mission and what the company is doing. And so we do. I mean, I love interacting with them and saying, hey, what do you guys think of. It could be a website design, it could be product labels, it could be product packaging, it can be new products, asking them, like, what? What do you need help with? What. What struggles are you facing today? You know, and they've. Our. Our raving fans have helped us develop our entire product line. Right now we have over 157 products in our Pink Stork portfolio that expands all the way from PMS into menopause. So it's because of our raving fans, and it's because of the trust that we've built. And if you listen and you ask, they will tell you, I want to.
- [12:00]
Unknown Host
Go a little bit on, like, how you started selling. So what channels did you first start with when you were going? And how did you learn how to sell on that channel? Because from what I hear is you just started this because you were having the problem and you wanted to help other people who had this problem, and you had a calling to do this. So what are the first channels you did that? How did you learn those channels to start selling on?
- [12:27]
Amy Upchurch
So, E Commerce. Google was my best friend, just literally googling how to do this, how to set up an llc, how to build a website, where to find the people to help. Relied a lot on Google. I mean, I remember laying next to my bed and, like, we would get a ding and we'd have like an order and I'd be like, so excited. We'd have one order and we'd fill it out of our garage on our military base and ship it out to him. Then about a year later, I actually got a call from Target. And I remember it vividly because I was standing in the driveway and the buyer, I don't even know really how she found my number or contact. I have a suspicion, though, because she was pregnant at the time. So I'm assuming she was looking for some products, you know, kind of for herself. That's at least my theory. And she called and she said, hey, will you come up and I want to meet with you and kind of see what Pink Stork's doing, what you guys are about. And so we went up to Target headquarters and we pitched them. And then they took, I think it was three products, three products, and launched nationwide and in all their stores. So then we went from just E Commerce into retail. And then after that, about a year later, we got on Amazon as well. So a lot of just. I don't want to say it was like organic, but it was a little. It was very organic for us. I don't know if that's how it works out for other brands as well.
- [14:08]
Unknown Host
I also want to go back to the beginning too, because how did you get those first orders? How did you get your name out there? How do you get people to know what your mission is and what these products were and what are like, the different marketing strategies for using an e commerce route versus retail route?
- [14:27]
Amy Upchurch
Right. So, you know, in the beginning days, it was word of mouth. I was living on a military base. There was a lot of young women just around me too. So, you know, they would. They would see what I was doing or what was happening in our apartment. And I mean, it was. It was word of mouth was really kind of the beginning. And then we got on social and we started doing some ads in social and meta and Facebook, we have a Facebook community as well that we really nurture, and that's where a lot of our raving fans came from, as well as kind of our private Facebook community. And for us, in the beginning, it was, I think, a lot of word of mouth, to be honest, because women moms trust their friends, and so we still find it to be much more impactful when you hear from your friend that you already trust, like, hey, I use this product and it really helped me. You should check it out. And so when you're dealing with, like, a sensitive subject like infertility or, you know, morning sickness, those strong ties to people that you know and trust, telling you something that is potential solution to the issue that you're dealing with, I think is. Was very valuable to us in our. In our early years.
- [15:51]
Unknown Host
I think that's good. And that's how you knew what your raving fans or your community is. Because I know for a fact that when people go through this journey, they look to their friends who are pregnant or have kids to ask them, hey, I'm going through this. What have you done? I'm going through this. Whatever you use, I'm going through this. What process should I go through?
- [16:17]
Amy Upchurch
Right.
- [16:17]
Unknown Host
You could turn to the Internet, but the Internet has so much different opinions on there. Some people, some people have morning sickness, some people don't have morning sickness. Some people have this, some people have that. So you. You really have to go to people you know and trust. And then also that. I'll talk about a little bit about that Facebook community. I think that's a smart way that you can cultivate people. And I think not many people are utilizing Facebook communities like this. So how have you nurtured that Facebook community?
- [16:47]
Amy Upchurch
You know, the Facebook community is really interesting because in a way it's not like you said, it's not used as much today. But that community, we don't really as a brand, we kind of are there to help guide conversations and ask for feedback and have them be part of our brand. But a lot of it is just other women connecting with other women, going through something similar and dealing with the issue and kind of looking for that solution. And we're as a brand obviously offer solutions to what they're dealing with. But I think it's really nice because they're able to connect with people that maybe they never would have connected with. And it helps normalize some of the issues that women face through these different life stages.
- [17:39]
Daniel Murray
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- [18:19]
Unknown Host
What'S one thing that you did at the beginning that you would have changed or something that you would have done differently for your brand?
- [18:28]
Amy Upchurch
So we started off with nine products, which was kind of a lot for a new brand, especially, you know, not really knowing. I think if I could go back and redo it again, I would start maybe with just like two or three. Nine products is a lot. When you're learning how to market each product, each product is a little different. It was just there was a lot going on in my personal life. I had four young kids kids. I had this brand that I was starting. I had nine products to try to figure out. So simplifying that process in the beginning with a smaller portfolio I feel like would have made things a little bit easier.
- [19:08]
Unknown Host
How has your culture played a part in your marketing and your product development? And what a type of culture have you set to that portrays your brand in the world?
- [19:21]
Amy Upchurch
A lot of women are in our culture, we have a lot of moms and, you know, I'm proud that we are women owned. And so I feel like it's, it's just, it's been Very organic in the sense of, you know, I talk about being able to empathize with. We do have men that work with us too, and we love our men. But I think being able to empathize and really understand what someone is going through, it. It definitely helps if you are a female and have done that. Another thing that's really interesting is that we've hired a lot of our raving fans. So a lot of people that have used the brand, the brand has impacted their life, then say, hey, I want to work for you guys. I want to be part of this mission and what you are doing, do you have a spot for me? And so we have a lot of people within our organization that started off as customers and became raving fans and now our employ in, you know, within Pink Stork. And so you see that reflected in our culture and in the passion that people bring to the office every day.
- [20:29]
Unknown Host
Another question I have for you is what is the difference between storytelling in store versus social versus on a website? What have you seen the main differences between those channels?
- [20:42]
Amy Upchurch
So you can definitely do a lot more on social. Just there's so much more you can do. When you have storytelling on retail. You just have your physical bottle. Like, that's pretty much the space you're given, is the real estate shelf space. And so you have your bottle. And if you look on our bottle, you'll see, you know, the story of Pink Stork. You'll see what our mission's about. So we use our labels to storytell. We're helping women that are going through challenges. And so I wanted something that was bright and uplifting, and when you saw it, they would smile. And so really using vibrant colors to evoke emotion is also a way to storytell on the website too, to be able to tell the story and the mission of the company and how we're doing things. So, you know, you get people into email flows and you can storytell as well through people that are, you know, we do like customer highlights and things like that. Raving fans highlights. So there's lots of ways, I think, to get creative on each platform, but you have to be very intentional about what you're doing.
- [21:50]
Unknown Host
What is one piece of advice you would give someone trying to leverage Amazon as a sales channel?
- [21:57]
Amy Upchurch
That's a great question. So Amazon is really product focused. And to be honest, Amazon is the hardest spot for us to tell our story because people go on that platform searching for our a product specific, you know, so you'd be looking up toilet paper or I Don't know toothpaste or whatever it is. You're not really thinking about a storytelling, especially storytelling from a brand. So I would say you have to catch their attention. And really focusing on that first image in the search page is really important because you need. That's where you can kind of. If you don't get them to click into your, to your brand, to your product, they're never going to know who you are. So focusing to make sure that that first image really stands out on the search page would be my, my best advice.
- [22:48]
Unknown Host
What is, what are the most efficient channels that you, you recommend people using? If you would do this at the beginning again, would you, would you try start on Amazon first? Would you start dtc? Would you start trying to go to retail? Where. Where would you pick as the first channel?
- [23:07]
Amy Upchurch
I mean, I guess I would say D2C because you need a home of a brand. If you just go on retail. Retail. Unless you have like a lot of money, retail is really expensive. Amazon is different than what it was when we first started. So there's a lot of hurdles on Amazon depending on what your category is. But it's hard to build a brand on Amazon. So I think if you're going to start a company and build a brand, you really need to focus on the home of the brand first. And so the D2C would be my gut start on the home of your brand and then you can venture out.
- [23:49]
Unknown Host
And what is a marketing hill you would die on?
- [23:54]
Amy Upchurch
A marketing hill I would die on.
- [23:57]
Unknown Host
Yeah.
- [23:58]
Amy Upchurch
I mean, I don't know if this is the right answer, but the thing that comes to mind is like authenticity, like the brand has to be authentic. I. Oh my gosh. Customers raving fans. They're going to see through it left and right if the brand is not authentic. So authenticity.
- [24:16]
Unknown Host
No, I love it. I think that it proves with you being vulnerable with your story, letting other people be vulnerable with their stories, telling their stories and actually people willing to be vulnerable. And I think that's like one of the hardest things to get. And it proves that you build trust because nobody's going to share a vulnerable story to someone that they don't trust and nobody's going to help a community if they don't feel like there is trust built from a brand. So I think I commend you for telling your story so authentically, so honestly. And lastly, where can people find you and what you're doing?
- [24:51]
Amy Upchurch
So they can find us our website, pingstor.com check us out on social too Pink Stork if you want any behind the scenes come follow me. Amy Suzanne and you can buy our products at like Walmart, Amazon, Target, kind of some local grocery stores and our website.
- [25:11]
Unknown Host
Well thank you so much for coming here, sharing your story, sharing the behind the scenes and I really appreciate it.
- [25:18]
Amy Upchurch
Of course. Thanks so much for having us. We love everything you guys do. You guys inspire us all the time to get creative in our marketing and push limits. So thanks for everything.
- [25:28]
Unknown Host
Well thank you so much.
- [25:32]
Daniel Murray
Thanks so much for listening. Keep tuning in to hear more great insights from the coolest marketers from around the world. If you haven't already, make sure to subscribe and follow the Marketing Millennials podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you like what you hear, I would greatly appreciate you giving us a five star rating. It helps bring more marketers into our community.