Season 2 Episode 4: Chat about sales and gift cards, high LTV and Disney, Influencers and business, and Instagram and TikTok

S2 E4 PODCAST

On this episode of Retention Chronicles, Brian and Mariah get each other's opinions on;

  • if a sales representative offering a gift card is an effective outbound strategy

  • being a high LTV customer by subscribing to various brands (or not)

  • Disney adults and the business strategy behind theme parks

  • influencers turning their audience into buyers

  • the Attentive x Loop integration

  • and the competition between TikTok and Instagram.

Be sure to subscribe to our pod to stay up-to-date and checkout Malomo, the leading order tracking platform for Shopify brands.

Subscribe to Retention Chronicles on Apple Podcasts

TRANSCRIPT

This transcript was completed by an automated system, please forgive any grammatical errors.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

brand, instagram, influencer, people, disney, tik tok, videos, day, gift card, podcast, dtc, subscription, thought, Aritzia, interesting, 10s, listeners, listening

SPEAKERS

Mariah Parsons, Brian Lastovich

Mariah Parsons 00:04

Hey there, I'm Mariah. And I'm Bryan and this is retention Chronicles. Ecommerce brands are shifting their strategy to retention in customer experience. And so we decided to reach out to top DTC brands and dive deeper into tactics and challenges.

Brian Lastovich 00:20

But here's the thing. We love going on tangents. I teach Brian all about the latest trends, and I teach Mariah that it's a waste of time, and we discuss

Mariah Parsons 00:29

all things in the Shopify ecosystem. So go ahead and start your workout or go on that walk and tune in as we chat.

Brian Lastovich 00:37

Retention Chronicles is sponsored by Malomo Shipman, an order tracking platform, improving the post purchase experience, be sure to subscribe and check out all of our episodes at Go. malomo.com

Mariah Parsons 00:54

Hi, Brian,

Brian Lastovich 00:55

hello. I'm Mariah. How are you? I'm good. Busy. Good thing. You're so

Mariah Parsons 01:05

busy as well. For our listeners, we just had an internal hackathon. That was a lot of fun took a lot of our time. So it's fine to work with like a bunch of other people from different teams this week. And to get like a solution up and running within like 40 or on like, a prototype up and

Brian Lastovich 01:23

find a good solution. Well above expectations,

Mariah Parsons 01:27

you better have voted for mine. Conflict of Interest,

Brian Lastovich 01:32

I did it. It was up there. It was up there.

Mariah Parsons 01:37

It was a lot to do. Yeah.

Brian Lastovich 01:40

Your presentation was good. And then before that we talked to 10 zoete. Steve from 10 zoete. I thought that went really well.

Mariah Parsons 01:50

I thought so too. Yeah, I had a lot of fun with it. I can't wait to try to entity.

Brian Lastovich 01:55

For the listeners out there where we have learned we now purchased 10s O T right actually mine supposed to come to me the next day or two and I did receive my shipping notifications from Denso T SMS and email actually have a few recommendations for them. So I think want to send them to see

Mariah Parsons 02:17

just that'll fun. Yeah, yeah, we ordered them ordered our tensity after talking to Steve so we're gonna enjoy it. Mine supposed to come I think this week, though. Yeah, I only ordered it a day after you. But I also thought my vacation.

Brian Lastovich 02:35

I did standard shipping, too. Yeah. Okay, so, last time, we were all over the place this time, we'd be a little more structured, right, episode two, we learned a little bit more. So we have a few subjects that are pretty just out there. And a few subjects that are more based on post purchase ecommerce, or specifically about Malomo. Yeah, again, I'm gonna go to you. What do you want to start first?

Mariah Parsons 03:03

Okay, um, I think it'd be fun. I know, we kind of chatted about it already in our meeting. But recapping, like how you felt with your introduction to podcasts, and like listening back to yourself. The learning, I think it's always so fascinating to hear what people have to say. very relatable. Mind recapping all of that.

Brian Lastovich 03:33

Course. I am already trying to learn a little bit more in this podcast what to do, you probably will see a few things. But it was hard for me to listen. Oh my gosh. I picked out i so i think I'm really hard on myself. So just listening and saying, Oh, I shouldn't have said that. Or there's that awkward pause there. Why did I mention that subject that makes no sense. The way I use my hands is crazy. I now know on trying to do a little bit of YouTubing. And there's like a box. I don't know if you knew this or not, but they recommend thinking about it like box. So my hands and go here. If they go outside the box, that's wild, you know, all wild, unless you're trying to be funny, which I'm not trying to be funny. Or if you're exaggerating, so you'll realize or please call me out if you see my hands outside the box.

Mariah Parsons 04:34

Okay. I was gonna say probably once you get into a topic, like that would go out the window, but I haven't really heard that notion. So I think it's really funny that you like watched YouTube videos on it. And that you looked at that one YouTube video. Okay, sorry, sorry, it's not plural. One video. It might be more.

Brian Lastovich 04:55

I didn't want to take up all my time looking or watching these videos. So the hands and the speech to

Mariah Parsons 05:04

Okay. Yeah, I think, yeah, the speech is really hard to like not to be super hard on yourself with. I mean, when I first started, I know I told you this but for listeners, when I first started listening back for myself, I was like, oh my god, what am I saying? But it gets easier. And I think you did great. So thank you. And now we're this is our third episode. Yes, sir. When

Brian Lastovich 05:31

do you become pro? After you finish one season, like probably

Mariah Parsons 05:36

like, like, 16?

Brian Lastovich 05:39

Okay. Yeah. But at the end of the day, it felt rewarding. Because Steve said, and we didn't make him say this. Yeah, this was a great podcast, like it was a genuine conversation. That made it all worthwhile. So that's what we want.

Mariah Parsons 05:59

Yeah, I agree. That's the best kind of feedback you can get from, I guess.

Brian Lastovich 06:04

Who's our next guest?

Mariah Parsons 06:05

Our next so we'll be chatting with next all epoch.

Brian Lastovich 06:09

Okay. Yeah, totally good. Yeah, I'm really, we're purchasing lollipop before. So we'll be drinking. While talking to lollipop. That's yeah. That's the rule. Yeah,

Mariah Parsons 06:21

that is, we were set up, we will set ourselves up for success with that and be on top of that. Cool. Awesome. But I can actually pose like a actual question. Now. That was more just something I think it's fun to get recorded. Okay, I'm want to get your opinion on this. So a sales rep who sent a gift card, like in like a LinkedIn message or an email or something? Do you think it's effective? Do you think it works? What do you think? Like the responses, either for yourself or generally? Okay.

Brian Lastovich 07:02

Is it Richard, I forgot his first name. Alright, seal Dini, the book is like seven rules, right. And one of those rules is called reciprocity. And it's the sole marketing principle that's still in existence today. And so, since I always thinking about that, I do not whatsoever, take that gift card, or take that gift, because I know that I just will feel this rush into give them back something. So that's, that's the reason I don't take those gift cards. Do I think it's effective, though? Yes. Because of that principle. And for the people that aren't thinking about that principle on a day to day basis and saying, Oh, I'm just going to take this gift card. What's what's so hurtful for that, but it is effective? 100% effective.

Mariah Parsons 08:02

Okay, like effective in getting someone to like, chat with you, like hop on call? Yeah, just defining the effective

Brian Lastovich 08:12

it's, it's effective and getting someone's attention. Right, like all as marketers, all we're trying to do is just get, get those 1520 seconds of someone's attention. If we've got a great pitch, and get them interested. Perfect. It's one way to get that 20 seconds. But it's, it's the same though. I mean, my LinkedIn inbox, I'm curious, isn't yours like this? Or no? Is it mine is gift card after gift card after gift card? And then and then it's donations. Now? I don't know. Have you seen that too, will give a donation of $50 to charity the choice if you take this call with us.

Mariah Parsons 08:58

I have seen donate or so I've only gotten one of it being like gift card or donation so it's kind of one in the same but I do agree it's effective in capturing your attention. And maybe it's just the worry in my mind, but I also do you think it ever comes off as like? Like somewhat like a not a not a catfish but like a scam like that someone's like hacking you. Oh, like is that like because that I think that that's what came to my mind when I initially got them but maybe just because it was like that was the first one I ever gotten

Brian Lastovich 09:40

is a scam or like the actual process of deeming a gift card.

Mariah Parsons 09:45

Like the email is a scam to then like get you to click on something to then be hacked. Like because you know how like if you like

Brian Lastovich 09:56

all these SMS messages all the time. Yeah, or like

Mariah Parsons 09:59

it's gram two people will DM you and be like, click on this thing and Instagram. Okay, well, maybe this is context for why I'm thinking like, like, people's Instagrams will get hacked. And then so it's like, all these weird stories and posts get put up, and then people text the person or like, hey, is this you like, it looks like you're not like some of them are really weird. So it's like, it looks like that's not you. And then a person, like have to delete their Instagram go back and be like, I got hacked, because I clicked on this thing, like, don't do it. So that's what my initial response was to getting one in LinkedIn. And I was like, I was like, looking at the brand, the person, like the software that they use to automate like gift cards and stuff. Because I was like, I don't know if this is like an actual person reaching out or if it's a bot or a hacker or something.

Brian Lastovich 10:55

Yeah. So at the end of the day, can you get someone's attention? Yes. And if you're looking to get someone's attention, it's a good way. Because it's incredibly hard today and with there's so many brands out there, and every consumer only has 24 hours in their day. And it's usually made up of their personal things to attend to. And so if you're trying to get those 20 seconds is definitely a reasonable way to do it. But there's so many trade offs it I think it it downplays your brand. Sales Team, usually, like if it's a marketing team that's doing it and then passing off that lead to the sales team. Usually, the sales team's like, I want real leads that are actually interested in the product. And that's the problem. They're interested in the gift card. And then you have to educate them on the product. And a lot of sales team is just interested to sell them not to take three, four or five phone calls and educate them. So that's what I've seen. Okay, here's my question for you. This is a retention crowd. Let's go back to our conversation with Denzel T. Right. And he kept on saying it gets high LTV. He's really excited about that, which you should be really excited about. Now, as a consumer. Are there brands out there? Right now that you're spending money on where they're the brand is saying Mariah is a high LTV customer?

Mariah Parsons 12:21

Um, no. Short answer. Okay. I don't think so. Though.

Brian Lastovich 12:27

Any subscriptions? anything right now?

Mariah Parsons 12:30

Spotify, I think is the only one. Yeah.

Brian Lastovich 12:35

How long have you been a Spotify customer for?

Mariah Parsons 12:37

Oh, so long? Like, it's not like a obviously. Like, it's not a like consumer goods brand. And so it's a little bit different. But I think since definitely since college, I think since high school, as well.

Brian Lastovich 12:54

So is it because we're gonna want the ads. That's the that's the reason. Yeah.

Mariah Parsons 12:59

Because I listened to so much music that and like for workouts to like, it could just destroy the, like, workout for me. So it's like you're in a test piece. So for listeners, I was a college rower. So test pieces are very like high energy, high stress. And so if you have and the most standard tasks for a rower is their 2k. So that give or take is around, you know, like 730 to 830 minutes it takes to row a 2k. And so if you have, like, even just one, like 32nd or a minute add, that's an eighth of your whole test process. And like it really, really impacts how you're doing. So like, I had like a playlist that was my 2k plus. And it was like every song I knew which was coming on, because like, that was a cue for me to be doing this in like, oh, so I think that's probably why I converted the being a paid cuts being a paying customer having a subscription, because I didn't want and like that's only the eight minutes, we had 10 K's that are 40 minutes long. So it's like you'd have to, because every I think it's like 30 seconds or one minute ads for every 30 minutes that you're listening. And so they had a good system. And also you couldn't choose. I think it was like you couldn't queue up songs or like something weird and that you couldn't have a playlist or a queue or something if you didn't have the paid version. And so I was like I'm the playlist person when I'm working out.

Brian Lastovich 14:38

Okay, so you do want to save time. Save time, be more productive in your day. What? Why not move to all the other alternatives?

Mariah Parsons 14:49

I think it's because, one, I feel like now I'm in the life stage where I'm like, Oh, I would actually do that and be consistent. Because a lot of at least like for food brain Since I, in college, I was going to the dining hall up until senior year. And then now working in the space, I'm exposed to a lot more brands that I have either tried or want to try. So I think I'm just like, honestly, early in the consuming life stage of like, higher end products that have things like subscription, you know, before it was like, like a grocery store and just like get stuff that look good. Like, I wasn't really doing much shopping online for fuse until the last year moving to Indianapolis. And then in terms of products, I really, in terms of stuff I use day to day, I don't have a ton. Like, my mind goes to makeup, I'm not wearing makeup every day. And so it's like on the weekends. So it usually lasts me a pretty long time. And I'm not good enough at it to like actually know what I would like good brands that I should get to like now I'm just trying that stuff out with like, from brands like Ilya like, they're, they I just bought some of their products like trying them out. But they're not even a subscription service. So it's I think it's

Brian Lastovich 16:08

for newer to get to a subscription service there. You need to feel really educated and you need to feel really good about the brand before going into production.

Mariah Parsons 16:20

Yeah, so like, I'm now in the, and I think it's direct correlation, because of our industry of like, I'm like, Oh my gosh, these are great. I'm being exposed to a lot of brands that I'm like, Oh, I could see myself subscribing to them. I just haven't yet. So yeah, that's unlike like other subscription stuff like, like beauty products and whatnot. And like I don't I don't have a ton that have subscription options. are the ones that are

Brian Lastovich 16:49

Yeah, yeah. So here's, I could think of two. And this is just for you. Yeah, this is for me. That'd be awkward. To for you.

Mariah Parsons 17:05

To for me any recommendation.

Brian Lastovich 17:07

Yeah. Well, here's your here's some interesting recommendations. One is, I think a year ago was when I started subscribing to Wall Street Journal.

Mariah Parsons 17:16

I was gonna say if you say like New York time like Yeah,

Brian Lastovich 17:19

yeah. And second is, have you heard of the Kabbalah oven? Hmm. So it's a you're paying for the oven. And it's one of those Oh, my gosh, I forgot the word. Like just a countertop? Like, oh, a toaster oven. Yeah. So sir, oh, my gosh, it's a toaster oven, thank you. And you pay for a subscription to like a meal and you get 1234. You can decide on how many meals per week they come in the mail and you put it into the toaster oven. And like you scan the barcode, and it automatically knows the oven or I'm sorry, the temperature at the time. And then it comes out. The other thing you do with toaster oven is it has the bar cat or the bar. barcode and you can scan it. And until it recognizes what product it is it already knows, like how long in the temperature to to cook it up. So I've been I've been off and on that. But I think those are the two things that I spent probably the most like they would see me as a high LTV customer. And I kept on thinking that this kind of goes back to what you were saying to it's about consistency, right? Yeah, like if I know exactly what I'm going to be getting every single month. I'll pay for that, especially if the quality is high. Wall Street Journal hasn't changed in hundreds of years. It's crazy. But like for me too. I wanted to move to a paper so I wasn't spending all my time by breaking news that into my phone. So I get my get my news in the morning, read it done for the day, trying to save time, but I know exactly what I'm gonna get every single morning. And then for the Devala the quality of the food is super high, like super high. So I know what I'm going to get every single sure I could change my order up. But the quality on the old quality I'll get so sick well like the 10s O T thing to like, if I'll be a subscriber depends on T the quality is high and it stays high. For me, that's what matters most. That's why I'll say a customer. But I don't know what I'm getting every single month or if the quality changes product changes a little bit. Or even if I'm hesitant, like from a cross sell or upsell for something new. That's where it gets tricky.

Mariah Parsons 19:35

Yeah, like I could see myself being a subscriber to something that I'm consuming every day I just don't like even for drinks like tenza tea like I'm really excited to try matcha I'm like maybe this is like a better caffeine substitute for me because I just don't find that I need a ton of caffeine, like traditional coffee gives me so it's like I could see that but I think you're right in that like the only other thing I can think of is I tried HelloFresh which is similar to that of like, the meals but I found that I was traveling too much that I didn't need, like, all of the meals all at once and I'm cooking for myself, right? So it's like if I had like a family right now to be it, that would be so convenient. But that was one thing like this subscription that I had to stop because I was like, I have so much food now. It's too too much for me at this point in my life, but I know I'm like, that's a really good option. If where I'm at my life changes

Brian Lastovich 20:34

later, a little fresh. Does a ton of advertising. Right. Like they're everywhere. And they're they're a big influencer. Yeah. And podcast advertising. Guess what their return? I just Googled this right now guess what their retention rate is?

Mariah Parsons 20:52

Okay, this is fun. Huh? Usually 20 person.

Brian Lastovich 21:00

That's a good guess. 15? It's, that's really good. I mean, that's so it makes complete sense. Not like that's so low. They only retain 50% of their customers after 12 months, it says. And it says the other there are other competitors Blue Apron and home chef retaining or at 8% have to go months. That's why we spend so much in acquisition because they're not retaining all their customers, which is the point of our podcast, if you can retain your customers, and then you don't have to spend so much on acquisition. That's crazy. 15%. And it's so low. It makes sense, though.

Mariah Parsons 21:39

I think it's like, honestly, I love tapping it. It was really easy meal prep and really good food. It felt like I was a chef. Don't laugh too much. But no, no, but it really I was like, Oh, it's so convenient. And great. It was just too much for me on my own. And so like, yeah, it was like, each meal. I could get two or three meals out, which is great. But then by the time the next box came around, I was like, Oh my God, I've only used half of the food from the other one. And then so like, too much. And then traveling and whatnot, you know, you're not going to bring Do you want to play though? Yeah, but

Brian Lastovich 22:30

hard to change your behavior. Exactly. It's just the result of that. Yeah. All right. I have another ball. Tutoring topic.

Mariah Parsons 22:40

Okay. If you buy I don't even have like a question around this. I was we were talking about it on our other meeting as well. And we had to stop but Disney adult, because you recently went to Disney? Do you want to go here? I do want to go here. So, which I think is really fun, like fun to note that you wanted to go on all the roller coasters and like we're trying to bring your kid but I want you to tell a little bit more about that. But Disney adults like, what do you like, when did you first become aware of the adults? I guess we can we can start there like that notion? Well, I

Brian Lastovich 23:28

mean, I'll give a little bit of backstory here.

Mariah Parsons 23:29

Yeah,

Brian Lastovich 23:31

I think so I have an eight year old son, a six year old daughter. And we took them to Disney World when we were just coming out of COVID, something like that. And we then went to Disney Land, maybe a year after. And the opportunity came up again to go to Disney World again. So this was our third time we took the kids to Disneyworld. And I think it was during that or let me stop the again eight and six. They're not they're just starting to enjoy rides, but nothing crazy. I do like roller coasters. So it's the worst. It was one of the worst feelings were like there's a roller coaster of God which one exactly?

Mariah Parsons 24:18

You're damned if you do you're damned if you

Brian Lastovich 24:20

can't Well I want to go I can't go by myself or I can try to drag a kid with me but they don't want to go so I just going on these little alright. But when I was doing the research, I mean, particularly these days, it's crazy. We could talk about this at a later time but you do tons of research to understand like what you're getting into, but it was through that research that and then understood there is this term of adult disease which are what I think of only adults like without children going into the sea often very frequent.

Mariah Parsons 24:54

Yeah. I like I liked that you defined it. I was gonna ask you like give your definition you Yeah, so it was it was this time around that you like, kind of learned about the terminology.

Brian Lastovich 25:06

Yeah. started coming up more material my research

Mariah Parsons 25:10

thought this nice. Yeah. Okay. I was hoping you would say that catch you you say adult Disney's think it's really fun you're right, you're right. We're here to say, I think there's like, but I bring it up, I bring it up also because I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts aren't your expert. And one of their, like branches that fall under that podcast is called flightless bird. And it's this New Zealand co host, who started out like coming on the armchair expert podcast to talk about, like, conspiracy theories. So super interesting. He did all the research, like talk with people, whatever. And then his new series is about, like, interesting or weird phenomena in the US that he's trying to understand as someone who is from the US. So it's very interesting. Like he What are some other topics? I think he talks about like, Oh, my God, I have to look it up. But anyways, I just was listening to the one right after we chatted about you going to Disneyland and I was like Disney adult.

Brian Lastovich 26:39

Did they have an episode about this? Oh, no. Oh, yeah.

Mariah Parsons 26:42

Yes. So interesting. Well, you know, I feel like all I really learned is that, like, how many more Disney adults are out there? Like, why they like, the connection that they feel with like Disneyland and like, I'm like, halfway through it right now. So maybe you can follow it up. But like, there's like, hidden perks and stuff like that. That if you're like a frequent goer, I guess. You can, like get exclusive perks. And then there's also like, Have you heard of club 33? No. Okay, so it's like, I guess this elite club in Disneyland. Like, there's all these behind the scenes things that I did not know. And I've only gotten once as a kid. And so like, I remember the pins like collecting the little pins in Disney. Like, I was obsessed with that, like, we all my siblings, and I had a little lanyard and it was like, the biggest thing if my parents like let us like get a pin that day. And like trade them with like the characters and stuff. So that was like my experience of Disney. So I haven't had like a ton of exposure just because I've only gotten once but I think it's just it's so interesting.

Brian Lastovich 28:03

Okay, I'm gonna tie this into our theme because if there are hopefully there aren't DTC founders or just DTC brands listening right now, if you're thinking about high LTV, read anything you can about Disney Disney World and like theme parks specifically. You buy your ticket and after you buy your ticket everything is an upsell everything is a cross sell. Oh, like you said like you can join these exclusive clubs they have I don't think it's called Fast Track or Fast Pass anymore but right you can up upsell to get in front of the line. They have mobile ordering now and you can I think getting mine earlier and mobile ordering through some sort of upsell there's their packages where you have like special days right and special occasions that then is a higher price than the standard ticket but then it's more exclusive. I think there's so many honestly great ideas that a lot of DC DTC brands can take advantage of when they learn more about how Tizzy conducts its business

Mariah Parsons 29:15

we might be becoming Disney adults

Brian Lastovich 29:19

but if we just study Yes no.

Mariah Parsons 29:22

Yeah, well but you're right there are like so many so much of the branding to goes into it like all the little pins all the characters all like all the employees dressing up as the characters all the like rides being after movies for your favorite people. And like though I remember the Lego experience being so like, monumental because it was like they had all these different, like statues and everything built with Legos and then it's like they sell miniature versions in the store like it is a good it's a good

Brian Lastovich 29:51

let's put like a little bit on this. I think we could have another episode that's just dedicated to how a DVC brand can use realize the best practices of Walt Disney World.

Mariah Parsons 30:03

Okay. My only ask is that we'll title the episodes that we become Disney adults and that we actually go to Disney. Do you think those are easy sales? I think

Brian Lastovich 30:15

first one yes. Second one will be hard to expense. Maybe think we can do it? Well, they have in creators funds now. Yes. And like influencers funds, but it's highly exclusive point, you know, but maybe we have a chance. We'll say

Mariah Parsons 30:34

maybe maybe after a year that they hear this episode. I feel like they have to. Yeah, they're gonna. Okay,

Brian Lastovich 30:42

okay. That was good. That was good. I love that at the end. We either evaluate or like, that was good. No, it was a pleasure. Okay. How about so tensile T. C, brought this up on our last episode, and I knew about them before, but I think I should know a lot more about them. Which is Mr. Beast.

Mariah Parsons 31:10

Okay, okay. Yeah, he, Steve did bring him up. Yeah. Um, okay, so I actually don't know a ton about him. So this might be fun for us. Yeah. All I know is that he is a YouTube, like personality or person or like influencer. And so um, I know that he does like stun. And it's Yeah, yeah. Like, like, it's okay. look him up right now. And I'm sure you'll see like, like, some of his top videos are I hunted 100 people for I don't even know how many. Like, this is like some games. That's like not actually hunting. But they're counting heroes Okay, for a million dollars. So I hunted 100 people for a million dollars on some game. Another one is titled I survived the plane crash. Another one is I give some ungodly number of number of subscribers. Oh, I gave my I think it's a million billion 100 million subscriber an island. So it's, like, rooted in the extreme. Yeah, and people watch.

Brian Lastovich 32:23

So interesting. Okay. I that's what I wanted to ask you. So was how did he get his start? Right? Because I'm now I know, I know what he did after and the Now that Mr. B's Mr. Beast, hamburgers. Or burgers, I should say? Yeah, kind of like what he's trying to focus on and very successful at it right now. But I didn't know how he got as far. So let's break this down for our audience really quick, that may be similar to me and has no idea what we're talking about. So it's a really interesting concept, right? Because it was an individual that has a very large following. We have to figure out how he actually got his large following but he has a large following primarily on YouTube. And then what he did is like how can he use that following for to make more money honestly, and so instead of creating actual stores, he would look at small businesses that are already in malls around the communities that aren't very successful he would partner with them to be the kitchen and using his brand bringing people to the store and he started with hamburgers and so now you have Mr. B's hamburgers, but he uses he uses his brand they use the store is what they call it ghost kitchen right like a kitchen that only sells or is there just primarily make the food and then they can either it be delivered or you know there's not really a place to like sit down and eat there. Yeah, but it's it's it's insane.

Mariah Parsons 34:10

Okay, it is insane I Okay, so hold up with a PDF so disclaimer might not be credibly accurate but because we both know the early because I like I feel like this was early it so it says the his real name is Jimmy Donaldson. So began posting videos in early 2012 At the age of 13 under the handle of Mr. B's 6000 And then the early videos were like estimating the wealth of other YouTubers. And then in 2017, he went viral after his counting to 100,000 video earn 10s of 1000s of views in just a few days, and he's become increasingly popular ever since. And Um, and then it says over time his style of content diversified to include challenge and donation videos that reward 1000s of dollars, videos with tasks, their survival challenge survival challenges. So yeah, it sounds like he just like he, he became viral, he gained a lot of followers and now can do whatever he wants with those followers, like you said, go to. Okay, it also, he also runs other several YouTube channels, including beasts reacts, Mr. Beast gaming, Beast short, and a philanthropy channel. He's also one of the 10 highest paid YouTubers of 2020. Okay, he's the founder of Mr. Beast burger and feasable, co creator of Team trees. fundraiser for the Arbor Day Foundation. So you got a lot going on?

Brian Lastovich 35:49

Yeah, here's what's interesting, mate. Here's a, this is what I saw. Like, pretty much this is when he opened like his store, I think in Minneapolis. Do you see that? Yeah, I can see the amount of people there. So here's what's amazing to me. I would bet before seeing this, that all these influencers have this following, and they strictly stay online. But he has obviously proved that you can use this online following offline. And I always thought that was extremely difficult. And that wouldn't happen. But he's proven that people will come offline and spend money.

Mariah Parsons 36:29

Yeah, I mean, it's, it goes back to our conversation. The question I posed to you and see the like, are influencers in that category of like celebrity endorsements now? Like Emma Chamberlain coffee and Arisia, they, they recently did a, a pairing. And so a ritzy is like a high end fashion. Like apparel store, right? So Arisia what they and I watched a video on this because I thought it was very interesting. But what Arisia did is like they didn't even make a new like, you know how celebrities it's like, oh, they're lying with like someone else. Right. So it's like, they're designing all this. What Earthsea and Emma Chamberlain did was a race, he was like, We think our fashion our Look, our branding matches you. We want to take our like everyday items, and put you in them. And like that is the campaign. So it's not even like this new thing. It's just taking what they have. And matching, like getting Emma's following to them be like oh my god, a ritzy is so cute. And then they're now associated together. Yes. And like she was like drinking her coffee too. Like it was like a whole high end. Like kind of like, because because everything is a little bit busy, like job fairs and stuff like that. And so it's like this whole campaign and people are like that. That's smart, because they're like very well aligned originally. So it's not like some random you know, endorsement that it's like, what does like I saw an example was like, what does the day I have to do with SmartWater? But because she's in debt, like Oh, it's good for the brand. But like a ritzy and Ember Chamberlain, they're very already close together. Yeah. So that's where it's like, is the influencer space where someone had their specialty like he was talking about. I think it was Kylie who works for them who is like the special, like recipe creator, like that's where they're an expert. So it's like food brands don't know that and want to go to them because they're an expert, rather than their expertise being acting, which I think is like a very interesting delineation between the

Brian Lastovich 38:39

two. If I was starting a DTC corn brand, like we talked about before, I would first and foremost, like where I would start as a marketer, Disney first, I was studying everything that Disney does to Disney did to get a high LTV on their customers. And then I would find influencer, that partners will actually, let me take a step back, I would understand like the position like what do we stand for, and making sure it's different? What like, this corn brand is different than all the rest of those current brands, when you're buying from our corn brand. It means this if you're buying from other Korean brands, it means that so I would have that statement down, find an influencer that matches that statement and their personality matches what we're going for partner with them. And then after that, it's the what you were talking about, and then finding another product vendor that kind of aligns really well, and then move to that. That's what I would do completely different than any brand probably at least five years ago.

Mariah Parsons 39:41

Yeah. Crazy. Times are changing. Yeah. I think that's a great plan. We should roll that

Brian Lastovich 39:48

out into roll it out, or someone could take it.

Mariah Parsons 39:51

Yeah. You just have to come on our podcast and tell us that you're taking it you have to do with that

Brian Lastovich 39:56

digital? Yes. Use our affiliate links

Mariah Parsons 40:00

Yes, of course. That's a given. Yeah.

Brian Lastovich 40:06

Okay, anything else?

Mariah Parsons 40:09

Um, the only other thing I was going to mention is I saw that attended and loop integrate now, which is great, because two of our strong partners integrate. This is more. Yeah, this is like this is now like the real shop talk.

Brian Lastovich 40:25

Okay, How'd you hear about this?

Mariah Parsons 40:27

I saw that on LinkedIn. Interesting. Yeah.

Brian Lastovich 40:32

Oh, Karina posted it. I didn't see that yet. Maybe it was more focused on our podcasts, honestly. But I did not see that. Is that a slight dig at me? No, that's great for our podcast.

Mariah Parsons 40:46

No, kidding. Oh, wait, this is fun. Have you heard of just joshing? Like, I'm just joshing with you. I've heard of it. Okay, because I don't know where? Okay. It might have been from me, honestly. Cuz I like to say,

Brian Lastovich 41:00

I like that. I'm just joshing with you.

Mariah Parsons 41:02

I'm like that it. And then I was like, oh, maybe Brian doesn't

Brian Lastovich 41:06

have to say those things. So I learned. Just Josh and like, yeah, what was the other thing that oh, that's dope. Yes, something else that we should have multiple choice of what all these terms that I can start using? We should start a list, honestly, that was. Yeah. But to answer your question, I did not see that yet. But this is attentive and loop. Yeah. And closer together. Strategic. Yeah.

Mariah Parsons 41:32

That's hosted 21 hours ago. So for those of you who don't know, attentive, is a communication email and SMS communication platform. For E commerce brands loop is a returns platform for E commerce brands. So very interesting that both partners of ours, very

Brian Lastovich 41:52

successful partners. They're both doing really well and trying to figure out what that next step is. Maybe, influencer marketing, maybe, well, I guess what they're doing with theirs co branding, right? They're finding someone else in their market that has different audience. Can they get in front of that audience as well, too? And it makes sense.

Mariah Parsons 42:12

Yeah, it all it all is related. And I'll come circling back. But that was the only last thing that I had to mention that I thought, Okay. I'm glad you didn't see it. And I could be the first to tell

Brian Lastovich 42:22

you. No, I did not see it. But you just said it came up or you saw it less than an hour or an hour ago? No less than anyone? Anyone? Anyone? Yes. Yes. Very specific.

Mariah Parsons 42:33

Well, I haven't pulled up now.

Brian Lastovich 42:37

There you go. I don't have a subject, or a question I should say for you. But more or less a data point that you were talking about before, which proves this hypothesis. Do you know what I'm going to say?

Mariah Parsons 42:54

Is it going to be the average influencer? Yeah, we meant to look that up.

Brian Lastovich 42:59

Oh, we got to do that. Yes. This is this is about Tiktok and Instagram, so Instagram, Instagram, you know, meta and meta put out this report that basically saying that they have 1/10 I think it's 1/10 of the users and the viewing time as tick tock, and they have to figure out ways to obviously push this but they said the I think it's the amount of publishing what's going on real is versus tick tock is minimal. And everyone is sharing what's on tick tock and posting on Instagram riddles, and they have a lot of work to do, basically, is what came out of that report. And this is everything you were saying. I tell

Mariah Parsons 43:53

Brian, I thank you for validating that.

Brian Lastovich 43:57

I'm trying to figure out original basically they're trying to figure out original content, and they don't have any original content on Instagram real is because it's all coming from Tik Tok.

Mariah Parsons 44:07

Yeah, I would say I, well, let's walk through it for a minute or two. I would say I respect Instagram for putting that out there and saying they have a lot of work to do.

Brian Lastovich 44:18

I think it was an internal, like it kind of went external. But it's more

Mariah Parsons 44:22

Oh, that's even more interesting. I would say it's going to be my guess would be it's a very, very steep incline because of where they started and what they're known for. Right. So like, this is going back to like, you think of sharing or like ride sharing. You think of Uber Yep. So like that, that you think of a bandage you think of Rite Aid, you think of a tissue and give Kleenex like all of that. You think of Instagram you think of photos. You think of tick tock you think of videos and so that's gonna be a steep incline because everyone wants to go on Instagram to scroll for videos. I mean, sorry for photos, everyone goes on Tik Tok, knowing you're getting videos, and the like, I think just even when you open the different apps is like on Instagram, you're probably like scrolling through that in a very public place. If you don't have headphones, right, so like, it's more of a silent factor, tick tock, you know, you like probably want the audio, like, you're probably at home, or like, you have your air pods and something of the sort. So I think it's gonna be a little, it's a little tough, I think to break that connotation of Now Instagram, is both photo and video. Because they were the leader in sharing photos. Yeah,

Brian Lastovich 45:48

this is the this is the conversation we had also with Steve about category creation, which I'm really interested in it but and probably a ton of marketers aren't. But once you create the category, then you can be the leader of that category, incredibly tough for other others to come and be a leader, at least they can come join the space, but they'll always be second to the leader. And most likely what was creating the space is going to be the leader because you're the first one to say I'm the leader in this and it's hard to move away from that. But yeah, so it might be like, so headphones thing, right? So Instagram has to work on how do you get people to expect audio and make sure that they start when they they start their session on Instagram, but they

Mariah Parsons 46:32

Yeah. And how do you not? How do you do so while not like pissing people off because you're taking the platform that they liked for video or for photo sharing? Yeah, and making it into something that they don't want. Like, I think that's why tick tock still is doing well, because Instagram really is like a separate category from your, your like main scrolling page, your main home page on Instagram, because I'm sure Instagram knows people don't go there for videos right now. And so if you start putting the same look and feel of like just endlessly scrolling on Tik Tok that you do Instagram, people are going to be upset. So I'm sure that's what also is going to add into it is that time factor that you have to start? Slow? But it's tough when you tick tock that's, like, booming right now.

Brian Lastovich 47:23

So let me ask you this, isn't it? Like if you're a b2c brand isn't an opportunity to figure out Instagram rules? Or you would you say no, just focus on how do you get in front of brands via Tik Tok? And then keep on post? Yeah, tiktoks to all these other platforms?

Mariah Parsons 47:43

I would say both because so why not? Okay, if you're making

Brian Lastovich 47:49

me choose the making you choose,

Mariah Parsons 47:52

okay. But it's tough because you can take the video that you're making on Tik Tok, and just put it on Instagram, but you're not creating it on Instagram. I mean, a lot of people create their tick tock videos out of the app anyways. But that's why I say both because like, you still have followers on Instagram, like, at least from my perspective, people are looking at Instagram followers before they're looking at tick tock follow. Yeah. Yeah. Because Instagrams way more proven out and that like shows you're, like, credibility, I guess. But Tiktok influencers are starting to get up there. So I would say like, Instagram is, you know, directly, probably who you're marketing to, like your followers, tick tock is way more random, and it gives you a way better chance of going viral? Because it's so new and like all the kinks are still being worked on. So that's why I'd say probably, tick tock. You have a wider audience, but Instagram, I'm guessing you probably have more loyalty in Okay.

Brian Lastovich 48:51

Well, to offer our listeners, you heard it here, folks from the person that defined herself as right in the middle of Gen Z and Millennial. What to do with your digital strategy between tick tock Instagram real? Yeah, I think this was this worked out really well. I enjoyed this chitchat, a lot of a lot more insights in this one than last time, right. Yeah. I mean, we were we were ready for this one.

Mariah Parsons 49:18

We were having fun with it. It was still having fun. But yeah, you're right. Great. But this was a lot more related, even though we didn't plan for it to be a lot more related.

Brian Lastovich 49:29

Nice. Okay. Awesome. Well, I'm looking forward to our next episode. With lollipop, and anything else.

Mariah Parsons 49:40

Um, it'll be fun. I think we're crushing it and I hope listeners are enjoying. So I hope so too. I'm having fun too. Like I'm having fun riffing off ideas with you as well.

Brian Lastovich 49:50

I've learned a ton. I think like what at the end of the day, maybe we do start to see to see porn brand and use all these tidbits and get some feedback and share with our listeners. Okay, that's gonna

Mariah Parsons 50:00

be the end of season two is starting our own clothing brand.

Brian Lastovich 50:05

All right, sounds good. Thanks, Ryan. Bye