Jordyn Evans grew up understanding the world of small business. Her dad and grandfather were both plumbers, and she says she always knew she wanted to have her own business one day.
The business she went on to start on her own, Mingle Seasoning, now has 15 products across more than 800 stores around Australia, and six employees, four of which are full-time, having been officially launched in 2016.
With the rise in popularity of health-focused brands, many startups have been able to cut through the incumbents with messaging that focuses tightly on selling a healthier lifestyle.
That was part of the reason Evans started her own brand. She got heavily into meal prepping, and would make use of spice mixes to speed up the process. Yet when she started reading the packets of products she was using, she was surprised at how many products made heavy use of fillers and sugars.
After spending time mixing spices to create her own combinations, she thought she had identified a gap in the market. She just had to package and sell them.
“What if I could challenge these multinational companies and provide a better, healthier option that still tasted great, but also created a brand that inspired people to cook,” says Evans, explaining her rationale for quitting her job, and selling her car to start the business.
Evans shared with SmartCompany Plus how she grew the Mingle Seasoning brand online to one projecting 200% year-on-year growth in revenue this financial year, and her best practice tips on identifying — and working with — the right influencers to get results.
Having a clearly defined brand that stands out on shelves and connects to a customer can greatly increase how well your product sells.
For Evans, she had recognised that the spice sector lacked innovation — most products had universal, heritage branding and didn’t speak to her as a millennial consumer.
To create a recognisable brand for the online store and social media, Evans first personified Mingle Seasoning’s products, giving them names to sell them as a story of health, simplicity, and fun.
That included bright colours, fun stories, and branding her Instagram as health-focused and lifestyle based with inspirational imagery, lots of women working out, and great looking foods.
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“It works for an online strategy because it builds a connection and relationship with the customer,” says Evans.
But the same strategies don’t necessarily work online compared to on shelves, and Evans has updated the branding since to more directly speak to time poor shoppers. Now, the products are named after what they would go with.
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As the company has grown, Evans has learnt how to tailor her approach with influencers to help get her brand in front of more potential customers.
As a rule, Mingle Seasoning doesn’t pay influencers, and she says that it’s not always the biggest follower counts that get the best results.
Take a lot longer to understand them and their audience to connect with them authentically. It’s worth the extra time spent researching to get a result
If you’re supplying products, be generous. In the case of Mingle, Evans sends $50 worth of retail stock, or two to three months
As a small business, you can be more human than a conglomerate. Things like handwritten notes with packages show that it’s personalised, and increases your chances of long-standing relationships with influencers
A person with an active, engaged following may get better results than a person with a lot of followers. Micro-influencers with a following that takes them seriously may be more likely to purchase your product
Discount codes can help you properly evaluate where your customers are coming from
Evans had a helpful leg up to take her business from a popular online brand to pitching to Coles stores, completing an incubator program with Chobani that taught her to scale up her manufacturing.
Before she cracked Woolworths or Coles, Evans says she had her products sold in 200 health food stores. That involved a lot of practice pitching to sharpen her skills.
Little things like funny subject lines with puns relating to how customers shake the seasoning helped her to be seen in crowded inboxes, according to Evans.
“Things like, Dear Chanet, let’s shake things up in the spice aisle and spice things up,” says Evans.
Proven success selling online and in other retail stores helped, but it’s not always enough.
What buyers in the major chains really want is new customers that can bring incremental growth in their categories, says Evans.
It’s no use if the same customers are just changing what they purchase, because that doesn’t benefit the retailer.
“Category buyers can think: what’s really the point of the logistics and admin of just bringing in this brand if my overall portfolio is going to remain the same in terms of value,” explains Evans.
“We had that data which validated that [Mingle Seasoning] could bring customers to the store.”
Paul Brescia is a freelance journalist and regular contributor to SmartCompany Plus. You can follow him on twitter: @pwbrescia
