In fact, that was around the time that they had finally donated their one millionth pair of socks. However, the cohort data for the customers who received that refund had almost two times higher lifetime value than the cohort who had a normal experience in Q4 that year. The lesson here is that crises provide an opportunity to double down on consumer relationships. Bombas works withover 1200 partnersin every state through their donation programs. . Paul Talbot:Bombas is now more than six years old. We also took a test-and-learn approach to new channels, especially in the earlier days where we were a very lean team. They have a top-notch customer support team to ensure all customer queries are resolved immediately.They have an active presence on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. He is the Chief Brand Strategist at Brand Driven Digital, an educator at the University of Iowa, and host of the On Brand podcast. BRIAN KENNY: Yeah. When Randy Goldberg and David Heath heardthat socks were the number one requested item in homeless shelters, they had an idea: What if they could start a company that brought awareness to this issue and elevated socks from a fashion commodity to a fashion statement with a mission? And a number of the students in the class that I had learned about this aspect of their business, because they read the case though, they had also already owned Bombas socks. BRIAN KENNY: And so, going back to gen Z for a minute, that to me just sounds so authentic. If that doesn't align with you, then we're going to have to walk away.. ELIZABETH KEENAN: But my cold call was, how much would you pay for a pair of socks? Bombas was started in 2013 with a dual mission: to deliver quality socks and donate much-needed footwear to people living in shelters. You and your peers hold the keys to 29 billion in purchase power and 333 billion in influence. And once they raised that money, they started to create their first pairs of socks and sell them. By focusing on a mission that affects their customers and their communities, the company has taken a mundane and utilitarian item and given it the ability to effect social change. This helps drive the mission home for everyone involved, and solidifies Bombas as a socially conscious brand. And in fact, the name Bombas is Latin for bees, and its beehives and bees work together in concert. It actually starts with homelessness. That kind of employee advocacy can carry more legitimacy than any traditional marketing from Bombas. Today, it boasts 35,000 likes on Facebook, over 4,000 and 8,400 followers on Twitter, and Instagram respectively, and a popular Pinterestpresence. The enthusiasm bolstered Bombas sales as well, as much as 40 percent during some weeks during the pandemic. Theyre passionate about providing not only the best experience for their customers, and the homeless community they support, but also supporting larger network of social causes. Understanding that this is a grab and go type of product, they wanted to get pictures of these socks, the colors, and show the variety of socks that they had to sell and get those images out front. ELIZABETH KEENAN: So, one of the founders, David Heath had actually come across an infographic that indicated the number one requested item from homeless shelters is socks. And at each major milestone, theyve continued to make these films. And you could see this controlled growth, both in their advertising and marketing, as well as in terms of product line expansions and extensions. Learn more about the email marketing strategy of Bombas. And then at that point they started to grow more and more. Do you think its because of the great material, high-quality cotton or merino wool? Huyett:We are always thinking about how we can incorporate mission more into our marketing without diluting the message of the quality of our product. Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. You have high expectations of the role that business should play in the world, but by a margin of five to one, you just dont trust them to do it. And to do that, they had to make a product that people would keep coming back to. BRIAN KENNY: Lets talk a little bit more about their socks, which weve already acknowledged are not the least expensive socks you can buy. Specifically, they started with Facebook ads where they were featuring primarily pictures of their socks. ELIZABETH KEENAN: Were most of them here? The State of SMS Marketing in 2023 report is live! ELIZABETH KEENAN: Once they connected with Hannahs Socks, word of mouth spread relatively quickly, and the number of giving partners they had grew to a point where they had a waiting list. And what we did is we took a look at firms that are both trying to do well and do good at the same time. And I think the components that really matter will be the product and whether or not you can actually sell a high quality product at a price that allows the margin for you to make the donation and also to manage and control the growth of the donation side of your business. ELIZABETH KEENAN: Bombas was founded in 2013 with a dedication to two goals. And obviously that impacts everybody across the board, the homeless people and the people at Bombas and every place else. As Bombas grows, so does its impact and aspirations. And in some of those cases, these are organizations that from the ground up started based on purpose. After releasing a performance line and putting out related media, consumers value quality over. Heath began noting features in the performance models like a seamless tower arch support, a cushioned foot bed, ventilation over the toes, stay put cuffs and moisture and temperature regulating fabrics. He began wearing these specialized products and noticed that the features translated into a more comfortable pair of socks to even wear casually., I took these features and benefits and leveraged a design that I thought was more approachable, Heath shares. From the start, Bombas' co-founders knew an inspiring mission wouldn't be enough to drive sales. Their impact channels became a platform for other companies trying to make a difference. So yeah so, the buy one, give one model which Bombas refers to as one purchased, one donated is a model in which companies will sell products, and for every product they sell, they donate one of those items to somebody in need or an organization in need. We achieve happiness by fulfilling often unconscious emotional desires like standing out from the crowd, a desire to be who you want to be, to protect the environment, and so on. From the start, Bombas' co-founders knew an inspiring mission wouldn't be enough to drive sales. And they reached out and they called Hannahs Socks and asked, Do you want some socks? And they said, Wait a minute, youre just offering us socks for free? And they said, Yes. And so, that was one of their first giving partners, but it wasnt just a giving partner, it became a collaborator and they ended up sharing knowledge, important knowledge about the space of homelessness and the need for items like socks and what aspects and features of those socks would be important. And that would be, what do you want our listeners to take away from this case? They were thinking about canned goods, paper towels, toilet paper, sanitary items, etc. Our thought is, Let's take a slightly lower margin if that translates into more sales, the cofounder explains. Key lessons from David Heath for entrepreneurs on how to gain competitive advantage: Heaths journey and Bombas success offers valuable lessons for entrepreneurs looking to scale impact and profits. This objective tends to come alive more easily in marketing strategy than in actual execution. Socks are a small item but can have a big impact on someone's life.. "For the last seven years, we'd been building a network of over 3,500 'giving partners' here in the United States that specifically work with the homeless and those at risk," says Heath. How did they get people to even take that leap? To take advantage of the low prices, Bombas did some bargain brand-building on Facebook, Instagram, and other digital channels, shifting its messaging to talk about its charitable work--the. And they were the leaders in this space, and in fact, some of the inspiration for the Bombas team to start their business. According to Keown, when an organization's brand culture is healthy and thriving, the brand wins itself a competitive advantage: employees become true believers and super advocates for the brand's purpose, with the potential to engage consumers and other external audiences in truly authentic ways. This superior after-sale customer service is one way that Bombas creates customer value I saw one guy take his shoes off and on one foot he had wrapped a bandana around his foot and on the other, he'd literally wrapped his foot into a plastic bag to stop the boot from rubbing against it.. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen many a company scrambling to sustain customer engagement and sales. However, after some of that early growth, they did start to engage in short-term partnerships with some retailers and eventually they created more long-term relationships with a few of those retailers though the bulk of the sales still are through their E-commerce site. [CDATA[ And were going to talk about that a little bit because they arent the cheapest. It could be related to the brand and things of that sort, but in this case they were selling something more and they were selling a social benefit. One-for-one brands workonly if customers buy into the cause. They recognized that their cause could have a real impact on issue of homelessness by creating a product thatmet one of the most basic and important needs of that community. Initially the company had to figure out how to price its product. That would include things like moisture wicking properties, padded heels, seamless toe, arch support, and so on. "We were really set up to weirdly take advantage of everything that we've done to react to the pandemic," says Heath. At that point, there were 14,000 people that had complained to customer service. When the team can talk honestly about the values their company promotes, it builds credibility and trust in the brand. The reason I love doing that is the local nature of our mission, which is really powerful. It is the integration of impact, quality products, customer service and meaningful storytelling that allows brands to gain a competitive advantage. I guess in this case, its a good thing. David finally felt comfortable seeking outside funding and raised $1 million in seed financing from private investors. The Bombas Marketing Team is responsible for bringing in new customers and growing their relationship to the company and its products. It helps them feel motivated and personally connected to the mission, Heath says. You would think that would somehow limit their ability to grow a market. Their joint mission of making a difference in consumers' lives leads to a rewarding, team . Associate your business with a strong desire that the majority of your audience supports and help them fulfill it. During this time of heightened nationwide anxiety, homeless shelters across the country were also under increased strain, with increased health, safety, and social distancing demands. Our guide covers the 4 P's of marketing and gives a breakdown of each step involved. The pandemic only enhanced the need. We started getting people posting online, saying, Bombas is stealing our money. When they first started to explore how to even donate, they did learn that some of the features of socks that would be helpful would be reinforced heel, the moisture wicking properties, antimicrobial features, and things of that sort to address the very specific needs that this population has. Some of that money went to purchasing the first product run, some of it went to building a website. BRIAN KENNY: I have to ask, are you a customer of Bombas? Simple, but when you've got different channel managers in their own lane, it's important to have a good feel for how all the channels are working together. BRIAN KENNY: And certainly those are things that people cant donate and places that accept donations, cant take those as secondhand items. BRIAN KENNY: Do you think that this idea, this model of buy one, give one is going to become more prominent, particularly in a world where society is expecting a lot more of business? Expert on Youth Culture Trends & Sustainability, While other brands were trying to figure out how. The mission, they figured, wont matter if the product is crap. Drill down into the main traffic drivers in each channel below. The messages we convey will continue to be based around those two pillars, though we'll evolve each one over time. That said, purpose alone won't make your business successful. And this eventually became a launching point for discussion, when we were thinking about how do we actually push up consumers willingness to pay for socks. Thank you for having me. Key 1: Bombas' story is their selling-point The story of Bombas is about more than just socks. For every pair of socks bought from this firm, another pair is given to a person in need. A great example of a time when purpose was more significant than product was when COVID-19 first hit. Four years ago, David Heath and Randy Goldberg learned what the most frequently requested item was at homeless shelters: socks. ELIZABETH KEENAN: So, Im not sure that the buy one, give one model will necessarily become the norm in the space of trying to do well and do good. So initially all of their ads pretty much were product focused, given that they had needed people to become aware of the fact that they had socks and thats what they were selling. BRIAN KENNY: Weve had a lot of cases on the show in the past about companies that have adopted a purpose. It never ceases to amaze me the big difference we can make, with just a pair of socks.. Bombas Socks are made of Peruvian pima cotton, which helps feet stay warm in winter and cool in summer, and include exclusive features such as a blister tab, a y-stitched heel, honeycomb support system for the arch of the foot, and stay up technology. Since socks are a wear-through item, theres a lack of them at donation centers. Socks are a valuable offering for homeless people, yet, are they really changing lives? In 2018, Bombas underestimated their growth in revenue by around 50%. The young founder graduated from Babson Colleges business school and his father was an entrepreneur. According to the Harvard business review, When a company helps its customers to fulfill deep, often unconscious desires, the customers go from being fully satisfied to emotionally connected brand ambassadors. And according to research by McKinsey, you care deeply about the truth. So thats a win-win. BRIAN KENNY: Yeah, its amazing. Is ita concept that can continue to see success if done correctly or is it tired and overdone? While Brand Culture can be achieved by any number of organizations, at any stage of their history, Bombas' purpose-driven model and mission shows the power of Brand Culture in even the most challenging times.". Goldberg and Heath knew that socks were the most requested item by homeless shelters before starting their company. 1. They're not responding to us. Theres no such thing as an overnight success. Get our best content on ecommerce marketing in your inbox 2 times a week A company doing exemplary work marrying purpose and product is Bombas. I know Ive talked to several people. Most people don't know that we've got over 3,000 giving partners across all 50 states, but it resonates when they learn there's a giving partner near them. There are overhalf a million homeless peoplein the United States, with most states reporting that their shelters are at capacity for the majority of the year. They use these posts to engage with customers who share in their dedication to a social cause, as well as reinforce the feeling of charity that is tied to making a purchase through their service. Bombas makes socks. ELIZABETH KEENAN: Absolutely. And that higher price allows us to do that. Their one-for-one model is only as successful as it has been for Bombas because their customers continue to spread the message to their networks. Keown further emphasizes that the success of Bombas' brand purpose and culture are founded not merely by the opinion of decision-makers in a boardroom, but rather that the brand's culture-wide approach of 'Hey, this is what we all believe as a collective community' is what really connects Bombas' internal True Believers with the fans who buy its socks. Are they going to tell their friends about it without us having to raise money for marketing? Heath recalls. The emails were well-received (boasting an enormous open rate of 60 to 80 percent), and strengthened a connection between the brand and its followers. Getting this buy-in from team members is important for a mission-based company like Bombas because they act as evangelists for the brand. And that might explain it. Kate Huyett:One of the biggest ways that we've evolved is that we've expanded from just a few marketing channels - initially mostly Facebook and podcasts - to a broad range of channels. BRIAN KENNY: So, what was their go to market strategy with a $12.50 pair of socks? Liz, thanks for joining me today. Again, Brand Culture goes beyond public perception. Socks are the number one most requested clothing item at homeless shelters, David Heath, cofounder and CEO of Bombas, tells We First. Another fun way we're able to incorporate our giving efforts into marketing is with the help of audio partners, such as a podcast host who discusses the mission in a way that's personal to them. You have the commercial side, and then you have the giving side. BRIAN KENNY: Yeah. And that means that you, my friend have leverage.

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